Patent ID: 7638379

Claim:
A method of making a semiconductor device comprising: selectively etching through a gate layer of semiconductor material of a second conductivity type on a drift layer of semiconductor material of a first conductivity type different than the second conductivity type to expose material of the drift layer, wherein the drift layer is on a semiconductor substrate; depositing a channel layer of semiconductor material of the first conductivity type on exposed portions of the gate and drift layers to cover the gate layer; depositing a source layer of semiconductor material of the first conductivity type on the channel layer or, alternatively, implanting a source layer of semiconductor material of the first conductivity type in the channel layer; selectively etching through the channel layer in a peripheral region of the device where the channel layer is directly in contact with the gate layer to expose a portion of the underlying gate layer, wherein an unexposed portion of the gate layer remains covered by the channel and source layers; depositing a layer of a dielectric material on exposed surfaces of the source layer, the channel layer and the gate layer; selectively etching through the dielectric layer over the portion of the gate layer exposed during etching of the channel layer to expose underlying gate layer; and selectively etching through the dielectric layer over the source layer on the unexposed portion of the gate layer to expose underlying source layer.