Patent ID: 6893923

Claim:
A process for connecting a metal gate contact in a MOSgated device, comprising the steps of: forming an oxide layer on a surface of a silicon substrate, said silicon substrate having an active surface area; after said step of forming said oxide layer, opening a groove in a portion of said oxide layer; in a common mask step with said step of opening a groove, opening said active surface area in said oxide layer; forming a layer of polysilicon over said oxide layer, over at least a portion of said active surface area and into said groove; forming a polyoxide layer over an exposed surface of said layer of polysilicon; after said step of forming a polyoxide layer, masking a portion of an exposed surface of the polyoxide layer in a common mask step providing a masked area and unmasked areas, said unmasked areas defining a plurality of openings, at least one of said plurality of openings being over a first portion of said groove and at least another of said openings being over said active surface area, wherein said masked area shields a second portion of said groove and a portion of said layer of polysilicon during a subsequent step of etching; and after said step of masking, etching the polyoxide layer and said layer of polysilicon in said unmasked areas, including a portion of said layer of polysilicon formed into said first portion of said groove, leaving a strip of polysilicon in said first portion of said groove such that said strip of polysilicon is connected to said portion of said layer of polysilicon shielded by said masked area; and forming a gate contact in a common metallization step with said formation of at least one source electrode, such that said gate contact is electrically coupled with said strip of polysilicon in said bottom of said groove, said strip of polysilicon is electrically coupled with said portion of said layer of polysilicon and said portion of said layer of polysilicon forms at least one gate electrode in said active surface area of said silicon substrate.