DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This action is responsive to the following communications: the Amendment filed 3/4/2026.
Claims 16-35 are pending. Claims 1-15 are cancelled. Claims 21-35 are new. Claims 16, 21 and 30 are independent.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/22/2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group II in the reply filed on 3/4/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 1-15, which have been canceled, were drawn to a nonelected Group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/4/2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the claimed subject matter of claim 30 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). For example, claim 30 recites the limitation “forming a gate spacer spacing the source/drain contact from the gate structure” in line 7 of the claim, which does not appear to be shown by the Drawings of the current application. The claim limitation predicates the specific sequence of wherein the gate spacer is formed after the formation of the source/drain contact given the referral of the already established “the source/drain contact” within the limitation. However, as shown in Figures 3C and 7A-7C of the Drawings of the current application the gate spacers 150 are formed initially (see Fig. 3C) and then the source/drain contact 250 being formed afterwards (see Figs. 7A-7C). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 21-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 21 recites the limitation “forming a dielectric isolation layer between the first source/drain epitaxial structure and the semiconductor substrate” in lines 10-11 of the claim, which fails to comply with the written description requirement for the reasons that follow. The claim limitation predicates the specific sequence of wherein the dielectric isolation layer is formed after the formation of the first source/drain epitaxial structure given the referral of the already established “the first source/drain epitaxial structure” within the limitation. However, the originally filed specification appears to only support the sequence wherein the dielectric isolation layer is initially formed prior to the forming of the first source/drain epitaxial structure as detailed in paragraph [0040] of the Specification (i.e., “The isolation layer 180 may be formed over the region NT and not formed over the region PT, for example, prior to the formation of the source/drain epitaxial structures 190”). Thus, the claim limitation fails to comply with the written description requirement.
Claim 30 recites the limitation “forming a gate spacer spacing the source/drain contact from the gate structure” in line 7 of the claim, which fails to comply with the written description requirement for the reasons that follow. The claim limitation predicates the specific sequence of wherein the gate spacer is formed after the formation of the source/drain contact given the referral of the already established “the source/drain contact” within the limitation. However, the originally filed specification appears to only support the sequence wherein the gate spacer is formed prior to the forming of the source/drain contact as detailed in paragraphs [0028] and [0054] of the Specification, and as shown in Figures 3C and 7A-7C of the Drawings of the current application which depict the gate spacers 150 being formed initially (see Fig. 3C) and then the source/drain contact 250 being formed afterwards (see Figs. 7A-7C). Thus, the claim limitation fails to comply with the written description requirement.
Note the dependent claims 22-29 and 31-35 do not cure the deficiencies of the claims on which they depend.
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 17-18 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.
Claim 17 recites “a second fin” in line 3 of the claim, however “a second fin” element was already introduced earlier in line 2 of the claim, and thereby it is unclear whether the “a second fin” in line 3 of the claim is directed to that same element and therefore should be properly amended to “the second fin” or directed to an entirely different element and therefore should be amended with specific language to distinguish it from the already introduced element.
Note the dependent claim 18 necessarily inherits the indefiniteness of the claims on which it depends.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16 and 19-20 are allowed.
Regarding independent claim 16, Lin et al. (US 2021/0126113 A1, hereinafter “Lin”) discloses a method for fabricating an integrated circuit (IC) device, comprising:
depositing an epitaxial stack 203 (“stack”- ¶¶0025-0028) over a semiconductor substrate 201 (“semiconductor substrate”- ¶0024), wherein the epitaxial stack 203 comprises a first sacrificial layer 205 (“first layers”- ¶0025, specifically the lowermost 205), a first channel layer 207 (“second layer”- ¶0025, specifically the lowermost 207), a second sacrificial layer 205 (“first layers”- ¶0025, specifically the second from the bottom 205), and a second channel layer 207 (“second layer”- ¶0025, specifically the second from the bottom 207) stacked in a sequence (see Figs. 2A-2B);
patterning the epitaxial stack 205 into at least a first fin 105 (“fins”- ¶0030) (see Figs. 2A-2B);
etching the first fin 105 to expose sidewalls of the first channel layer 207, the first sacrificial layer 205, the second channel layer 207, and the second sacrificial layer 205 in the first fin 105 (¶0047) (see Figs. 4A-4C);
forming a first inner spacer 403 (“spacers”- ¶0047) and a second inner spacer 407 (“spacers”- ¶0047) adjacent the sidewalls of the first sacrificial layer 205 and the second sacrificial layer 205 in the first fin 105 (see Figs. 4A-4C);
forming an isolation layer 501 (“spacers… dielectric material”- ¶0060) in contact with the first inner spacer 403 (see Figs. 5A-5C); and
forming a first source/drain epitaxial structure 503 (“source/drain regions”- ¶0064) in contact with the sidewalls of the first channel layer 207 and the second channel layer 207 in the first fin 105 (see Figs. 5A-5C).
Lin does not expressly disclose wherein a thickness of the first sacrificial layer is greater than a thickness of the second sacrificial layer and wherein a height of the first inner spacer is greater than a height of the second inner spacer.
Thus, regarding independent claim 16, the claim is allowed, because the prior art of record including Lin, either singularly or in combination, does not disclose or suggest the combination of limitations including, but not limited to, “wherein a thickness of the first sacrificial layer is greater than a thickness of the second sacrificial layer” and “wherein a height of the first inner spacer is greater than a height of the second inner spacer”.
Claims 19-20 are allowed as being dependent on allowed claim 16.
Claims 17-18 (which depend from allowed claim 16) would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Chen et al. (US 2022/0230922 A1), which discloses a method comprising forming an isolation structure in contact with inner spaces disposed on sidewalls of a sacrificial layer.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAY C CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-6132. The examiner can normally be reached Mon- Fri 12pm-10pm.
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/JAY C CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817