DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the election submitted on 06 November 2025. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, on which claims 1-15 and 20 are readable, in the reply filed on 06 November 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 4, 5, 8, 14, 15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schwarzenbach, US 2022/0051934.
With respect to claim 1, Schwarzenbach disclose a composite substrate, shown in Fig. 1E, comprising:
a supporting substrate layer 20;
a buried layer 14 patterned on the supporting substrate layer 20, the buried layer 14 being provided with a plurality of grooves 30 arranged at intervals and at least partially penetrating the buried layer 14, as shown in Fig. 1B; and
a growth substrate layer 11 on the buried layer 14,
wherein the supporting substrate layer 20 comprises a charge trapping region beneath the plurality of grooves (In paragraph [0058], Schwarzenbach discloses the supporting substrate 20 can comprise a functional layer, such as, a charge trapping layer, for example, based on polycrystalline silicon. Therefore, the charge trapping region is a polysilicon layer formed on the supporting substrate 20. This is shown in Fig. 4, wherein a functional layer 61, such as a charge trapping layer, is formed on supporting substrate 20, see paragraph [0110].), and on a plane where the supporting substrate layer 20 is located (an horizontal plane), shapes of projections of the charge trapping region (a polysilicon layer) and a corresponding groove 30 overlap, since the charge trapping region extends over the entire surface of supporting substrate 20 (as shown in Fig. 4 (layer 61)).
With respect to claim 4, in the composite substrate of Schwarzenbach, in a direction perpendicular to the plane where the supporting substrate layer is located (an horizontal plane), a cross-sectional shape of the charge trapping region comprises at least one of a rectangle, a triangle, a trapezoidal shape or a water droplet shape. The cross-sectional shape will be rectangular, since the charge trapping region is a polysilicon layer, with a cross-section in the shape of a rectangle.
With respect to claim 5, in the composite substrate of Schwarzenbach, on the plane where the supporting substrate layer is located, shapes of projections of the plurality of grooves 30 comprise at least one of a triangle, a circle, an ellipse, a polygon, a strip or a mesh. As shown in Fig. 1B of Schwarzenbach, the shape of the projection of grooves 30 would be a strip.
With respect to claim 8, in the composite substrate of Schwarzenbach, a thickness of the charge trapping region ( layer 61 in Fig. 4) is less than or equal to that of the supporting substrate layer 20, see Fig. 4 and paragraphs 00058] and [0110].
With respect to claim 14, in the composite substrate of Schwarzenbach, materials of the supporting substrate layer 20 and the growth substrate layer 11 comprise silicon, see paragraphs [0058] and [0064].
With respect to claim 15, in the composite substrate of Schwarzenbach, a material of the buried layer 14 comprises at least one of silicon oxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or aluminum nitride, see paragraph [0063].
With respect to claim 20, Schwarzenbach disclose a semiconductor device, see paragraph [0087], comprising:
a composite substrate, shown in Fig. 1E, comprising:
a supporting substrate layer 20;
a buried layer 14 patterned on the supporting substrate layer 20, the buried layer 14 being provided with a plurality of grooves 30 arranged at intervals and at least partially penetrating the buried layer 14, as shown in Fig. 1B; and
a growth substrate layer 11 on the buried layer 14,
wherein the supporting substrate layer 20 comprises a charge trapping region beneath the plurality of grooves 30 (In paragraph [0058], Schwarzenbach discloses the supporting substrate 20 can comprise a charge trapping layer, for example, based on polycrystalline silicon. Therefore, the charge trapping region is a polysilicon layer formed on the supporting substrate 20. This is shown in Fig. 4, wherein a functional layer 61, such as a charge trapping layer, is formed on supporting substrate 20, see paragraph [0110].), and on a plane where the supporting substrate layer 20 is located (an horizontal plane), shapes of projections of the charge trapping region (a polysilicon layer) and a corresponding groove overlap, since the charge trapping region extends over the entire surface of supporting substrate 20 (as shown in Fig. 4 (layer 61)).
Examiner Comment
As shown in Fig. 1B of Schwarzenbach, the buried layer 14 is patterned to form grooves 30, see paragraph [0034]. Admittedly, the grooves 30 are subsequently filled with polysilicon. However, the independent claims 1 and 20 do not preclude the filling of the grooves in the buried layer.
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 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schwarzenbach, US 2022/0051934, as applied to claim 1 above, further in view of Peidous et al., US 2021/0384070.
With respect to claim 13, Schwarzenbach lacks anticipation of the resistivity of the supporting substrate. In the same field of endeavor, Peidous et al. disclose the use of high resistivity supporting substrates 102 in composite substrates for use in RF devices, which is what the composite substrate of Schwarzenbach is used for, the substrates having a resistivity of at least about 1000 Ohm-cm. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that a material of the supporting substrate layer 20 has a resistivity of at least 1000 Ohm-cm .
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.
Claims 1-15 and 20 are 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.
Independent claims 1 and 20 require “on a plane where the supporting substrate layer is located, shapes of projections of the charge trapping region and a corresponding groove overlap”. It is unclear what is meant by this limitation. In rejecting the claims above, a plane where the supporting substrate is located has been taken to be an horizontal plane. As noted in the above rejection, based on this interpretation, shapes of projections of the charge trapping region (rectangular) and a corresponding groove 30 (strip) would overlap. However, the language of a claim must clearly and precisely define the metes and bounds of the claimed invention, since patented claims place the public on notice of the scope of the patentee's right to exclude. It is important that a person of ordinary skill in the art be able to interpret the metes and bounds of the claims so as to understand how to avoid infringement of the patent that ultimately issues from this application.
Claims 2-15 are rejected, since they inherit the indefiniteness of the claims from which they depend.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 6, 7, and 9-12 are would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Although Dietrich et al., US 2002/0173118, disclose forming a silicide region 414 under a buried oxide layer 405, as shown in Fig. 1c, none of the references teach or suggest a composite substrate further comprising: a metal silicide layer enclosing an upper surface and a lower surface of the buried layer, as required in claim 2.
With respect to claim 3, none of the references of record teach or suggest an ion is doped in a material of the charge trapping region, and a variation trend, along a direction away from the growth substrate layer, of a content of the ion doped in the material of the charge trapping region comprises one of the followings: increasing, decreasing or first increasing and then decreasing.
Although Schwarzenbach discloses a buried layer provided with a plurality of grooves, Schwarzenbach fails to teach or suggest a quantity of the plurality of grooves per unit area gradually decreases from a center of the composite substrate to an edge of the composite substrate, as required in dependent claim 6, or on the plane where the supporting substrate layer is located, areas of projections of the plurality of grooves gradually decrease from a center of the composite substrate to an edge of the composite substrate, as required in dependent claim 7.
Since Schwarzenbach teaches a charge trapping region disposed on the supporting substrate 20, Schwarzenbach fails to teach or suggest the supporting substrate layer further comprises a substrate structure region enclosing the charge trapping region, a conductivity type of the substrate structure region is an n type or a p type, and a conductivity type of the charge trapping region is opposite to that of the substrate structure region, as required in dependent claim 9. Claims 10-12 are objected to because of their dependency from claim 9.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The additionally cited references disclose various composite substrates having buried layers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARY A WILCZEWSKI whose telephone number is (571)272-1849. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH 7:30 AM-5:00 PM.
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MARY A. WILCZEWSKI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2898
/MARY A WILCZEWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898