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
The Election/Restriction dated 11/3/25 has been withdrawn.
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 11-13 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. In lines 2 of claim 11, it state “prior to forming the stack structure” but examiner believes this should state, prior to replacing the nitride material of the tiers” as the stack structure has to be formed before filling depositing the fill structure, otherwise there is nothing to put the fill structure in. Claims 12-13 depend on claim 11.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 5-10, 14-15, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oh et al. (US PGPub 2020/0161326) in view of Kang et al. (US PGPub 2021/0098483)
Claim 1: Oh teaches a method of forming a microelectronic device, comprising: forming a preliminary stack structure comprising a vertically alternating sequence of sacrificial material and insulative material arranged in tiers [0133], the preliminary stack structure having blocks (MB1, MB2)(ST) separated from one another by slots (SI/OP), each of the blocks comprising: two crest regions (Cs on sides of R2); two bridge regions (B) horizontally extending in parallel from and between the two crest regions and having upper boundaries substantially coplanar with upper boundaries of the two crest regions; and a stadium structure (R2) interposed between the two crest regions in a first horizontal direction and interposed between the two bridge regions in a second horizontal direction orthogonal to the first horizontal direction, the stadium structure comprising opposing staircase structures (ST) each having steps comprising edges of the tiers of the preliminary stack structure; replacing the sacrificial material of the preliminary stack structure with conductive material to form a stack structure comprising a vertically alternating sequence of the conductive material (41) and the insulative material (42) arranged in the tiers [0162], the stack structure (40) having the blocks separated from one another by the slots; filling the slots with dielectric material to form
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first dielectric slot structures.
Oh does not teach forming at least one second dielectric slot structure within horizontal boundaries of the stadium structure in the first horizontal direction and partially vertically extending through and segmenting each of the two bridge regions. Kang teaches at least one second dielectric slot structure (170) within horizontal boundaries of the stadium structure (Fig. 3) in the first horizontal direction and partially vertically extending through and segmenting each of the two bridge regions to separate and isolate the connection regions in the y direction [0043]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the device taught by Oh to have had at least one second dielectric slot structure within horizontal boundaries of the stadium structure in the first horizontal direction and partially vertically extending through and segmenting each of the two bridge regions to separate and isolate the connection regions in the y direction [0043] a taught by Kang.
Claim 5: Kang (Fig. 5) teaches forming at least one second dielectric slot structure further comprises forming the at least one second dielectric slot structure to extend in the second horizontal direction through pairs of the first dielectric slot structures neighboring opposing sides of each of the blocks of the stack structure.
Claim 6: Kang teaches (Fig. 11B) forming at least one second dielectric slot structure comprises forming at least two second dielectric slot structures positioned in series with one another in the second horizontal direction, a first of the at least two second dielectric slot structures horizontally and vertically extending through a first of the two bridge regions of one of the blocks of the stack structure, and a second of the at least two second dielectric slot structures horizontally and vertically extending through a second of the two bridge regions of the one of the blocks of the stack structure.
Claim 7: Kang teaches (Fig. 3) forming at least one second dielectric slot structure comprises forming at least two second dielectric slot structures positioned in parallel with one another in the second horizontal direction, each of the at least two second dielectric slot structures horizontally and vertically extending through each of the two bridge regions of at least one of the blocks of the stack structure.
Claim 8: Oh (Fig. 12) and Kang teach forming third dielectric slot structures with a horizontal area of each of the blocks of the stack structure, the third dielectric slot structures completely offset from the at least one second dielectric slot structure in the first horizontal direction and extending in the first horizontal direction through one of the two crest regions of each of the blocks of the stack structure and terminating within a horizontal area of one of the opposing staircase structures of each of the blocks of the stack structure.
Claim 9: Oh and Kang teach forming lower boundaries of the third dielectric slot structures to be substantially coplanar with lower boundaries of the at least one second dielectric slot structure.
Claim 10: Oh teaches (see claim1) a method of forming a microelectronic device, comprising: forming a preliminary stack structure comprising tiers each comprising nitride material and oxide material vertically neighboring the nitride material [0133], the stack structure divided into blocks (MB1,MBS) extending in parallel in a first direction and separated from one another in a second direction by slots (SI/OP), at least one of the blocks respectively comprising: an uppermost stadium structure comprising opposing staircase structures each having steps comprising edges of an upper group of the tiers of the stack structure; first elevated regions (crest regions) neighboring opposing ends of the uppermost stadium structure in the first direction; and second elevated regions neighboring opposing sides of the uppermost stadium structure in the second direction, uppermost surfaces of the second elevated regions (bridge) substantially coplanar with uppermost surfaces of the first elevated regions; replacing the nitride material of the tiers of the preliminary stack structure with conductive material to form a stack structure; filling the slots with insulative material to form slot structures vertically extending completely though the stack structure. Oh does not teach after forming the slot structures, forming at least one additional slot partially vertically extending through and segmenting each of the second elevated regions of the at least one of the blocks; and filling the at least one additional slot with additional insulative material. Kang teaches after forming the slot structures, forming at least one additional slot partially vertically extending through and segmenting each of the second elevated regions of the at least one of the blocks; and filling the at least one additional slot with additional insulative material to separate and isolate the connection regions in the y direction [0043]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the device taught by Oh to have had at least one second dielectric slot structure within horizontal boundaries of the stadium structure in the first horizontal direction and partially vertically extending through and segmenting each of the two bridge regions to separate and isolate the connection regions in the y direction [0043] a taught by Kang.
