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 with traverse of claims 1-16 in the reply filed on 12/30/25 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that that there is no serious burden in examining the listed species simultaneously. This is not found persuasive because classification is one avenue where a search may pose a burden.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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(s) 1-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang(USPATENT: 9905633, hereinafter Yang) in view of Dirnecker (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2013/0249056, hereinafter Dirnecker).
Re claim 1 Yang discloses a semiconductor device, comprising: a first dielectric layer(270/190/160); a conductive layer(170), disposed on the first dielectric layer(270/190/160); a second dielectric layer(270/190/160); a first strip-like contact(middle 180B), extending through the second dielectric layer(270/190/160), and electrically connected to the conductive layer(170); a first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and a second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), sandwiching the first strip-like contact(middle 180B) therebetween, extending through the second dielectric layer(270/190/160), and electrically connected to the conductive layer(170); and a third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and a fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), extending through the second dielectric layer(270/190/160) and electrically connected to the conductive layer(170),
Yang does not disclose
a stop layer, disposed on the conductive layer(170); a second dielectric layer(270/190/160), disposed on the stop layer; a first strip-like contact(middle 180B) and a second strip-like contact, separated from each other by a non-zero distance, extending through the second dielectric layer(270/190/160) and the stop layer, and a third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and a fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), sandwiching the second strip-like contact therebetween,
wherein the first strip-like contact(middle 180B), the second strip-like contact, the conductive layer(170) disposed between the first strip-like contact(middle 180B) and the second strip-like contact, the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) together form a resistor.
Dirnecker disclose a stop layer[0030]; a second strip-like contact(TFVIA of Dirnecker); a resistor(TFR of Dirnecker).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Dirnecker to the teachings of Yang in order to in order to integrate high precision thin film resistors (TFRs) having sufficient accuracy and matching characteristics [0003, Dirnecker]. In doing so, a stop layer[0030], disposed on the conductive layer(170); a second dielectric layer(270/190/160), disposed on the stop layer[0030 of Dirnecker]; a first strip-like contact(middle 180B) and a second strip-like contact(TFVIA of Dirnecker), separated from each other by a non-zero distance, extending through the second dielectric layer(270/190/160) and the stop layer[0030 of Dirnecker], and a third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and a fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), sandwiching the second strip-like contact(TFVIA of Dirnecker) therebetween, wherein the first strip-like contact(middle 180B), the second strip-like contact(TFVIA of Dirnecker), the conductive layer(170) disposed between the first strip-like contact(middle 180B) and the second strip-like contact, the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) together form a resistor(TFRof Dirnecker).
Re claim 2 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the stop layer comprises a nitride dielectric material, the conductive layer(170) comprises a metal, an alloy, a metal nitride material or a combination thereof[col4, lines10-25].
Re claim 3 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the stop layer comprises silicon nitride, and the conductive layer(170) comprises TiN, SiCr, SiCCr, TaN, NiCr, AlNiCr, TiNiCr or a combination thereof[col4, lines10-50].
Re claim 4 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein each of the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) has a strip-like shape, a square shape, a circular shape or a combination thereof.
Re claim 5 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first strip-like contact(middle 180B), the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), and the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) have the same shape, dimension or a combination thereof.
Re claim 6 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the second strip- like contact, the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) have the same shape, dimension or a combination thereof.
Re claim 7 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the second strip- like contact, the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) have different shapes, dimensions or combinations thereof.
Re claim 8 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the second strip- like contact(TFVIA of Dirnecker), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) have different shapes, dimensions or combinations thereof.
Re claim 9 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first strip-like contact(middle 180B), the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second strip-like contact(TFVIA of Dirnecker), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) are landed on the conductive layer(170).
Re claim 10 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 9, further comprising a transistor(120) disposed right below the conductive layer(170).
Re claim 11 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first strip-like contact(middle 180B), the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second strip-like contact(TFVIA of Dirnecker), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) extend through a bottom surface of the conductive layer(170).
Re claim 12 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 11, wherein no transistor is provided right below the conductive layer(170)(see Fig 9 of Dirnecker).
Re claim 13 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) have strip-like shapes, respectively.
Re claim 14 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein length extension directions of the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) are the same as a length extension direction of the conductive layer(170).
Re claim 15 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein length extension directions of the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) and the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) are different from a length extension direction of the conductive layer(170).
Re claim 16 Yang and Dirnecker disclose the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the second auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183), the third auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) or the fourth auxiliary contact(left180B/right 180B/182/181/183) comprise a group of sub-contacts.
Conclusion
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/PATRICIA D VALENZUELA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812