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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-8 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “below” in the disclosed limitations “a second epitaxy region located below and in contact with a source/drain gate contact” in Claims 1 and 5 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “below” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. It is not clear “below” which region, the second epitaxy region is located. Is it located below the substrate contact, or the first epitaxial region or source/drain regions or located below all of such regions/layers? Examiner will consider the second epitaxial region is below the first epitaxial region and orientated in any direction with respect to the source/drain contact. Applicant correction is required.
Claims 1-8 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In the instant case, Claims 1 and 5 disclose “a second epitaxy region located below and in contact with a source/drain gate contact, wherein the first epitaxy region and the second epitaxy region are not within a same horizontal plane of the device”. It is not clear if the second epitaxy region is in contact with source/drain region or the gate region or both, or the connection is with a contact region(s) instead of source/drain region or the gate regions.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to Claim(s) 1 and 5 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.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 5 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 2-4 and 6-8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
In the instant case, YE et al. (US 2021/0366916) disclose a semiconductor device including a first semiconductor fin, a second semiconductor fin, first source/drain features, second source/drain features, a first gate structure, a second gate structure, a first vertical-gate-all-around (VGAA) transistor, and a second VGAA transistor. The first semiconductor fin and the second semiconductor fin are adjacent to each other. The first source/drain features are on opposite sides of the first semiconductor fin. The second source/drain features are on opposite sides of the second semiconductor fin. The first gate structure is over the first semiconductor fin. The second gate structure is over the second semiconductor fin. The first VGAA transistor is over one of the first source/drain features. The second VGAA transistor is over one of the second source/drain features.
YAMASHITA et al. (WO 2020/141370) disclose a semiconductor structure includes a substrate, a vertical fin disposed over a top surface of the substrate, a first vertical transport field-effect transistor (VTFET) disposed over the top surface of the substrate surrounding a first portion of the vertical fin, an isolation layer disposed over the first VTFET surrounding a second portion of the vertical fin, and a second VTFET disposed over a top surface of the isolation layer surrounding a third portion of the vertical fin. The first portion of the vertical fin includes a first semiconductor layer with a first crystalline orientation providing a first vertical transport channel for the first VTFET, the second portion of the vertical fin includes an insulator, and the third portion of the vertical fin includes a second semiconductor layer with a second crystalline orientation providing a second vertical transport channel for the second VTFET.
ZHOU et al. (US 2023/0103999) disclose complementary field effect transistor structure including a first transistor disposed above a second transistor, a first source/drain region of the first transistor disposed above a second source/drain region of the second transistor, a first source/drain contact for the first source/drain region, and a second source drain contact for the second source drain region. The first source/drain contact is isolated from the second source/drain contact by an L-shaped isolation element including vertical and horizontal isolation elements.
LI et al. (US 2021/0125873) disclose a semiconductor device and a method for of making the same, wherein a core device of the semiconductor device employs a stacked nanowires or nanosheets structure, and an input/output device of the semiconductor device employs FinFET structure. The disclosure also provides a FinFET with an input/output device compatible with the stacked nanowires or nanosheets. The solution of the disclosure solves the problem that if the input/output device employs stacked nanowires or nanosheets device, it is difficult to fill a metal gate between two nanowires or nanosheets due to the thicker dielectric layer, and even if the metal gate is filled partially, the electrical performance of the input/output device is still poor.
WU et al. (US 2020/0343241) disclose a semiconductor device structure and method for fabricating the same. The semiconductor device structure includes a first vertical transport field effect transistor (VTFET) comprising at least a first gate structure having a first gate length, and a second VTFET stacked on the first VTFET and comprising at least a second gate structure having a second gate length that is less than the first gate length. The method includes forming, on a substrate, a first VTFET including at least a first gate structure having a first gate length. The method further includes forming a second VTFET stacked on the first VTFET and including at least a second gate structure having a second gate length that is less than the first gate length.
Leobandung (US 2019/0214313) discloses a semiconductor devices and methods are provided to fabricate field effect transistor (FET) devices having local wiring between the stacked devices. For example, a semiconductor device includes a first FET device on a semiconductor substrate, the FET device comprising a first source/drain layer, and a first gate structure comprising a gate dielectric layer and a metal gate layer. The semiconductor device further includes a second FET device comprising a second source/drain layer, and a second gate structure comprising a gate dielectric layer and a metal gate layer; wherein the first and second FET devices are in a stacked configuration. The semiconductor device further includes one or more conductive vias in communication with either the first gate structure of the first FET device or the second gate structure of the second FET device.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YASSER ABDELAZIEZ whose telephone number is (571)270-5783. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 9 am - 6 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Leonard Chang can be reached at (571)270-3691. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YASSER A ABDELAZIEZ, PhD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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