Patent ID: 8564023

Claim:
A metal-oxide-semiconductor (“MOS”) fuse comprising: a semiconductor substrate; a well in the semiconductor substrate; a well tap in the well, wherein the well tap includes a first contact; an active region in the well; a fuse element having an anode, a cathode, and a fuse link extending between the anode and the cathode, at least the fuse link being formed over a portion of the active region and being separated from the active region by an oxide layer; a drain region that includes a second contact; a source region that includes a third contact, the fuse link separating the drain region from the source region; a first sense circuit coupled to the anode and cathode, the first sense circuit configured to latch a first logic value representative of a resistance level between the anode and the cathode in response to a read signal; a second sense circuit, coupled to the first contact, the second contact, and the third contact, wherein the second sense circuit is configured to latch a second logic value in response to the read signal, the second logic value being representative of one of a fuse element-to-active silicon leakage current, a source-to-well leakage current, a drain-to-well leakage current, or a source-to-drain leakage current; and a comparator circuit coupled to the first and second sense circuits and configured to output a sense-flag signal indicative of relative states of the first and second logic values.