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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, 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.
Claim 20 recites the limitation "the hafnium or zirconium oxide containing backside blocking dielectric layer”" in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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) 28 and 30-31 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharangpani et al. (US 2018/0033646, of record) in view of Gandhi (US 2021/0217863, of record).
Regarding claim 28, Sharangpani et al. discloses, as shown in Figures, a three-dimensional memory device comprising:
an alternating stack of insulating layers (32) and electrically conductive layers (46);
memory openings (49) vertically extending through the alternating stack;
memory opening fill structures (55) located in the memory openings; and
a backside blocking dielectric layer (66); wherein:
each of the memory opening fill structures comprises a respective vertical stack of memory elements (50) and a vertical semiconductor channel (60);
each of the electrically conductive layers comprises a metal layer and a tungsten nitride containing diffusion barrier layer (46A); and
the backside blocking dielectric layer is located between the tungsten nitride containing diffusion barrier layer (46A) and the memory opening fill structures (55).
Sharangpani et al. discloses the backside blocking dielectric layer comprising aluminum oxide, a dielectric oxide of at least one transition metal element, a dielectric oxide of at least one Lanthanide element, etc. [0102]. Sharangpani et al. does not disclose the backside blocking dielectric layer comprising hafnium oxide. However, Grandhi discloses a dielectric barrier material (44) formed within voids (42), and the dielectric barrier material (44) is hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, hafnium silicate, or zirconium silicate ([0042]-[0043] and Figure 7 of Grandhi. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time the invention was made to form the backside blocking dielectric layer of Sharangpani et al. comprising hafnium oxide, such as taught by Grandhi since aluminum oxide and hafnium oxide, etc. are commonly used as the barrier dielectric layer and they are interchangeable.
Regarding claim 30, Sharangpani et al. and Grandhi disclose all of the claimed limitations except material of the metal layer. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to form the metal layer of Sharangpani et al. and Grandhi having the materials as that claimed by Applicant, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Regarding claim 31, Sharangpani et al. and Grandhi disclose the device further comprising an aluminum oxide backside blocking dielectric, wherein the hafnium oxide containing backside blocking dielectric layer (66) is spaced from the memory opening fill structures (46), the overlying one of the insulating layers, and the underlying one of the insulating layers (32) by the aluminum oxide backside blocking dielectric layer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-6, 9, 12, 15, and 21-27 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Applicant' s claims 1-6, 9, 12, 15, and 21-27 are allowable over the references of record because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed three-dimensional memory device comprising a hafnium-and-zirconium-containing backside blocking dielectric layer laterally spaced from the memory opening fill structures by cylindrical portions of the aluminum oxide backside blocking dielectric layer, the hafnium-and-zirconium-containing backside blocking dielectric layer is located between the tungsten nitride containing diffusion barrier layer and the aluminum oxide backside blocking dielectric layer, and the hafnium-and-zirconium-containing backside blocking dielectric layer comprises at least one of hafnium zirconium oxide or hafnium zirconium silicate, in combination with the remaining claimed limitations of claim 1; none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed three-dimensional memory device comprising a hafnium or zirconium oxide containing backside blocking dielectric layer, each of the electrically conductive layers comprises a metal layer and a tungsten boronitride diffusion barrier layer, and the hafnium or zirconium oxide containing backside blocking dielectric layer is located between the tungsten boronitride diffusion barrier layer and the memory opening fill structures, in combination with the remaining claimed limitations of claim 26.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 07/08/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
It is argued, at pages 11-12 of the Remarks, that the combination of references does not teach or suggest the unexpected synergy, as disclosed by this application. In response to applicant’s argument that there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation to combine the references, the examiner recognizes that obviousness may be established by combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so found either in the references themselves or in the knowledge generally available to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 5 USPQ2d 1596 (Fed. Cir. 1988), In re Jones, 958 F.2d 347, 21 USPQ2d 1941 (Fed. Cir. 1992), and KSR International Co. v. Teleflex, Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007). In this case, Grandhi discloses a dielectric barrier material (44) formed within voids (42), and the dielectric barrier material (44) is hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide, aluminum oxide, hafnium silicate, or zirconium silicate ([0042]-[0043]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art at the time the invention was made to form the backside blocking dielectric layer of Sharangpani et al. comprising hafnium oxide, such as taught by Grandhi since aluminum oxide and hafnium oxide, etc. are commonly used as the barrier dielectric layer and they are interchangeable.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG K VU whose telephone number is (571)272-1666. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday: 7am - 5pm.
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/HUNG K VU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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