DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Amendment filed April 6, 2026.
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 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.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
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 of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-14 and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain 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 inventors, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Regarding claims 1 and 12, Applicants originally disclosed in paragraph [0057] of current application that “Referring to FIGS. 8A-8C, a photoresist layer (not shown) may be applied over the dielectric material layer 40, and may be lithographically patterned to form discrete openings therein (emphasis added)”, and paragraph [0057] of current application is the only place Applicants mentioned “openings” in the original specification;
In addition, Applicants originally disclosed in paragraph [0061] of current application that “Specifically, a reduction process can be performed on the exposed portions of the in-process capping layer 26 (emphasis added),” that “The dielectric metal oxide material within the exposed portions of the in-process capping layer 26 are reduced into at least one metal that is free of oxygen,” that “In other words, the oxygen atoms in the exposed portions of the in-process capping layer 26 are removed during the reduction process, thereby reducing the dielectric metal oxide material of the physically exposed portions of the in-process capping layer 26 into metallic material portions consisting essentially of the at least one metal (as provided in the continuous capping material layer 26L),” that “In one embodiment, the reduction process comprises a hydrogen plasma treatment process,” that “The hydrogen plasma reacts with the oxygen atoms in the in-process capping layer 26 to generate water vapors, which are volatilized and pumped out of the plasma treatment chamber,” and that “Atoms of the at least one metal that loses the oxygen atoms coalesce to form metal plates, which comprise the conductive capping material portions 28M.”
Furthermore, Applicants originally disclosed in paragraph [0074] of current application that “Referring to FIGS. 11A-11C, a second configuration of an embodiment structure is illustrated after formation of conductive capping material portions 28I,” and that “The second configuration of the exemplary structure can be derived from the exemplary structure illustrated in FIGS. 8A-8C by performing an ion implantation process that implants atoms of at least one additional metal into the physically exposed portions of the in-process capping layer 26 (emphasis added).”
Therefore, Applicants did not originally disclose that the dielectric capping material has “a first opening in which the first conductive capping material portion is located” and “a second opening in which the second conductive capping material portion is located” as recited on lines 10-12 of the amended claims 1 and 12, because (a) there are no openings associated with the first and second conductive capping material portions 28I shown in Fig. 12 of current application, which is directed to Applicants’ elected species, (b) even though the lines corresponding to the sidewalls of the first and second conductive capping material portion 28I look perfectly straight and vertical in Fig. 12 of current application, actual sidewalls of the first and second conductive capping material portion 28I would be not so straight and not so perfectly vertical since (i) the originally disclosed reduction process and ion implantation process are distinct from any etching process that may form the claimed openings, (ii) the reduction process would occur outside of the source cavity 51 and the drain cavity 59 shown in Fig. 11 of current application due to diffusion of hydrogen ions included in the hydrogen plasma disclosed by Applicants, (iii) ions are implanted along multiple directions during an ion implantation process and scattered by atoms constituting the target material, and also implanted ions can diffuse into neighboring layers such as the dielectric capping material portion 28D shown in Fig. 12B of current application, and (c) therefore, the first and second conductive capping material portion would look very different from undisclosed conductive capping material portions deposited inside openings of a dielectric capping material portion, and openings corresponding to actual shapes of the first and second conductive capping material portion may not even be formed due to complexity of the reduction and ion implantation processes, and diffusion of the implanted ions. Claims 2-11 and 27 depend on claim 1, and claims 13 and 14 depend on claim 12, and therefore, claims 2-11, 13, 14 and 27 also fail to comply with the written description requirement.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21-25 are allowed, because Yamazaki does not disclose the newly added limitations to claim 21, which were the limitations of the previously presented claim 26 that the Examiner objected to in the Non Final Office Action mailed January 2, 2026.
Response to Arguments
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claims 1 and 12 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
Applicants' amendment necessitated the new grounds of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicants are 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 JAY C KIM whose telephone number is (571) 270-1620. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM-6:00 PM EST.
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/JAY C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815
/J. K./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815 May 22, 2026
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