Patent ID: 7825408

Claim:
A semiconductor device comprising: a first interconnection layer; a second interconnection layer forming a layer distinct from said first interconnection layer; and a via interconnecting a wire of said first interconnection layer and a wire of said second interconnection layer and including a member having variable values of electrical conductivity; wherein said variable electrical conductivity member includes an electrolyte material, said electrolyte material includes a sulfide of one or more elements selected from the group consisting of copper, silver, chromium, tantalum, tungsten and mixtures thereof; wherein said via constitutes a variable electrical conductivity switch element having a contact part of said via with said wire of said first interconnection layer as a first terminal and having a contact part of said via with said wire of said second interconnection layer as a second terminal; and wherein the state of connection between said first and second terminals of said switch element is variably set to a shorted state, an open-circuited state or to a state intermediate between said shorted and open-circuited states.