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 .
Status of the Claims
Group I, Species 1, as shown in FIG. 7, is elected.
Response filed March 08, 2026 is acknowledged. Non-Elected Invention and Species, claims 8-13 have been withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1-13 are pending.
Action on merits of claims 1-7 follows.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by MAO (US. Patent No. 8,138,562) of record.
With respect to claim 1, MAO teaches a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) structure as claimed including:
a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) (24b, t, f), a first spin orbit torque (SOT) element (24e, lower), a conductive layer (24e, upper) and a second SOT element (26a) disposed from bottom to top;
a protective layer (27) disposed on the second SOT element (26a), wherein the protective layer (27) covers and contacts a top surface of the second SOT element (26a), and the protective layer (27) is an insulator; and
a first conductive via (32a) penetrating the protective layer (27) and contacting the second SOT element (26a). (See Fig. 13).
With respect to claim 2,the MRAM structure of MAO further comprises a spacer (25) contacting a sidewall of the MTJ, a sidewall of the first SOT element, a sidewall of the conductive layer, and the spacer being disposed below the second SOT element (26a).
With respect to claim 3, the MRAM structure of MAO, further comprises a second conductive via (23) disposed below the MTJ and contacting the MTJ.
With respect to claim 4, a width of the second SOT element (26a) of MAO is greater than a width of the conductive layer.
With respect to claim 5, the MRAM structure of MAO further comprises a dielectric layer (29) surrounding the protective layer (27) and the second SOT element (26a).
With respect to claim 6, a material of the dielectric layer (29) and a material of the protective layer (27) of MAO are different.
With respect to claim 7, the protective layer (27) of MAO comprises a nitrogen-containing material.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed March 08, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues:
the Mao fails to disclose the requisite "first SOT element" located between the MTJ (24f/24t/24b) and the designated conductive layer (top electrode 24e).
However, according to MAO, layer 24e comprises a composite of either Ru/Ta/Ru or Ru/Ta. MAO, col. 7, lines 3-12, teaches: “In an embodiment wherein the top electrode 24e is a composite with an upper Ta layer, the Ta layer serves as a hardmask or stop layer for subsequent CMP … In another embodiment, the top electrode 24e may be a composite with a so called capping layer that contacts a free layer 24f and an uppermost hard mask such as Ta”.
According to the above, the composite layer 24e comprises a capping layer that contacts the free layer 24f is the Ru layer and the uppermost hard mask is Ta layer.
It is determined that the capping layer the contact the free layer 24f is the “first SOT layer” (Ru layer) and the uppermost hard mask layer is “conductive layer” (Ta layer) and layer 26a is the “second SOT layer”
Therefore, the limitation: “a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), a first spin orbit torque (SOT) element, a conductive layer and a second SOT element disposed from bottom to top” is met.
Note that, Ruthenium (Ru) is well known in the art to be a non-magnetic metal, hence SOT layer.
Note that, the Office Action has never indicated that layer 24f is the SOT layer.
The limitations are met.
The rejection of all claims is maintained.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ANH D MAI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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