Patent ID: 8294079

Claim:
A diode, comprising: N diodes (N: an even number of 2 or larger), each having (i) semiconductor regions which are identical in size, in a certain direction parallel to a channel length of a reference diode, to those of the reference diode and (ii) a substantially identical channel width W 1 which is smaller than a channel width W of the reference diode, where it is assumed that the reference diode has the channel width W, and that the reference diode has (i) a first semiconductor region of a first-type which is relatively high in impurity concentration, (ii) a channel region which is a semiconductor region and is relatively low in impurity concentration, and (iii) a second semiconductor region of a second-type which is relatively high in impurity concentration, the second-type being opposite to the first-type, and the first semiconductor region, the channel region, and the second semiconductor region being in contact with one another and being arranged, in this order, in the certain direction in a surface of a substrate, corresponding semiconductor regions of the N diodes being arranged on the substrate, in a direction parallel to the certain direction, so as to have a line-symmetric or point-symmetric arrangement relation as a whole, and the N diodes being electrically connected to one another so as to carry out an operation equivalent to that of the reference diode.