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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) based upon provisional application PRO 63/422,451 filed on 11/04/2022.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election without traverse of “Invention I (claims 1-11)” in the reply filed on 02/17/2026, is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 8-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over US 2022/0131125 A1; Yushin et al.; 04/2022; (“125”).
Regarding Claim 1. 125 teaches in Figs. 2A,2C and 9A about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate (“forming a functional, conformal surface layer coating on a porous substrate”, [0009], Ln. 1-3) in a reactor chamber (Fig. 9A, item 901);
- executing a plurality of cycles (Fig. 2C, item Z CYCLES), a cycle comprising:
i) providing a first (Fig. 2C, step 202C) and second (Fig. 2C, step 204C) metal precursor into the reactor chamber in vapor phase (Fig. 2C, shows an ALD process item 200C; furthermore, ALD is a vapor-phase technique), the first metal precursor being provided during a first metal precursor pulse (Fig. 2C, step 202C, shows “single or multiple pulses” of a first metal precursor), the second metal precursor being provided during a second metal precursor pulse (Fig. 2C, step 204C, shows “single or multiple pulses” of a second metal precursor); and
ii) providing a chalcogenide reactant into the reactor chamber in vapor phase
during a chalcogenide reactant pulse (Fig. 2C, oxidizing step 206C “oxygen-containing compound (oxidizer), such as water (H2O), ozone (03), oxygen plasma”, [0130], Ln. 3-4);
thus forming the layer on the substrate (Fig. 2A, after step 4, layer item on the substrate item), wherein the first metal precursor is provided into the reactor chamber before the second metal precursor (Fig. 2A, step 1 occurs prior to step 3); and the first and second metal precursor are mutually different (“at 202C, a first metal precursor may be introduced in one or more pulses, and a second metal precursor may be introduced in one or more pulses at 204C”, [0148], Ln. 5-7).
125 does not teach about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, the method comprising the steps of:
the first and second metal precursor pulses are at least partially overlapping.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing date of the invention to have partially overlap through time the first and second metal precursor pulses, since it has been held that selection of any order of performing process steps is prima facie obvious in the absence of new or unexpected results and it would involve only routine skill in the art. In re Burhans, 154 F.2d 690, 69 USPQ 330 (CCPA 1946). See MPEP 2144.04.
Regarding Claim 2. 125 teaches in [0133] about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the first and second metal precursor each independently comprise a ligand chosen from the group consisting of: diketonate, alkoxide, diazadiene, amidinate, carboxylate, and cyclopentadienyl (“metal precursors for the metals … may comprise … metal alkoxides”, [0133], Ln. 1-6).
Regarding Claim 3. 125 teaches in [0170] about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the first and second metal precursor comprise a metal atom selected from nickel or copper (“active material … comprising copper, … nickel”, [0170], Ln. 2-15).
Regarding Claim 4. 125 teaches in Fig. 2C about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the chalcogenide reactant is selected from the group consisting of H20, H202, 03, 02, O-containing plasma, N20, NO, N205,0 radicals, H2S, H2S plasma, H2Se, Et2Se, Se2(Si(iPr)2)2, [(CH3)3Si]2Se, [(CH3)3Si]2Te, Te[OiPr]4, and combinations thereof (Fig. 2C, oxidizing step 206C, “oxygen-containing compound (oxidizer), such as water (H2O), ozone (03), oxygen plasma”, [0130], Ln. 3-4).
Regarding Claim 8. 125 teaches in [0125] about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the first and second precursors are provided into the reactor chamber at a temperature range of 80-400 °C (“-40° C. to around +400° C”, [0125], Ln. 33).
Regarding Claim 9. 125 teaches in Fig. 2C about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the pressure in the reaction chamber is not disclosed.
125 does not teach about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the pressure in the reaction chamber is between 0.1 and 100 Torr.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to experiment different pressure ranges for the reaction chamber including 0.1 to 100 Torr with routine experiment and optimization. In re Woodruff, 16 USPQ2d 1935, 1937 (Fed. Cir. 1990).
Regarding Claim 10. 125 teaches in Fig. 2A about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the first metal precursor pulse and the second metal precursor pulse are separated by a purge (step 2 includes a purge between pulses of the 1st and 2nd precursors).
Regarding Claim 11. 125 teaches in [0193] about a method of depositing p-type semiconducting oxide layer on a substrate by a cyclic deposition process, wherein the method is carried out until a layer having a thickness in the range of 0.2 nm to 30 nm is formed on the substrate. (“thickness may range from around 0.3 nm to around 100 nm”, [0193], Ln. 1-2)
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 are 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 base claim and any intervening claims, since the prior art does not teach or suggest the claimed limitations.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE ANDRES LOPEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-5763. The examiner can normally be reached M-F (8:30am to 5:00pm).
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/FERNANDO L TOLEDO/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2897
/JORGE ANDRES LOPEZ/Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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