DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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 .
Election
Applicant’s election of claims #1-12 and 21-28 in the reply filed on January 7, 2026 is acknowledged. Because the Applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.03(a)).
IDS
The IDS document(s) filed on September 12, 2023 and June 24, 2024 have been considered. Copies of the PTO-1449 documents are herewith enclosed with this office action.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “shared contact extending through the semiconductor fin to be electrically connected to the source/drain region and the first gate structure, the conductive feature contacting the shared contact” (claim 1); and “a shared contact extending through the semiconductor fin and connected to a back-side of the first gate electrode and a back-side of the source/drain region; a first gate contact extending through the semiconductor fin and connected to a back-side of the second gate electrode” (claim 8); and “a first conductive contact extending through the first semiconductor layer and electrically connected to the first source/drain region and the first gate structure” (claim 21) must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
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. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. 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 U.S.C. § 112(a)
The following is a quotation 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 21-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 112, 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 pre-AIA the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
As to claim 21, the limitation “a first conductive contact extending through the first semiconductor layer and electrically connected to the first source/drain region and the first gate structure” (emphasis added) comprises new matter. Refer to the 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) rejection below.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
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 1-12 and 21-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 112, 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 pre-AIA the applicant, regards as the invention.
As to claim 1, it is unclear how the “shared contact extending through the semiconductor fin to be electrically connected to the source/drain region and the first gate structure, the conductive feature contacting the shared contact” (emphasis added). The definition of “through” is ‘in one side and out the other’. Here, the drawings do not show a shared contact extending in one side and out the other side of the semiconductor fin 66.
As to claim 8, it is unclear how “a shared contact extending through the semiconductor fin and connected to a back-side of the first gate electrode and a back-side of the source/drain region; a first gate contact extending through the semiconductor fin and connected to a back- side of the second gate electrode” (emphasis added). The definition of “through” is ‘in one side and out the other’. Here, the drawings do not show a shared contact nor first gate contact extending in one side and out the other side of the semiconductor fin 66.
As to claim 21, it is unclear how “a first conductive contact extending through the first semiconductor layer and electrically connected to the first source/drain region and the first gate structure” (emphasis added). The definition of “through” is ‘in one side and out the other’. Here, the drawings do not show a first conductive contact extending in one side and out the other side of the semiconductor layer 66.
As to claims 1-3, it is unclear if “to be electrically connected” (emphasis added) states an intent or actual structure.
No Prior Art Applied
The Examiner was unable to find prior art applicable to the claims as presently written.
As to claim 1, Wang et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0335709 A1), hereafter “Wang”, teaches in FIG. 28A a first interconnect structure 150, a second interconnect structure 140 comprising a conductive feature 142, and a device layer 130 between the first interconnect structure and the second interconnect structure, the device layer comprising: a semiconductor fin 54, a first gate structure 104 on the semiconductor fin, a source/drain region 92 adjacent the first gate structure, and a shared contact 158 extending through the semiconductor fin to be electrically connected to the source/drain region. However, Wang does not teach the shared contact electrically connected to the first gate structure nor the conductive feature contacting the shared contact.
As to claim 8, Wang teaches in FIG. 28A a first gate electrode (left 104); a second gate electrode (middle 104); a source/drain region 92 besides the first gate electrode; and a semiconductor fin 54 on the source/drain region, the first gate electrode, and the second gate electrode; a shared contact 158 extending through the semiconductor fin and connected to a back-side of the first gate electrode and a back-side of the source/drain region; a first interconnect 150 on the shared contact, wherein the first interconnect structure comprises first conductive features 164, the first conductive features being electrically connected to the shared contact (via conductive line 160). However, Wang does not teach inter alia the first gate contact.
As to claim 21, Wang teaches in FIG. 28A a first semiconductor layer 54; a first gate structure 104 on a first side of the first semiconductor layer; a first source/drain region 92 on the first side of the first semiconductor layer and beside the first gate structure; a first conductive contact 158 extending through the first semiconductor layer and electrically connected to the first source/drain region. However, Wang does not teach the first conductive contact electrically connected to the first gate structure because of the contact etch stop layer 94 and the first ILD 96.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUBERR CHI whose telephone number is (571)270-3955. The examiner can normally be reached 10am to 6pm.
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/SUBERR L CHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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