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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/10/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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) 1-2 and 5-7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao et al. US 9,640,615 in view of Tang et al. US 2022/0131013.
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Xiao et al. US 9,640,615
Regarding claim 1, Xiao al. in Fig. 1 (annotated above) and col. 3, line 64-col. 4, line 65 discloses a semiconductor device, comprising:
a first region, and a second region and a third region located on respective sides of the first region;
a first nanowire heterojunction 210 (211, 212, 220), the first nanowire heterojunction comprising a first gate section corresponding to the first region, a first source section corresponding to the second region, and a first drain section corresponding to the third region;
the first source section and the first drain section being located on an upper surface of the first support structure 300; and
a source 241 located on an upper surface of the first source section, a drain 242 located on an upper surface of the first drain section, and a ring-shaped gate 230 wrapping the first gate section.
Xiao et al. discloses a first nanowire 210( 211, 212) that is a continuous structural layer that extends at least through the source 241, the ring-shaped gate 230 and the drain 242, and the first nanowire heterojunction comprises, from bottom to top, a first channel layer 210 and a first barrier layer 220.
Xiao et al. does not expressly disclose a first support structure located at least on the second region and the third region; wherein the first nanowire heterojunction is a continuous structural layer that extends at least through the source, the ring-shaped gate and the drain, and the first nanowire heterojunction comprises, from bottom to top, a first channel layer and a first barrier layer that are continuously extending along a length direction of the first nanowire heterojunction.
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Tang et al. US 2022/0131013
However, in analogous art, Tang et al. in Figs. 1A-3C and [0018]-[0033] teaches a semiconductor device 300 that provides improved current density and improved electrical coupling for channels of GAA HEMTs including a support structure (i.e. sacrificial layer, 114A), a nanowire, comprising, from bottom to top, a channel layer 110 and a barrier layer 112B.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Tang et al. in the semiconductor device of Xiao et al. for the purpose of improving the device performance.
Regarding claim 2, Xiao et al. in view of Tang et al. teaches the semiconductor device according to claim 1. Tang et al. teaches in [0020] a support structure 114A located only on a source region 302 and drain region 304 of the multichannel GAA HEMT.
Regarding claim 5, Xiao et al. in view of Tang et al. teaches the semiconductor device according to claim 5. Tang et al. teaches wherein the semiconductor device comprises two or more first nanowire heterojunctions 112A, 110A, 112B, 112C, 110B, 112D.
Regarding claim 6, Xiao et al. in view of Tang et al. teaches the semiconductor device according to claim 5. Tang et al. teaches wherein the two or more first nanowire heterojunctions 112A, 110A, 112B, 112C, 110B, 112D share a source section 302 and/or a first drain section 304.
Regarding claim 7, Xiao et al. in view of Tang et al. teaches the semiconductor device according to claim 5. Tang et al. teaches wherein a ring-shaped gate wrapping each of the two or more first nanowire heterojunctions 112A, 110A, 112B, 112C, 110B, 112D are separated from each other, or connected together.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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: the prior art neither anticipates nor renders obvious, in the context of the claims:
the first nanowire heterojunction is wrapped by a first anti-scattering layer.
Conclusion
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/Sonya McCall-Shepard/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898