Patent ID: 7700996

Claim:
A tunable antifuse element comprising: a substrate material having a first stepped structure defining a high side of the substrate and a low side of the substrate, wherein the first stepped structure has a first slope; an active area formed in a surface of the substrate material; a gate electrode having at least a portion positioned above the active area; and a tunable dielectric layer including a second stepped structure located directly over the first stepped structure, wherein the second stepped structure has a second slope with a same slope direction but a different slope magnitude from the first slope, and the tunable dielectric layer is disposed between the gate electrode and the active area such that a voltage between the gate electrode and the active area creates a current path through the tunable dielectric layer and a rupture of the tunable dielectric layer in a rupture region, wherein the tunable dielectric layer has a thick oxide portion over the high side of the substrate and a thin oxide portion over the low side of the substrate, and the rupture region is located along a transition area between the thick oxide portion and the thin oxide portion.