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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of claims 1-15, 21-25 in the reply filed on 09/09/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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.
Claim(s) 1-15, 21-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woo(USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2018/0254271, hereinafter Woo) in view of Hoentschel (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2014/0319620, hereinafter Hoentschel).
Re claim 1 Woo discloses in Fig 5/6 an integrated resistor, comprising: a resistor tub(30/18/12), the resistor tub(30/18/12) including a laterally- extending tub base(laterally-extending base of 30/18/12) and vertically-extending tub sidewalls(vertically-extending sidewalls of 30/18/12) extending upwardly from the laterally- extending tub base(laterally-extending base of 30/18/12), wherein the laterally-extending tub base and vertically-extending tub sidewalls(vertically-extending sidewalls of 30/18/12) define a resistor tub interior opening(opening of 30/18/12); a dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] formed in the resistor tub interior opening(opening of 30/18/12); and a resistive element(54r/57rb) formed over the dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] in the resistor tub interior opening(opening of 30/18/12), the resistive element(54r/57rb) including a pair of resistor heads(54r) connected by a laterally-extending resistor body(57rb), wherein the dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] electrically insulates the resistive element(54r/57rb) from the resistor tub(30/18/12).
Woo does not disclose a resistor tub(30/18/12) formed from a conformal metal;
Hoentschel discloses in Fig 11 a resistor tub(138)[0035,0036 of Hoentschel] formed from a conformal metal;
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Hoentschel to the teachings of Woo in order to enhance signal processing performance [0002, Hoentschel].
Re claim 2 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, wherein the laterally-extending resistor body(57rb) has a vertical thickness[0139] of at least 0.5 pm.
Re claim 3 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, wherein the resistive element(54r/57rb) has a dog-bone shape.
Re claim 4 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, wherein the conformal metal[0135,0136 of Hoentschel] comprises tungsten.
Re claim 5 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, wherein the resistive element(54r/57rb) comprises nickel chromium, tantalum nitride, silicon chromium, silicon carbide chrome, or titanium nitride[0119].
Re claim 6 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, comprising a pair of resistor head connection elements(see Fig 5) formed in a metal interconnect layer[0127,0128] and conductively connected to the pair of resistor heads(54r).
Re claim 7 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, wherein the integrated resistor is formed between a shallow trench insulation (STI) field oxide region(6s) and a metal interconnect layer[0127,0128].
Re claim 8 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, wherein the integrated resistor is formed between a polysilicon layer[0031] and a metal interconnect layer[0127,0128].
Re claim 9 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 1, wherein the integrated resistor is formed between two metal interconnect layer[0127,0128]s.
Re claim 10 Woo discloses in Fig 5/6 an integrated circuit (IC) device, comprising: an IC structure including a vertically-extending contact(78/79) comprising a first portion of a conformal metal layer[0119]; and an integrated resistor comprising: a resistor tub(30/18/12), the resistor tub(30/18/12) including a laterally-extending tub base and vertically-extending tub sidewalls(vertically-extending sidewalls of 30/18/12) extending upwardly from the laterally-extending tub base, wherein the laterally-extending tub base and vertically-extending tub sidewalls(vertically-extending sidewalls of 30/18/12) define a resistor tub interior opening(opening of 30/18/12);a dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] formed in the resistor tub interior opening(opening of 30/18/12); anda resistive element(54r/57rb) formed over the dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] in the resistor tub interior opening(opening of 30/18/12), the resistive element(54r/57rb) including a pair of resistor heads(54r) connected by a laterally-extending resistor body(57rb),wherein the dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] electrically insulates the resistive element(54r/57rb) from the resistor tub(30/18/12).
Woo does not disclose a resistor tub(30/18/12) comprising a second portion of the conformal metal layer
Hoentschel discloses in Fig 11 a resistor tub(138)[0035,0036 of Hoentschel][0035] comprising a second portion of the conformal metal layer
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Hoentschel to the teachings of Woo in order to enhance signal processing performance [0002, Hoentschel].
Re claim 11 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the IC device of Claim 10, wherein the IC structure comprises a transistor[0041] structure and the vertically-extending contact(78/79) comprises a transistor[0041] gate contact.
Re claim 12 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the IC device of Claim 10, wherein the IC structure comprises an interconnect structure[0127,0128] and the vertically-extending contact(78/79) comprises an interconnect via.
Re claim 13 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the IC device of Claim 10, wherein:the vertically-extending contact(78/79) has a lateral width in the range of 0.1-0.5 pm[0108]; and the laterally-extending resistor body(57rb) of the resistive element(54r/57rb) has a lateral width in the range of 1-100 pm and a vertical thickness of at least 0.5 pm[0108,0139].
Re claim 14 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the IC device of Claim 10, wherein:the conformal metal[0135,0136 of Hoentschel] layer comprises tungsten; and the resistive element(54r/57rb) comprises nickel chromium, tantalum nitride, silicon chromium, silicon carbide chrome, or titanium nitride[0119].
Re claim 15 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the IC device of Claim 10, comprising (a) a pair of resistor head connection elements(see Fig 5) and (b) an IC device connection element, formed in a common metal layer; wherein the pair of resistor head connection elements(see Fig 5) are conductively connected to the pair of resistor heads(54r); and wherein the IC device connection element is conductively connected to the vertically- extending contact(see Fig 6).
Re claim 21 Woo discloses in Fig 5/6 an integrated resistor, comprising: a dog-bone shaped resistor tub(30/18/12); a dog-bone shaped dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] formed in the opening defined by the dog-bone shaped resistor tub(30/18/12); and a dog-bone shaped resistive element(54r/57rb) formed over the dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] in the opening defined by the dog-bone shaped resistor tub(30/18/12), the dog-bone shaped resistive element(54r/57rb) including a pair of resistor heads(54r) connected by a laterally-extending resistor body(57rb); wherein the dielectric liner(51r/33r)[0046] electrically insulates the dog-bone shaped resistive element(54r/57rb) from the dog-bone shaped resistor tub(30/18/12).
Woo does not disclose a resistor tub(30/18/12) formed from a conformal metal;
Hoentschel discloses in Fig 11 a resistor tub(138)[0035,0036 of Hoentschel] formed from a conformal metal[0035];
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Hoentschel to the teachings of Woo in order to enhance signal processing performance [0002, Hoentschel].
Re claim 22 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 21, wherein an upper surface of the dog- bone shaped resistor tub(30/18/12) and an upper surface of the dog-bone shaped resistive element(54r/57rb) are coplanar(see Fig 6).
Re claim 23 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 21, wherein the dog-bone shaped resistor tub(30/18/12) includes a laterally-extending tub base(laterally-extending base of 30/18/12) and vertically-extending tub sidewalls(vertically-extending sidewalls of 30/18/12) extending upwardly from the laterally-extending tub base.
Re claim 24 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 21, wherein the integrated resistor is formed between a polysilicon layer[0031] and a metal interconnect layer[0127,0128].
Re claim 25 Woo and Hoentschel disclose the integrated resistor of Claim 21, wherein the integrated resistor is formed between two metal interconnect layer[0127,0128]s.
Conclusion
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/PATRICIA D VALENZUELA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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