DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 24 March 2026 has been entered.
Claim and Specification Status
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments to claims 1, 3-5 and 22-23 in the Applicant’s response dated 24 March 2026. The claim amendments have been addressed below.
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments to withdrawn claims 11 and 14 in the Applicant’s response dated 24 March 2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1, 3-6, 13 and 21-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minhyun Lee et al. (US 2019/0148493 A1; hereinafter “Lee”) in view of Emre Alptekin et al. (US 2015/0270179 A1; hereinafter “Alptekin”).
Regarding Claim 1, Lee teaches an integrated circuit (IC) device comprising:
a transistor comprising a gate (109 and 108, Fig. 9, para [0044] describes a gate electrode 109 and gate insulating film 108), a channel (101, Fig. 9, para [0045] describes a semiconductor layer 101 wherein a portion below the gate structure and between a source region 102 and drain region 103 comprises a channel region), and a source/drain (S/D) region (102, Fig. 9, para [0046] describes source region 102); and
a S/D contact coupled to the S/D region (104, 106 and 111a, Fig. 9, describes structures 104, 106 and 111a contacting source region 102), the S/D contact comprising:
an inner conductive structure comprising a first metal (106, Fig. 9, para [0065] describes a conductive metal layer forming a source electrode 106 comprising a metal such as titanium); and
a barrier region coupled between the S/D region and the inner conductive structure (104 and 111a, Fig. 9, para [0065] describes a mixture layer 111a and a graphene layer 104 between the S/D region 102 and the inner conductive structure 106), the barrier region comprising:
a metal layer comprising a second metal (111a, Fig. 9, para [0065] describes a mixture layer 111a comprising a mixture of the metal from source electrode 106 and source region 102); and
a carbon layer comprising carbon in a graphitic or diamond crystal structure (104, Fig. 9, para [0050] describes a 2D material layer that may be formed in a crystal of a carbon element, such as graphene).
Lee fails to explicitly disclose a metal layer comprising a second metal different from the first metal.
However, Alptekin teaches a similar integrated circuit device comprising:
a metal layer comprising a second metal different from the first metal (635/655 and 645, Fig, 6, para [0054] describes a first metal structure 635/655 of an electrode further comprising titanium wherein the first metal structure is a liner layer of an inner conductive structure and para [0047] describes a metal silicide layer similar to the mixture layer 111a of Lee, wherein para [0019] of Alptekin further describes wherein a metal silicide layer of the disclosure may comprise titanium and a second metal, such as aluminum, different from the first metal, titanium).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lee with Alptekin to further disclose an integrated circuit device which comprises an inner conductive structure comprising a first metal and a metal layer comprising a second metal different from the first metal in order to provide the advantage of providing a first metal which may function as a liner layer of an inner conductive structure in order to provide the advantage of promoting adhesion from a surrounding dielectric layer to a source/drain contact and preventing diffusion of a metal layer into a surrounding dielectric material (Alptekin, para [0054]) and to provide the further advantage of providing a metal layer comprising a second metal different from the first metal in order to provide a metal silicide layer at the bottom of a source/drain contact allowing manufacturers to increase the amount of dielectric material between the contact and the surrounding electrical components therefore reducing parasitic capacitance (Alptekin, para [0018]).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 1, wherein the second metal comprises niobium (Lee, 111a, Fig. 9, para [0065] describes wherein the mixture layer 111a may comprise a same metal as the source electrode 106 which may comprise niobium wherein upon combining Lee with Alptekin, the second metal being niobium may be different from the liner layer 635/655 of Alptekin of the inner conductive structure comprising the first metal, titanium).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 1, wherein the second metal comprises tantalum (Alptekin, 645, Fig. 6, para [0003] describes wherein the metal silicide layer such as in metal silicide layer 645 of Fig. 6, may comprise tantalum).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 1, wherein the second metal comprises aluminum (Alptekin, 645, Fig. 6, para [0019] describes wherein the metal silicide layer such as in metal silicide layer 645 of Fig. 6, may comprise a titanium aluminum silicide wherein the second metal may be aluminum).
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 1, wherein the carbon layer has a thickness between 0.1 and 2 nanometers (Lee, 104, Fig. 9, para [0061] describes wherein the thickness of the 2D material layer 104 may be within a range of 0.3 to 5 nm wherein a thickness of 0.5 nm would fall within the range of 0.1 to 2 nanometers).
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 1, further comprising:
a second S/D region (Lee, 103, Fig. 9, para [0046] describes a drain region 103); and
a second S/D contact coupled to the second S/D region (Lee, 105, 107 and 111b, Fig. 9, describes structures contacting drain region 103), the second S/D contact comprising an inner conductive structure (Lee, 107, Fig. 9, para [0065] describes a conductive metal layer forming a drain electrode 107) and a barrier region (Lee, 105 and 111b, Fig. 9, para [0065] describes a mixture layer 111b and a graphene layer 105 between the S/D region 103 and the inner conductive structure 107).
