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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-13, and newly added claims 21-30 in the reply filed on March 9, 2026 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 3, 2024 was considered by the examiner.
The listing of references in the specification is not a proper information disclosure statement. 37 CFR 1.98(b) requires a list of all patents, publications, or other information submitted for consideration by the Office, and MPEP § 609.04(a) states, "the list may not be incorporated into the specification but must be submitted in a separate paper." Therefore, unless the references have been cited by the examiner on form PTO-892, they have not been considered. See ¶ 0006 of the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
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 9-13, and 26-30 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.
Regarding claim 9,
Claim 9 does not make sense because how can…
the charge-storage material having the second charge-trap density has more nitrogen than the charge-storage material having the second charge-trap density.
This claim requires the charge-storage material having the second charge-trap density to have more nitrogen than itself.
Examiner cannot without considerable speculation examiner the claim. In re Steele, 305 F.2d 859 (CCPA 1962); MPEP 2143.03(I).
Regarding claim 26,
Claim 26 is rejected for the same reasons as claim 9 above.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-8, 21-22, and 24-25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by Sharangpani et al. (US 2017/0278859 A1) (“Sharangpani”).
Regarding claim 1, Sharangpani teaches at least in figure 1-7D:
forming a stack comprising vertically-alternating first tiers (42/46) and second tiers (32),
the first tiers being conductive (46) and the second tiers being insulative at least in a finished-circuitry construction (32);
forming channel openings (49) through the first and second tiers (42/46);
forming charge-storage material (54) in the channel openings (49) through the first and second tiers (32 and 42/46),
the charge-storage material (54) comprising a first charge-trap density (¶ 0053, where 54 comprises SiON);
increasing the first charge-trap density of the charge-storage material that is in the first tiers as compared to the charge-storage material that is in the second tiers to a second charge-trap density (figure 7C; ¶¶ 0079-80, where SiON 54 is converted to SiN 354; where according to Applicant’s ¶ 0021 increasing is removing oxygen. This is what happens to 354 per the paragraphs above); and
forming channel material (60) in the channel openings (49) through the first and second tiers (32 and 42/46) and that is laterally-inward of the charge-storage material (54/354).
Regarding claim 2, Sharangpani teaches at least in figure 1-7D:
comprising forming the channel material after forming the charge-storage material (See figures 3A-3B, where 60 is formed after 54/354).
Regarding claim 3, Sharangpani teaches at least in figure 1-7D:
comprising forming the channel material before the increasing (figure 7B shows that 60 is formed before 354 in figure 7C).
Regarding claims 7-8, and 24-25, Sharangpani teaches at least in figure 1-7D:
wherein the charge-storage material comprises SixNyOz, where the x and the y are greater than 0, and where the z is 0 or greater than 0 (¶0053).
Regarding claim 21, Sharangpani teaches at least in figure 1-7D:
forming a stack comprising vertically-alternating first tiers (42/46) and second tiers (32),
the first tiers comprising sacrificial material (42) and the second tiers comprising non-sacrificial material (32) that is of different composition from that of the sacrificial material (¶ 0036),
the stack comprising memory-block regions (area of 50 with 354) ;
forming channel openings (49) through the first and second tiers in the memory-block regions (32 and 42/46);
forming insulator material (53) in the channel openings (49) through the first and second tiers (32 and 42/46),
the insulator material being of different composition from that of the sacrificial material and from that of the non-sacrificial material (¶ 0052);
forming charge-storage material (54) in the channel openings (49) through the first and second tiers (32 and 42/46) laterally-inward of the insulator material (53),
the charge-storage material comprising a first charge-trap density (based upon the material of 54 it will inherently have a first charge-trap density);
forming channel material (60) in the channel openings (49) through the first and second tiers (32 and 42/46) laterally-inward of the charge-storage material (54);
through horizontally-elongated trenches that individually extend through the first tiers and the second tiers between immediately-adjacent of the memory-block regions, removing the sacrificial material and the insulator material from the first tiers to expose the charge-storage material in the first tiers (figures 6-7B show this);
increasing the first charge-trap density of the exposed charge-storage material that is in the first tiers as compared to the charge-storage material that is in the second tiers to a second charge-trap density (figure 7C; ¶¶ 0079-80, where SiON 54 is converted to SiN 354; where according to Applicant’s ¶ 0021 increasing is removing oxygen. This is what happens to 354 per the paragraphs above); and
through the horizontally-elongated trenches, forming conducting material in the first tiers and that comprises control-gate lines in the memory-block regions (46; shown in figure 7E).
Regarding claim 22, Sharangpani teaches at least in figure 1-7D:
wherein the sacrificial material (42) comprises silicon nitride (¶ 0036, where 42 can be SiN, or SiON),
the non-sacrificial material comprises (32) silicon dioxide, and the insulator material comprises at least one of hafnium oxide, aluminum oxide, yttrium oxide, zirconium oxide, and SiCN (¶ 0036).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claim(s) 4-6, and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sharangpani.
Regarding claims 4-6, and 23, Sharangpani teaches at least in figure 1-7D:
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of invention, to optimize the second and arrive at the claim limitation. This is because the charge density of the charge storage material is a result dependent variable. This because one of ordinary skill in the art understands the charge density of the charge storage material, and know how to vary the material in order to change the charge density of said charge storage materials. ¶¶ 0053, 81, 0101. Further, all the necessary materials to form the claimed device are well-known in the art.
Therefore, with respect to these claims, because the general conditions are disclosed in the prior art is it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. See In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233 (CCPA 1955). Thus optimization of the claim would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
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/VINCENT WALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898