STRUCTURE TO REGULATE MULTI-FILAMENT FORMATION ON MEMORY STRUCTURE

Application No. 18/238,736

• Filed: Aug 28, 2023
• Examiner: PRENTY, MARK V
• Art Unit: 2814
• Tech Center: 2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
• Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• OA Round: 1 (Non-Final)

Office Action

This Office Action is in response to the response filed on January 6, 2026.

Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-8, is acknowledged. Claims 9-19 are withdrawn from further consideration.

Claims 1 and 3-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang (United States Patent Application Publication 2024/0423105).
As to independent claim 1, Zhang discloses a resistive random access memory device (see the entire patent, including the Fig. 3E disclosure), comprising:
a bottom electrode 303;
a bottom layer 305 of dielectric material formed on the bottom electrode;
a plurality of conductive contacts 3053 extending from the bottom electrode through the bottom layer of dielectric material;
a top layer 307 of dielectric material formed on the bottom layer of dielectric material and on the conductive contacts;
a top electrode 309 on the top layer of dielectric material; and
at least one filament 335a extending from the plurality of conductive contacts through the top layer of dielectric material to the top electrode.
As to dependent claim 3, Zhang’s bottom layer 305 of dielectric material comprises a first dielectric material (page 4, paragraphs [0050-0051]) and its top layer 307 of dielectric material comprises a second dielectric material different from the first dielectric material (page 4, paragraph [0053]).
As to dependent claim 4, Zhang’s bottom layer 305 of dielectric material comprises a first dielectric material (page 4, paragraphs [0050-0051]) and its top layer 307 of dielectric material comprises one or more dielectric materials being different from the first dielectric material (page 4, paragraph [0053]).
As to dependent claim 5, Zhang’s at least one filament 335a comprises a conductive oxygen-vacancy-rich channel formed in the dielectric material 307 between the top electrode 309 and the plurality of conductive contacts 3053 (page 5, paragraph [0058]).
As to dependent claim 6, Zhang’s top layer 307 from which the oxygen-vacancy-rich channel 335a is formed comprises a metal oxide (page 4, paragraph [0053]).
As to dependent claim 7, Zhang’s metal oxide comprises one or more of WO, WOx, AlOx, AlNOx, HfOx, TaOₓ, ZnOx, ZrOx, TiOx, SrTiOx, MoOx, NbOx, CeOx, or combinations of the foregoing (page 4, paragraph [0053]).
As to dependent claim 8, a material of Zhang’s conductive contacts 3053 comprises one or more of Al, Cu, Pt, Pd, Ag, Au, Ru, W, WN, TiN, TaN, AIN, HfSi, or combinations of the foregoing (page 4, paragraph [0051]).

Claim 2 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 independent claim and any intervening claims.

Registered practitioners can telephone the examiner at [phone]. Any voicemail message left for the examiner should include the registration number of the registered practitioner calling. The examiner’s supervisor is Wael Fahmy, whose telephone number is [phone].
/MARK V PRENTY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814

Prosecution Timeline

• Aug 28, 2023: Application Filed
• Apr 13, 2026: Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)