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 Group I in the reply filed on 06/05/2025 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 Objections
Claim 16 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 16 line 6 “shared plate-lint (PL)” should be “shared plate-[[lint]line (PL)”
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 16-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Number 5,990,507 to Mochizuki et al., “Mochizuki”, in view of “Low fatigue lead zirconate titanate-based capacitors modified by manganese for nonvolatile memories” by Q. Zhang and R.W. Whatmore in Materials Science and Engineering B 109 (2004) 136–140, “Zhang”.
Regarding claim 16, Mochizuki discloses a system (e.g. FIG. 3A-3C applied to FIG. 2) comprising:
a processor circuitry (e.g. FIG. 2 word line selector 81 or capacitor plate line selector 82); and
a non-volatile memory (memory cell array 90, column 14 lines 31-32) coupled to the processor circuitry, wherein the non-volatile memory includes a bit-cell array with differential bit-cells (MC), wherein one of the differential bit-cell (FIG. 3A-3C) includes two bit-cells (MC) with a first bit-line (BL1), a second bit-line (
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), a word-line (WL), and a shared plate-[[lint]]line (PL) which is shared between the two bit-cells, wherein each of the two bit-cells includes a corresponding non-volatile structure which includes a ferroelectric material (ferroelectric capacitors C1 and C2, column 2 lines 18-19).
Although Mochizuki teaches wherein the ferroelectric material may be PZT (Pb (Zr, Ti) O3) (column 5 lines 7-8), Mochizuki fails to clearly teach wherein the ferroelectric material is doped with Sc or Mn dopants to control leakage through the differential bit-cell.
Zhang teaches modifying PZT (Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O3, Abstract) by including Mn (manganese) dopants to reduce memory cell fatigue (Abstract, page 137 Results and discussion).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one having ordinary skill in the art to have formed the device of Mochizuki with Mn (manganese) dopants in the ferroelectric capacitor’s PZT material as taught by Zhang in order to desirably achieve low fatigue characteristics (Zhang Abstract, page 137 3. Results and discussion, page 140 4. Conclusions).
Regarding claim 17, Mochizuki in view of Zhang yields the system of claim 16, and Zhang further teaches wherein the Mn dopants achieve a spontaneous distortion (i.e. the ferroelectric PZT achieves “switchable polarization”) in the ferroelectric material less than or equal to 2% (page 138 Fig. 1 “Mn level: (a) 0 mol%; (b) 0.2 mol%; (c) 0.5 mol%; (d) 1 mol%; (e) 2 mol%;”).
Regarding claim 18, Mochizuki in view of Zhang yields the system of claim 16, and Zhang further teaches wherein the Mn dopants achieve a spontaneous distortion in the ferroelectric material (i.e. the ferroelectric PZT achieves “switchable polarization”) in range of 0.3% to 2% (page 138 Fig. 1 “Mn level: (a) 0 mol%; (b) 0.2 mol%; (c) 0.5 mol%; (d) 1 mol%; (e) 2 mol%;”).
Regarding claim 19, Mochizuki in view of Zhang yields the system of claim 16, wherein the differential bit-cells are configured to compensate for asymmetry in the non-volatile structure (i.e. insofar as the cell configuration is equivalent to Applicant’s differential bit cell configuration).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 are allowed.
Claims 20-25 objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Prior art e.g. Mochizuki as discussed above and e.g. U.S. 2003/0129847 to Celii et al. FIG. 2, U.S. Patent Number 5,430,671 to Hirano et al. FIG. 1, U.S. Patent Number 5,515,312 to Nakamura et al. FIG. 1, U.S. Patent Number 6,038,160 to Nakane et al. Fig. 1, U.S. Patent Number 5,400,275 to Abe et al. Fig. 8, generally teach differential bit cells including ferroelectric capacitors.
Prior art e.g. Zhang as discussed above teaches modifying a ferroelectric capacitor dielectric by including Mn (manganese) dopants and prior art e.g. U.S. Patent Number 8,076,705 B2 to Baniecki et al. teaches adding Sc dopants (FIG. 1) to a ferroelectric capacitor dielectric to provide sufficient reliability (Title).
Prior art e.g. U.S. Patent Number 6,635,498 B2 to Summerfelt et al. teaches forming a sidewall dielectric to a ferroelectric capacitor to protect the ferroelectric material (Abstract).
However, prior art fails to reasonably teach or suggest together: wherein each of the first and second non-volatile structures comprises: a first layer comprising a first refractive inter-metallic material, wherein the first layer is adjacent to the drain or source of the first or second transistor; a second layer comprising a first conductive oxide, wherein the second layer is adjacent to the first layer; a third layer comprising a ferroelectric material, wherein the third layer is adjacent to the second layer, wherein the ferroelectric material is doped with Sc or Mn dopants to control leakage through the third layer; a fourth layer comprising a second conductive oxide, wherein the fourth layer is adjacent to the third layer; a fifth layer comprising a second refractive inter-metallic material, wherein the fifth layer is adjacent to the PL and adjacent to the fourth layer; a sixth layer directly adjacent to first sides of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth layers; and a seventh layer directly adjacent to second sides of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth layers, wherein the sixth and the seventh layers comprise a barrier material, together with all of the other limitations of claim 1 as claimed. Claims 2-9 are allowable insofar as they depend upon and include all of the limitations of allowable claim 1. Claim 20 is objected to as being allowable for similar reasons to claim 1 and claims 21-25 are objected to as being allowable insofar as they depend upon and include all of the limitations of claim 20 and 16.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC A WARD whose telephone number is (571)270-3406. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10-6 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Matthew Landau can be reached at (571)272-1731. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Eric A. Ward/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2891
Prosecution Insights