DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the Request for Continued Examination (RCE) and Amendment filed on 16 December 2025. Claims 1-15 and 21-25 are pending in the application. Claims 16-20 have been cancelled.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 16 December 2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 21-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Huang et al., US 20170250266, newly cited.
With respect to claim 21, Huang et al. disclose a method, shown in Figs. 2-9, comprising:
forming a first fin 24 protruding from a semiconductor substrate 20, see Fig. 2 and paragraphs [0011]-[0013];
forming a gate stack 26/27/28 over the first fin 24, see Fig. 3 and paragraphs [0014]-[0015];
forming a first source/drain region 30 in the first fin 24 adjacent the gate stack 26/27/28, see Figs. 4A, 4B, and 5 and paragraphs [0016]-[0019]; and
forming a source/drain contact 44 on the first source/drain region 30, wherein forming the source/drain contact 44 comprises depositing a metal material 44 (see paragraph [0025]: “FIG. 9 illustrates the formation of source/drain silicide regions 44 on the exposed surfaces of source/drain regions 30. The formation of source/drain silicide regions 44 include forming a conformal metal layer (not shown) in opening 38, wherein the conformal layer is deposited on the exposed surfaces of portions 30A and 30B of source/drain regions 30.”) and etching the metal material 44 (see paragraph [0003]: “An etching step is then performed to remove the un-reacted portions of the metal layer.”) to form at least one recess 38 in the metal material 44 (the un-reacted conformally-deposited metal material 44 is removed from above STI regions 22 to form the recess 38, shown in Fig. 9), wherein a bottom of the at least one recess 38 is closer to the semiconductor substrate 20 than a top side of the first source/drain region 30, as shown in Fig. 9, wherein the source/drain contact 44 extends directly on the top side of the first source/drain region 30 and extends directly on an underside of the first source/drain region 30, see Fig. 9.
With respect to claim 22, in the method of Huang et al., a width of the source/drain contact 44 is greater than a width of the first source/drain region 30, since the source/drain contact is formed over the outer surface of the first source/drain region 30, as shown in Fig. 9.
With respect to claim 23, the method of Huang et al. further comprises forming a second source/drain region 30 in a second fin 24 adjacent the first fin 24, wherein the source/drain contact extends directly on a top side of the second source/drain region 30, as shown in Fig. 9.
With respect to claim 24, in the method of Huang et al., the source/drain contact 44 extends from the underside of the first source/drain region 30 to an underside of the second source/drain region 30, since the metal material forming the source/drain contact 44 is conformally deposited, see paragraph [0025].
With respect to claim 25, in the method of Huang et al., sidewalls of the source/drain contact 44 are separated by a greater distance near a bottom of the source/drain contact 44 than near a top of the source/drain contact 44, as shown in Fig. 9.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 are allowable over the prior art of record.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: With respect to the newly-cited Cheng et al. reference, US 2018/0269325, Cheng et al. fail to teach or suggest a method comprising the steps of etching openings in the metal material, wherein each opening exposes the isolation region, wherein the metal material remains on a top surface of the source/drain region remains after etching the openings; and depositing an insulating material, wherein the insulating material fills the openings, as required in independent claim 1
. With respect to independent claim 9, Cheng et al. fails to teach or suggest a method which comprises: after depositing the first isolation material, forming a plurality of gate structures; removing the first isolation material using an etching process; after removing the first isolation material, depositing a metal material over the plurality of gate structures, the plurality of fins, and the plurality of source/drain regions; patterning the metal material to form a plurality of source/drain contacts on the plurality of source/drain regions, wherein each source/drain contact of the plurality of source/drain contacts tapers from a bottom of the source/drain contact to a top of the source/drain contact; and depositing a second isolation material over the plurality of source/drain contacts, wherein the second isolation material separates adjacent source/drain contacts.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 21-25 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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MARY A. WILCZEWSKI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2898
/MARY A WILCZEWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898