ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,507,473, issued on Dec. 23, was assigned to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. LTD (Taiwan).
"Tie off device" was invented by Shao-Lun Chien (Hsinchu, Taiwan), Ting-Wei Chiang (New Taipei, Taiwan), Hui-Zhong Zhuang (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) and Pin-Dai Sue (Tainan, Taiwan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An integrated circuit device includes a first power rail, a first active area extending in a first direction, and a plurality of gates contacting the first active area and extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. A first transistor includes the first active area and a first one of the gates. The first transistor ...