Patent ID: 7868381

Claim:
A trench-gated MIS device comprising: a semiconductor substrate generally doped with a dopant of a first conductivity type, a trench being formed in an active region of the substrate; an insulating layer disposed along a wall of the trench, the trench comprising a conductive gate material, a surface of the gate material being at a level below a surface of the substrate; a nonconductive layer overlying the surface of the substrate; a conductive layer overlying the nonconductive layer, the conductive layer comprising a current-carrying portion and a gate bus portion, the current-carrying portion and the gate bus portion being electrically isolated from each other, the nonconductive layer having a first aperture through which the current-carrying portion of the conductive layer is in electrical contact with the substrate in the active region of the device, wherein the thickness of the nonconductive layer underlying the gate bus portion of the conductive layer is substantially the same as the thickness of the nonconductive layer underlying the current-carrying portion of the conductive layer; and a second trench formed in the substrate, the second trench comprising conductive gate material, the nonconductive layer having a second aperture through which the current-carrying portion of the conductive layer is in electrical contact with the second trench and with an area of the substrate adjacent to the second trench to form a Schottky interface.