Patent ID: 7791308

Claim:
A semiconductor element comprising a plurality of field effect transistors each including: a semiconductor layer made of a wide band-gap semiconductor; a first source/drain region which is a first conductivity type and formed in said semiconductor layer so as to include an upper surface of said semiconductor layer; a second conductivity type region which is a second conductivity type and formed in said semiconductor layer so as to include the upper surface and said first source/drain region; a drift region which is a first conductivity type and formed in said semiconductor layer so as to include the upper surface and said second conductivity type region; a first source/drain electrode which is formed so as to contact at least the upper surface of said first source/drain region; a gate electrode which is formed so as to face at least the upper surface of said second conductivity type region with a gate insulating film provided between said gate electrode and said second conductivity type region; and a second source/drain electrode which is connected to said drift region in an ohmic manner, and a schottky electrode which is disposed on the upper surface of said drift region so as to form a schottky junction with the upper surface of said drift region, wherein: said semiconductor layer is divided into a plurality of cells by a virtual border line in plan view; said drift region and said second source/drain electrode are formed so as to extend over the plurality of cells; the plurality of cells are constituted of a transistor cell in which said field effect transistor is formed and a diode cell in which said schottky electrode is formed; the plurality of transistor cells are formed adjacent to each other in a transistor forming region; and a diode forming region where the diode cells, the number of which is one or more, are formed is formed so as to surround the transistor forming region.