Collector contact of an integrated bipolar transistor

Claim 1

In a monolithic integrated solid state circuit having a plurality of devices, an improvement in a collector contact on a main surface of a planar semiconductor substrate of silicon of a first conductivity type, said main surface defining a horizontal direction, said collector contact formed as part of an integrated lateral bipolar transistor, said transistor having a collector zone with a vertically disposed planar surface forming part of said collector zone, said planar surface forming a vertical dimension of said collector zone, and said collector zone using a portion of horizontal area of said main surface of said planar semiconductor substrate, said collector zone being doped by a second conductivity type and being insulated from said plurality of devices by means of a moat which completely surrounds said collector zone of said transistor, said moat having a bottom and vertical sidewalls extending a predetermined depth to said bottom of said moat, said improvement comprising: a vertically elongated collector contact of said collector zone disposed on and extending down said vertical sidewall of said moat to use a minimal amount of horizontal space of said main surface of said planar semiconductor substrate, said minimal amount of horizontal space used by said collector zone, and said vertically elongated collector contact comprised of a layer of polycrystalline silicon provided with dopants of said second conductivity type of said collector zone, said collector contact covering a highly doped contacting zone of said second conductivity type defined in said collector zone, said bottom of said moat being covered with a first layer of silicon dioxide, and said depth of said moat being at least equal to said vertical dimension of said collector zone, whereby a minimal portion of said main surface is used for contact with said collector contact.