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Expired European patentEurope

Structure and method for self-aligned contact formation

EP 0507446 B1 · Applicant: SGS-THOMSON MICROELECTRONICS, INC. (a Delaware corp.)

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Listed from its EPO record in Patent Yard's archive of European patents past their term. Its claims, description and drawings are in the EPO PDF and on Google Patents, and the Claude kit works from them.

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Why it's free to use

  • Filed February 28, 1992 and granted October 9, 1996. A European patent lasts at most 20 years from filing, so its term ended February 28, 2012.
  • A supplementary protection certificate, which can extend a medicine or crop-protection patent, adds at most five and a half years, so even that would have ended by August 28, 2017.
  • We check European rights only. A US or other national patent in its family could still be in force: check its family on Espacenet or Google Patents.
FiledFebruary 28, 1992
PublishedOctober 7, 1992
GrantedOctober 9, 1996
Term endedFebruary 28, 2012
Application numberEP 92301739
Classification (CPC)H10W20/066 +2 more

Timeline

Timeline From EPO dates

1993199519971999200120032005200720092011Application filedFeb 28, 1992PublishedOct 7, 1992Patent grantedOct 9, 1996Term endedFeb 28, 2012

Sources & verification

Official EPO records

Full published documentClaims, description and drawings as a PDF.EPOEuropean Patent RegisterProcedure, status, file inspection and legal events.EPOLinked open EP data recordThe bibliographic record this page is built from.EPO

Cross-check elsewhere

Google PatentsFull text, worldwide family, citing patents and legal events.patents.google.comEspacenetNational family members and their legal status.European Patent Office

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