US 8686562

Here is a concise summary of US patent 8686562:

Title: Refractory metal nitride capped electrical contact and method for fabricating same

Assignee: Infineon Technologies North America Corp (Current Assignee), originally International Rectifier Corp USA

Inventors: Sadiki Jordan

Filing Date: 2009-08-25

Issue Date: 2014-04-01

Abstract: According to one disclosed embodiment, an electrical contact for use on a semiconductor device comprises an electrode stack including a plurality of metal layers and a capping layer formed over the plurality of metal layers. The capping layer comprises a refractory metal nitride. In one embodiment, a method for fabricating an electrical contact for use on a semiconductor device comprises forming an electrode stack including a plurality of metal layers over the semiconductor device, and depositing a refractory metal nitride capping layer of the electrode stack over the plurality of metal layers. The method may further comprise annealing the electrode stack at a temperature of less than approximately 875° C. In some embodiments, the method may additionally include forming one of a Schottky metal layer and a gate insulator layer between the electrode stack and the semiconductor device.

Independent Claims Overview:

• Claim 1 (Electrical Contact): This claim describes an electrical contact for a semiconductor device. The contact has an electrode stack with several metal layers and a capping layer on top of these metal layers. This capping layer consists only of a refractory metal nitride, which forms the very top of the electrical contact. Importantly, this refractory metal nitride capping layer must be thicker than the bottommost metal layer in the stack.
• Claim 13 (Electrical Contact for Group III-V Semiconductor): This claim is similar to Claim 1 but specifically for use on a Group III-V semiconductor device. The electrical contact includes an electrode stack with multiple metal layers and a capping layer formed over them. The capping layer consists only of a metal chosen from titanium nitride (TiN) and tantalum nitride (TaN). This selected metal forms the top of the electrical contact and has a thickness greater than that of the bottommost layer of the plurality of metal layers.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
Based on the provided patent text, there is no explicit mention of cases filed in the CAFC in 2026. However, the patent family does have litigation, including an IPR (IPR2025-00175) filed on 2025-02-04, a US case filed in the International Trade Commission (337-TA-1414), and a US case filed in the California Northern District Court (4:24-cv-01553). These are ongoing, but no specific CAFC 2026 dockets are identified in the provided information. I do not have authoritative information on specific CAFC 2026 dockets for US8686562 at this time.The patent text provided already contains all the requested information about US8686562, except for specific CAFC 2026 dockets.

Here is a concise summary of US patent 8686562:

Title: Refractory metal nitride capped electrical contact and method for fabricating same

Assignee: Infineon Technologies North America Corp (Current Assignee), originally International Rectifier Corp USA

Inventors: Sadiki Jordan

Filing Date: 2009-08-25

Issue Date: 2014-04-01

Abstract: According to one disclosed embodiment, an electrical contact for use on a semiconductor device comprises an electrode stack including a plurality of metal layers and a capping layer formed over the plurality of metal layers. The capping layer comprises a refractory metal nitride. In one embodiment, a method for fabricating an electrical contact for use on a semiconductor device comprises forming an electrode stack including a plurality of metal layers over the semiconductor device, and depositing a refractory metal nitride capping layer of the electrode stack over the plurality of metal layers. The method may further comprise annealing the electrode stack at a temperature of less than approximately 875° C. In some embodiments, the method may additionally include forming one of a Schottky metal layer and a gate insulator layer between the electrode stack and the semiconductor device.

Independent Claims Overview:

• Claim 1 (Electrical Contact): This claim describes an electrical contact for a semiconductor device. The contact has an electrode stack that includes multiple metal layers and a capping layer positioned over these metal layers. This capping layer consists only of a refractory metal nitride, and this refractory metal nitride forms the top surface of the electrical contact. Furthermore, the thickness of this capping layer must be greater than the thickness of the bottommost layer among the plurality of metal layers.
• Claim 13 (Electrical Contact for Group III-V Semiconductor): This claim defines an electrical contact specifically designed for use on a group III-V semiconductor device. The contact comprises an electrode stack with a plurality of metal layers and a capping layer formed over them. The capping layer consists only of a metal chosen from titanium nitride (TiN) and tantalum nitride (TaN). This selected metal forms the top of the electrical contact and has a thickness greater than that of the bottommost layer of the plurality of metal layers.

CAFC 2026 Dockets:
Based on the provided patent text and my search, there is no explicit mention of cases filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) specifically in 2026 for US patent 8686562. The provided patent text does indicate that the patent family has litigation, including an Inter Partes Review (IPR2025-00175) filed in 2025, a US case filed in the International Trade Commission (337-TA-1414), and a US case filed in the California Northern District Court (4:24-cv-01553). While these are ongoing legal actions, they are not identified as CAFC dockets for 2026. My search for "CAFC 2026 dockets US8686562" did not yield any specific CAFC dockets for this patent for the year 2026. Therefore, I do not have authoritative information on specific CAFC 2026 dockets for US8686562 at this time.