Regarding Claim 21, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 1, wherein the S/D region comprises silicon (Lee, 102, Fig. 9, para [0047] describes wherein source region 102 may comprise silicon).
Regarding Claim 22, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 21, wherein the first metal is titanium (Lee, 106, Fig. 9, para [0054] describes wherein inner conductive structure 106 may comprise titanium and Alptekin, Fig. 6, para [0054] describes a liner titanium layer 635/655 surrounding fill metal 660 of the source/drain contact).
Regarding Claim 23, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the IC device of claim 22, wherein the titanium is in a liner of the inner conductive structure (Alptekin, 635/655, Fig. 6, para [0054] describes a liner titanium layer 635/655 surrounding fill metal 660 of the source/drain contact), and the inner conductive structure further comprises a core comprising a third metal (Alptekin, 660, Fig. 6, para [0054] describes a conductive fill metal 660 comprising a third metal such as tungsten wherein the fill metal 660 is surrounded by titanium liner 635/655).
Claims 7 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Minhyun Lee et al. (US 2019/0148493 A1; hereinafter “Lee”) in view of Emre Alptekin et al. (US 2015/0270179 A1; hereinafter “Alptekin”) and in further view of Chih-Yen Chen et al. (US 2020/0127116 A1; hereinafter “Chen”).
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of Lee and Alptekin discloses all the limitations of claim 1.
Lee and Alptekin fail to explicitly disclose the IC device of claim 1, wherein the metal layer has a thickness between 0.1 and 2 nanometers.
However, Chen teaches a similar IC device, wherein the metal layer has a thickness between 0.1 and 2 nanometers (118, Fig. 1F, para [0036] describes a lining layer 118 formed under a source electrode 120 wherein the lining layer comprises a graphene layer and a metal such as aluminum and has a thickness in a range from about 0.5 nm to 4 nm, such as 2 nm wherein a resulting thickness of the metal material in said lining layer would fall within a range of 0.1 nm to 2 nm).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lee and Alptekin with Chen to further disclose an integrated circuit device wherein a metal layer has a thickness between 0.1 and 2 nm in order to provide the advantage of enabling the barrier region and metal layer comprised within to be of a thickness which may lower the contact resistance between a source/drain electrode and the layers from which the barrier layer intervenes further increasing device performance (Chen, para [0043]).
Regarding Claim 24, the combination of Lee and Alptekin discloses all the limitations of claim 21.
Lee and Alptekin fail to explicitly disclose the IC device of claim 21, wherein the barrier region has a thickness between 0.25 and 2.5 nanometers.
However, Chen teaches a similar IC device, wherein the barrier region has a thickness between 0.25 and 2.5 nanometers (118, Fig. 1F, para [0036] describes a lining layer 118 formed under a source electrode 120 wherein the lining layer comprises a graphene layer and a metal such as the barrier layer of Lee and further has a thickness in a range from about 0.5 nm to 4 nm, such as 2 nm wherein a resulting 2 nm thickness of the lining layer would fall within a range of 0.25 nm to 2.5 nm).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lee and Alptekin with Chen to further disclose an integrated circuit device wherein a barrier layer has thickness between 0.25 and 2.5 nanometers in order to provide the advantage of enabling the barrier region to be of a thickness which may lower the contact resistance between a source/drain electrode and the layers from which the barrier layer intervenes further increasing device performance (Chen, para [0043]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 24 March 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The Applicant argues on page 6, lines 17-27 of the remarks that no combination of the cited references teaches or suggests all limitations of amended claim 1. The Examiner respectfully disagrees. As indicated in the U.S.C. 103 rejection above, the prior art of record, Lee, in combination with the prior art of record, Alptekin, discloses the amended feature, a metal layer comprising a second metal different from the first metal (635/655 and 645, Fig, 6, para [0054] describes a first metal structure 635/655 of an electrode further comprising titanium wherein the first metal structure is a liner layer of an inner conductive structure and para [0047] describes a metal silicide layer similar to the mixture layer 111a of Lee, wherein para [0019] of Alptekin further describes wherein a metal silicide layer of the disclosure may comprise titanium and a second metal, such as aluminum, different from the first metal, titanium). Therefore, the combination of Lee and Alptekin teaches the amended language of claim 1 and therefore the amendment is not deemed to patentably distinguish the Applicant’s claimed device and method from the device and method taught by the combination of Lee and Alptekin.
Conclusion
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/ALEXANDER MICHAEL MILLER/Examiner, Art Unit 2898 /JULIO J MALDONADO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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