DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Election filed on April 20, 2026.
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, claims 1-19 in the reply filed on April 20, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 20 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply.
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, 11, 14, 15 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Mallikarjunaswamy (US Pub. 2004/0110353 A1).
In re claim 1, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10) a structure comprising: a doped region (804) in a semiconductor substrate; at least two regions (818, 812) of semiconductor material comprising opposite doping types (N, P) over the doped region; and polysilicon regions (828, 830) over respective ones of the least two regions of semiconductor material.
In re claim 2, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) at least two regions of semiconductor material comprise n-SiGe material and p-SiGe material.
In re claim 3, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) the doped region in the semiconductor substrate comprises an n-type doped region underlying and contacting both the n-SiGe material and p-SiGe material.
In re claim 4, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) the n-SiGe material and the p-SiGe material are positioned at edges of a shallow trench isolation white boxes, not labeled) structure and are separated by a dielectric material (central white box, also not labeled).
In re claim 11, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) the doped region comprises a p-n junction.
In re claim 14, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) a structure comprising: a first doped region (804) of a first dopant type (N) in a semiconductor substrate; a first semiconductor layer (818) over the first doped region and have a first dopant type (N); a second semiconductor layer (812) over the first doped region and have a second dopant type (P), opposite to the first dopant type; and polysilicon regions (828,830) contacting the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer.
In re claim 15, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) the first semiconductor layer comprises p-SiGe layer and the second semiconductor layer comprises n-SiGi layer.
In re claim 17, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) the first doped region comprises a p-n junction.
In re claims 18 and 19, Mallikarjunaswamy shows (fig. 10; [0051-0052]) contacts (820) connecting to the polysilicon regions which are parallel to one another. The contacts connect to the polysilicon regions which are orthogonally positioned.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-10, 12, 13, and 16 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yu (US 6,605,493 B1), Mitra (US Pub. 2020/0411504 A1), Abou-Khalil (US Pub. 2011/0068364 A1), Vora Madhukar (WO-2008055095 A2), and Yu (CN-118366981-A) disclose various elements of the claims including the doped semiconductor regions, the first and second semiconductor layers and the polysilicon layers.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW E WARREN whose telephone number is (571)272-1737. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10am - 6pm.
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/MATTHEW E WARREN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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