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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 5/31/24. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(m) as the drawings contain solid black shading (e.g., 122a, 122b in Fig. 1B, 708 in Fig. 7B, 1208, 1210, 1212 in Fig. 12, etc.). Solid black shading areas are not permitted, except when used to represent bar graphs or color. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, and 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Su et al. (U.S. 2021/0376076 A1; “Su”).
Regarding claim 1, Su discloses an integrated circuit comprising:
A semiconductor device having a semiconductor region (88, Fig. 23A-C) extending in a first direction from a source or drain region (106, Fig. 23A-C), and a gate structure (120, Fig. 23A-C) extending in a second direction over the semiconductor region;
A dielectric wall (84, Fig. 23B-C) extending in the first direction through an entire thickness of the gate structure (120, Fig. 23B-C) and extending in the first direction adjacent to the source or drain region (106, Fig. 23C); and
A conductive contact (138, Fig. 23C) on at least a top surface of the source or drain region (106, Fig. 23C), wherein the conductive contact has a first section (portion of 138 having a height H8, Fig. 23C) directly above the source or drain region (106, Fig. 23C) and a second section (portion of 138 having a height H7, Fig. 23C) extending away from the source or drain region along the second direction and through a portion of the dielectric wall (84, Fig. 23C).
Regarding claim 3, Su discloses the semiconductor region (88, Fig. 23A-C) comprises a plurality of semiconductor nanoribbons (56B, 23A-C).
Regarding claim 8, Su discloses a printed circuit board ([0110]) incorporating the integrated circuit of claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection above).
Regarding claim 9, Su discloses an electronic device comprising
A chip package comprising one or more dies ([0002], [0003], [0110]), at least one of the one or more dies comprising:
A semiconductor device having a semiconductor region (88, Fig. 23A-C) extending in a first direction from a source or drain region (106, Fig. 23A-C), and a gate structure (120, Fig. 23A-C) extending in a second direction over the semiconductor region;
A dielectric wall (84, Fig. 23B-C) extending in the first direction through an entire thickness of the gate structure (120, Fig. 23B-C) and extending in the first direction adjacent to the source or drain region (106, Fig. 23C); and
A conductive contact (138, Fig. 23C) on at least a top surface of the source or drain region (106, Fig. 23C), wherein the conductive contact has a first section (portion of 138 having a height H8, Fig. 23C) directly above the source or drain region (106, Fig. 23C) and a second section (portion of 138 having a height H7, Fig. 23C) extending away from the source or drain region along the second direction and through a portion of the dielectric wall (84, Fig. 23C).
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) 2 and 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Su et al. (U.S. 2021/0376076 A1; “Su”) as applied to claims 1 and 8 above.
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Su discloses the conductive contact has a first section (portion of 138 having a height H8, Fig. 23C) a second section (portion of 138 having a height H7, Fig. 23C) with implicit thicknesses ([0088]) but does not disclose the first thickness is greater than the second thickness. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to select a first thickness to be greater than a second thickness, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-20 are allowed.
Claim 15 contains allowable subject matter because of the limitation the conductive contact has a first section directly above the first source or drain region and a second section extending away from the first section along the second direction and through a portion of the dielectric wall such that the second section extends over, but does not contact, the second source or drain region in combination with the other elements of the claim. Claims 16-20 depend on claim 15.
Claims 4-7 and 11-14 are 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.
Conclusion
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/REEMA PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812 4/23/2026
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