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 Species G in the reply filed on 9 December 2025 is acknowledged. Claims 1-4, 7, 9, and 11 read on the elected species. Claims 5-6, 8, 10, and 12-20 are withdrawn.
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) submitted on 30 August 2023 has been considered by the examiner and made of record in the application file.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: 3D MEMORY WITH ISOLATED PERIPHERAL CONTACT PLUGS.
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, 7, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lu et al (US 20190067314 A1, hereinafter “Lu”).
Regarding Claim 1 – Lu discloses a semiconductor device comprising: a substrate (202 [0042] and Fig. 2); a first stacked film provided above the substrate (210 [0054] and Fig. 2), includes a plurality of electrode layers (206 [0046] and Fig. 2) and a plurality of first insulators (208 [0046] and Fig. 2) that are alternately stacked in a first direction (Y in Fig. 2), and included in a memory cell array ([0036]); a second stacked film provided above the substrate (214 [0054] and Fig. 2), includes one or more first insulators of the plurality of first insulators (232 same as 208 [0054] and Fig. 2), and one or more first films (234 [0054] and Fig. 2) that are stacked alternately with the one or more first insulators in the first direction (Y in Fig. 2); a first plug provided in the second stacked film (through array contact (TAC) 236 [0056] and Fig. 2); and a first interconnect layer provided on the memory cell array and the first plug (Interconnect 246 comprising 250 and 252 [0060], [0063], and Fig. 2), and electrically connected to the memory cell array and the first plug (connected to 218 and 236 as in Fig. 2).
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Regarding Claim 2 – Lu discloses the device of Claim 1, wherein the memory cell array includes: the first stacked film including the plurality of electrode layers and the plurality of first insulators ([0046] and Fig. 2); a columnar portion provided in the first stacked film (NAND strings 204 [0046] and Fig. 2), extending in the first direction (Y in Fig. 2), and including a semiconductor layer (220 [0048]); and a second interconnect layer provided on the first stacked film (NAND string contacts 238 [0058] and Fig. 2), and electrically connected to the columnar portion (Fig. 2), and the first interconnect layer is provided on the second interconnect layer and the first plug (246 on 238 and 236 in Fig. 2), and is electrically connected to the second interconnect layer and the first plug (Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 3 – Lu discloses the device of Claim 1, wherein the one or more first films are one or more second insulators formed of an insulating material that is different from an insulating material of the one or more first insulators (One of these layers can be silicon nitride and the other silicon oxide [0065] and [0074]).
Regarding Claim 4 – Lu discloses the device of Claim 3, wherein the one or more first insulators include silicon and oxygen (232 silicon oxide [0074]), and the one or more second insulators include silicon and nitrogen (234 silicon nitride [0074]).
Regarding Claim 7 – Lu discloses the device of Claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrode layers and the one or more first films do not include an electrode layer and a first film that are in contact with each other (Barrier structure 235 separates them [0055] and Fig. 2, which is also barrier structure 124 in [0055] and Fig. 1A).
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Regarding Claim 9 – Lu discloses the device of Claim 1, further comprising a plurality of second plugs respectively electrically connected to the plurality of electrode layers (Word line contacts 242 [0058] and Fig. 2).
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 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu et al (US 20190067314 A1, hereinafter “Lu”), in view of Park et al (US 20140306279 A1, hereinafter “Park”).
Regarding Claim 11 – Lu discloses all the limitations of Claim 9.
Lu fails to disclose the plurality of second plugs are provided in the first stacked film via a plurality of fourth insulators that are respectively provided on side faces of the plurality of second plugs.
However, Park discloses the plurality of second plugs are provided in the first stacked film via a plurality of fourth insulators that are respectively provided on side faces of the plurality of second plugs (Insulating spacers 170 [0060] and Fig. 21).
Park discloses a three-dimensional memory device similar to Lu. Park teaches lining the second plugs with insulating spacers to separate the associated plugs from the adjacent word lines they pass through (Park [0009] and Fig. 21). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Lu and Park to line the second plugs with insulating spacers to separate the plugs from adjacent word lines.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON MCDONALD whose telephone number is (571) 272-5944. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30a-5p Eastern, alternating Fridays out of office.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julio Maldonado can be reached at (571) 272-1864. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JASON MCDONALD/Examiner, Art Unit 2898 /JULIO J MALDONADO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2898