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
Species 1 is elected.
Amendment filed on August 06, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 7-10 have been cancelled. Claims 1 and 11 have been amended. Non-elected Species, Claims 14-21 have been withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1-6 and 11-21 are pending.
Action on merits of the Elected Species, claims 1-6 and 11-13 follows.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1-6 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
There does not appear to be a written description of the claim limitation “wherein the channel having a doping profile defined by a P-type dopant of about 3x1017 per cm3 at about 0.05 µm to about 0.2 µm below surface of the channel” (amended claim 1) (emphasis added) in the application as filed.
Applicant asserts that the support for the claimed limitations above are based on the information as shown in FIG. 16.
However, the three profiles in FIG. 16 are those of 1) n-type source region; 2) p-type base contact; and 3) p-type base region. According to the specification, this is not the doping profile of the channel.
The specification fails to provide support for the “doping profile” of the channel.
It is well known in the art that, the channel region starts from the surface to an unknown depth.
Applicant must cancel the un-support new matters in response to the Office Action.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-6 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Amended claim 1 recites: “wherein the channel having a doping profile defined by a P-type dopant of about 3x1017 per cm3 at about 0.05 µm to about 0.2 µm below surface of the channel”.
The terms “the channel having a doping profile defined by …” and “… below surface of the channel” are contradictory.
How can the “profile of the channel” be defined by anything below the channel?
Therefore, claim 1 and all dependent claims are indefinite.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 11 recites: “the MOS-based power device of claim 1, wherein … the channel length has a range of between about 0.4 µm and about 0.3 µm”.
However, claim 1 has already claimed “wherein the channel length has a range of between about 0.4 µm and about 0.3 µm”
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.
Claims 1-6 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over SAGGIO et al. (US. Patent No. 8,344,449) of record.
With respect to claim 1, As best understood by the Examiner, SAGGIO teaches a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS)-based power device in 4H-SiC semiconductor, substantially as claimed including:
a semiconductor region (2);
a drain electrode (30) and a source electrode (45);
a gate electrode (31) separated from the semiconductor region (2) by silicon dioxide (23) as a dielectric material, wherein a load current passing through the drain (30) and source (45) electrodes is controlled by an electric field induced by the gate electrode (31) into the semiconductor region (2) thereby forming a conductive channel defined by a channel length (Ld);
wherein the channel length (Ld) has a range of between 0.7 µm and about 0.3 µm, hence overlapping the range of between about 0.4 µm and about 0.3 µm, the silicon dioxide (23) has a corresponding thickness range of between about 10 nm to about 100 nm, hence overlapping the claimed range of between 5 nm to about 20 nm,
wherein the device is configured to withstand greater than 100 V (from 500V to 1000V) between the source (45) and the drain (30) electrodes while carrying the load current, and
wherein the channel having a doping profile defined by a P-type dopant of about 3x1017 per cm3 at about 0.05 µm to about 0.2 µm below surface of the channel. (See FIG. 14).
The term “wherein a load current passing through the drain and source electrodes is controlled by an electric field induced by the gate electrode into the semiconductor region thereby forming a conductive channel” is the function of the MOS-based power device.
The term “configured to withstand greater than 100 V between the source and the drain electrodes while carrying the load current”, is the function of the MOS-based power device.
Since the MOS-based power device of SAGGIO comprising the limitations as described above, the power device of SAGGIO is fully function as claimed.
Regarding the limitation “wherein the channel having a doping profile defined by a P-type dopant of about 3x1017 per cm3 at about 0.05 µm to about 0.2 µm below surface of the channel”, SAGGIO explicitly disclosing the channel concentration of 3x1017 per cm3; and the depth of the body region being between 0.5 µm to 1 µm.
Since the “channel region” is surface induced by the gate voltage, therefore, the doping profile at 0.05 µm to about 0.2 µm below surface is obviously met.
It is well settled that "[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955) (Claimed process which was performed at a temperature between 40 ºC and 80 ºC and an acid concentration between 25% and 70% was held to be prima facie obvious over a reference process which differed from the claims only in that the reference process was performed at a temperature of 100 ºC and an acid concentration of 10%.); see also Peterson, 315 F.3d at 1330, 65 USPQ2d at 1382 ("The normal desire of scientists or artisans to improve upon what is already generally known provides the motivation to determine where in a disclosed set of percentage ranges is the optimum combination of percentages.").
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention was made to form the MOS-based power device of SAGGIO to optimize the parameters through routine experimentation.
With respect to claim 2, material of the drain, source, and gate electrodes of SAGGIO comprises one or more of copper, silver, gold, carbon, graphite, nickel, titanium, aluminum, polysilicon, and graphene.
With respect to claim 3, the semiconductor region (2) of SAGGIO comprises an N-type conductivity type and a P-type conductivity type.
With respect to claim 4, the semiconductor region (2) of SAGGIO comprises a first semiconductor region, a second semiconductor region, and a third semiconductor region.
With respect to claim 5, the first semiconductor region of SAGGIO has a dopant level higher than a dopant level of the second semiconductor region.
With respect to claim 6, the third semiconductor region of SAGGIO has a dopant level higher than a dopant level of the second semiconductor region.
With respect to claim 11, As best understood by the Examiner, the dielectric material 23 of SAGGIO is the same silicon dioxide, and similar thickness, thus, capacitance per unit area of the dielectric material (23) of SAGGIO is greater than about 1.15 x10-7 F/cm2 and the channel length has a (sic) range that overlaps the claimed range of between about 0.4 µm and about 0.3 µm.
The power device of SAGGIO comprises the same dielectric material with the similar thickness, Thus, obviously has the same capacitance per unit area.
With respect to claim 12, the device of SAGGIO is a planar MOS field effect transistor (MOSFET).
With respect to claim 13, the planar MOSFET of SAGGIO is a DMOSFET.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claim(s) 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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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