Patent ID: 7741935

Claim:
A high voltage isolation semiconductor digital communication device, comprising: at least one communication drive electrode comprising a drive input and opposing substantially vertical sidewalls having a height of about T n , the drive electrode further being formed of a first electrically conductive metal, metal alloy or metal mixture; at least one communication sense electrode comprising a sense output and opposing substantially vertical sidewalls having the height of about T n , the sense electrode being formed of a second electrically conductive metal, metal alloy or metal mixture; an electrically conductive ground plane substrate spaced apart from the drive and sense electrodes by an electrically insulative layer having a thickness d; a drive circuit operably coupled to the drive input and configured to transmit a communication drive signal therethrough, and a receive circuit operably coupled to the sense output and configured to receive the communication drive signal transmitted between the sense and drive electrodes; wherein the drive and sense communication electrodes are disposed substantially in a single plane and are operably configured and associated in respect of one another to effect the transfer of digital communication signals therebetween by capacitive means, the sidewall heights T n exceed about 1 micron thereby to decrease electrical field densities associated therewith, the sense and drive electrodes are separated by an inter-electrode spacing T d exceeding about 1 micron, the inter-electrode spacing T d is greater than or equal to the thickness d, and a first breakdown voltage between the drive electrode and the sense electrode exceeds about 2,000 volts RMS when applied over a time period of about one minute.