Patent ID: 6897546

Claim:
A semiconductor device, comprising a functional element having a first conductivity type semiconductor region provided in a semiconductor substrate, and a second conductivity type semiconductor region provided in contact with the first conductivity type semiconductor region and having a conductivity type different from that of the first conductivity type semiconductor region, wherein a diode is provided in a boundary portion of a contact region to which an electrode is connected in the first conductivity type semiconductor region, the diode including a second conductivity type region embedded in the first conductivity type semiconductor region in a region crossing over a boundary of the contact region, the second conductivity type region having a conductivity type different from that of the first conductivity type semiconductor region, the second conductivity type region being in contact with the electrode in the contact region, and wherein the functional element is a bipolar transistor which comprises a base region defined by the first conductivity type semiconductor region, and an emitter region defined by the second conductivity type semiconductor region.