Claim 14: Kang (Fig. 2A) forming at least one additional slot comprises substantially aligning the at least one additional slot with a horizontal center of the uppermost stadium structure in the first direction.
Claim 15: Kang (Fig. 2A) forming at least one additional slot comprises forming only one additional slot continuously horizontally extending across the uppermost stadium structure and each of the two second elevated regions in the second direction.
Claim 18: Oh teaches (see claim1) a method of forming a microelectronic device, comprising: forming preliminary blocks horizontally extending in parallel in a first direction and horizontal separated from one another in a second direction by slots, the preliminary blocks respectively comprising: preliminary tiers each including sacrificial material and insulative material vertically neighboring the sacrificial material; two crest regions each having a first uppermost boundary; two bridge regions horizontally extending from and between the two crest regions in the first direction, the two bridge regions each having a second uppermost boundary substantially coplanar with the first uppermost boundary; and a stadium structure horizontally interposed between the two crest regions in the first direction and horizontally interposed between the two bridge regions in the second direction, the stadium structure including staircase structures respectively having steps comprising edges of a group of the tiers; replacing the sacrificial material of the preliminary tiers of the preliminary blocks with conductive material to form blocks respectively comprising tiers each including the conductive material and the insulative material vertically neighboring the conductive material; filling the slots with dielectric material to form dielectric slot structures horizontally alternating with the blocks in the second direction. Oh does not teach forming at least one additional dielectric slot structure after forming the dielectric slot structures, the at least one additional dielectric slot structure partially vertically extending through and segmenting the two bridge regions of respective ones of the blocks. Kang teaches forming at least one additional dielectric slot structure after forming the dielectric slot structures, the at least one additional dielectric slot structure partially vertically extending through and segmenting the two bridge regions of respective ones of the blocks. to separate and isolate the connection regions in the y direction [0043]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the device taught by Oh to have had at least one second dielectric slot structure within horizontal boundaries of the stadium structure in the first horizontal direction and partially vertically extending through and segmenting each of the two bridge regions to separate and isolate the connection regions in the y direction [0043] a taught by Kang.
Claim 19: Kang (Fig. 2A) forming at least one additional dielectric slot structure comprises forming a single additional dielectric slot structure continuously horizontally extending across multiple of the blocks and multiple of the dielectric slot structures in the second direction.
Claim 20: Kang (Fig. 2A) forming further dielectric slot structures before forming the at least one additional dielectric slot structure, the further dielectric slot structures respectively: horizontally interposed between the two bridge regions of one of the blocks in the second direction; horizontally extending only partially across the stadium structure of the one of the blocks in the first direction; and completely horizontally offset from the at least one additional dielectric slot structure in the first direction.
Claims 2-4 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oh et al. (US PGPub 2020/0161326) in view of Kang et al. (US PGPub 2021/0098483), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Matovu et al. (US PGPub 2019/0206727).
Regarding claim 2, as described above, Oh and Kang substantially read on the invention as claimed, except Oh and Kang do not teach prior to replacing the sacrificial material of the preliminary stack structure with conductive material [0030]: forming a first dielectric material on surfaces of the two crest regions, the two bridge regions, and the opposing staircase structures of the stadium structure; forming a second dielectric material on the first dielectric material, the second dielectric material having a different material composition than the first dielectric material; and forming a third dielectric material on the second dielectric material, the third dielectric material having a different material composition than the second dielectric material. Matovu teaches prior to replacing the sacrificial material of the preliminary stack structure with conductive material: forming a first dielectric material (326) on surfaces of the two crest regions, the two bridge regions, and the opposing staircase structures of the stadium structure; forming a second dielectric material (328) on the first dielectric material, the second dielectric material having a different material composition than the first dielectric material; and forming a third dielectric material (330) on the second dielectric material, the third dielectric material having a different material composition than the second dielectric material to fill [0042-0047] the staircase region as it grows in size and to reduce memory device failure by protecting the word lines during processing [0006, 0014]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the dielectric fill in the stadium structure to include the three layers claimed to improve yield and functionality of the word lines by protecting them during processing as taught by Matovu [0006, 0014, 0042-0047]
Claim 3: Matovu teaches [0042-0047] selecting the first dielectric material to comprise silicon dioxide; selecting the second dielectric material to comprise silicon nitride; and selecting the third dielectric material to comprise additional silicon dioxide.
Claim 4: Kang (Fig. 5) and Matovu [0042-0047] teach the at least one second dielectric slot structure further comprises forming the at least one second dielectric slot structure to extend in the second horizontal direction through portions of the first dielectric material, the second dielectric material, the third dielectric material, and the two bridge regions.
Claim 11: Matovu teaches [0042-0047] prior to forming the stack structure, forming a fill structure vertically overlying and within a horizontal area of the uppermost stadium structure of the at least one of the blocks, the fill structure comprising: dielectric oxide material on and continuously extending across the opposing staircase structures of the uppermost stadium structure and inner sidewalls of the second elevated regions; dielectric nitride material on and continuously extending across the dielectric oxide material; and additional dielectric oxide material on and continuously extending across the dielectric nitride material.
Claim 12: Kang (Fig. 5) and Matovu [0042-0047] forming at least one additional slot comprises forming the at least one additional slot to horizontally overlap and partially vertically extend through the fill structure.
Claim 13: Kang (Fig. 5) and Matovu [0042-0047] forming the at least one additional slot to horizontally overlap and partially vertically extend through two of the slot structures horizontally neighboring the at least one of the blocks in the second direction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-17 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH KATE SALERNO whose telephone number is (571)270-1266. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-2:30pm.
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/SARAH K SALERNO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814