DETAILED ACTION
Table of Contents
I. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 3
II. Election/Restrictions 3
III. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 3
A. Claims 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. 3
IV. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 4
A. Claims 1, 4-10, and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN-20921670-U (“Ye”). 4
V. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 7
A. Claims 1-5, 7, 8, 11-14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0062578 (“Chan”) in view of US 5,382,825 (“Neilson”). 7
VI. Pertinent Prior Art 11
Conclusion 11
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I. 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 .
II. Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of invention group I, claims 1-16, in the reply filed on 03/11/2026 is acknowledged.
III. 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.
A. Claims 7 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 7 and 16 read,
7. (Original) The structure of claim 1, further comprising: at least one electrode each attached to one of the plurality of metal connectors.
16. (Original) The device of claim 8, further comprising: at least one electrode each attached to one of the plurality of metal connectors.
The word “each” in the context of these claims renders the claims unclear because it may be read in at least two ways. First, it is presumed that limitation may be read as “at least one electrode, each attached to one of the plurality of metal connectors”. If there are more than just the “at least one electrode”, it is unclear if all electrodes must be attached to the same “one of the plurality of metal connectors” or if said electrodes may be attached to separate ones of the plurality of metal connectors.
For the purposes of examination, the claims will be interpreted as broadly as allowed by the explicit claim language.
IV. 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 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.
A. Claims 1, 4-10, and 13-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by CN-20921670-U (“Ye”).
All citations to text are from to the attached machine language translation, and all citations to drawings are from the attached, original Chinese language document.
With regard to claim 1, Ye discloses, generally in Figs. 1 and 2,
1. (Original) A structure [a resistor (title)] comprising:
[1] a plurality of circular metal elements [vertically-extending portions of the “metal resistor column 1” (p. 3, line 42) in annotated Fig. 1 (reproduced below)] that are concentrically arranged [as shown in Fig. 2 (p. 3, lines 44-47; p. 4, lines 33-37)] and connected through a plurality of metal connectors [horizontally-extending portions of the “metal resistor column 1” (p. 3, line 42) in annotated Fig. 1 (reproduced below)],
[2] wherein the structure forms a circular resistor [as shown in Fig. 2; p. 3, line 41].
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(Annotated version of Fig. 1 of Ye)
With regard to claims 4-6, Ye further discloses,
4. (Original) The structure of claim 1, wherein a thickness of each of the plurality of circular metal elements [vertically-extending portions of the “metal resistor column 1” (supra)] is the same [as show in Fig. 1].
5. (Original) The structure of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of circular metal elements [vertically-extending portions of the “metal resistor column 1” (supra)] includes a same metal material [because the metal resistor column 1” is formed from a single piece of metal (p. 3, lines 41-44)].
6. (Original) The structure of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of metal connectors [horizontally-extending portions of the “metal resistor column 1” has a thickness that is greater than a thickness of each of the plurality of circular metal elements [as show in Fig. 1].
Note that the claimed “thickness” of the vertically-extending portion is taken to be the width of a given vertically-extending portion of the “metal resistor column 1”, which is consistent with, e.g., Fig. 1B of the Instant Application.
With regard to claim 7, Ye further discloses,
7. (Original) The structure of claim 1, further comprising: at least one electrode 2, 6 each attached to one of the plurality of metal connectors [as shown in Fig. 1].
With regard to claim 8, Ye discloses, generally in Figs. 1-3,
8. (Original) A device comprising:
[1] a substrate 6 including a layer of dielectric material [“support insulating plate 3” (p. 4 lines 7-14) and/or “insulating soaking material 4” (p. 4, lines 20-27)]; and
[2] a circular resistor 1 embedded in the layer of dielectric material 3 and/or 4,
[3] wherein the circular resistor 1 includes a plurality of circular metal elements [vertically-extending portions of the “metal resistor column 1” (supra)] that are concentrically arranged and connected through a plurality of metal connectors [horizontally-extending portions of the “metal resistor column 1” (supra)] .
With regard to claims 9 and 10, Ye discloses, in Fig. 3,
9. (Original) The device of claim 8, further comprising:
[1] a second circular resistor embedded in the layer of dielectric material 3 and 4 below or above the circular resistor [Fig. 3 showing lower and upper “metal resistor columns 1”]; and
[2] an electrode [ends of each of the outermost rings of the lower and upper “metal resistor columns 1”] connecting the circular resistor [e.g. upper 1] and the second circular resistor [e.g. lower 1].
10. (Original) The device of claim 9, wherein the circular resistor [e.g. upper 1] and the second circular resistor [e.g. lower 1] are on different levels in the substrate [as shown in Fig. 3] and are stacked with the circular resistor [e.g. upper 1] on top of the second circular resistor [e.g. lower 1].
Claims 13-16 read,
13. (Original) The device of claim 8, wherein a thickness of each of the plurality of circular metal elements is the same.
14. (Original) The device of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of circular metal elements includes a same metal material.
15. (Original) The device of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of metal connectors has a thickness that is greater than a thickness of each of the plurality of circular metal elements.
16. (Original) The device of claim 8, further comprising: at least one electrode each attached to one of the plurality of metal connectors.
See the explanations associated with claims 4-7, respectively.
V. 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 of this title, 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.
A. Claims 1-5, 7, 8, 11-14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2014/0062578 (“Chan”) in view of US 5,382,825 (“Neilson”).
Claim 1 reads,
1. (Original) A structure comprising:
[1] a plurality of circular metal elements that are concentrically arranged and connected through a plurality of metal connectors,
[2] wherein the structure forms a circular resistor.
With regard to claim 1, Chan discloses, generally in Figs. 1 and 2A-2E,
1. (Original) A structure comprising:
[1] a plurality of circular …[resistive polysilicon]… elements 102 that are concentrically arranged [¶ 23] and connected through a plurality of metal connectors 1028 [¶ 25],
[2] wherein the structure forms a circular resistor [¶¶ 19, 22, 23].
With regard to the claimed plurality of metal connectors, Chan states,
[0025] In this embodiment, the poly-silicon resistor 102-1 can have a plurality of half circular structures, half-ring shaped structures, irregular semicircle structures, a plurality of concentric circle structures, a plurality of concentric circular structures or a plurality of octagon surrounding the drain. The poly-silicon resistor 102-1 has an opening area 1028. The opening area comprises a plurality of conductivity layer[s]. The conductivity layer can comprise metal segments or poly-silicon segments for connecting each ring of the poly-silicon resistor 102-1 to the next ring of the poly-silicon resistor 102-1.
(Chan: ¶ 25; emphasis added)
Chan does not teach that the circular elements 102 forming the resistor are metal, using polysilicon instead.
Neilson, like Chan, teaches a resistor formed from concentric rings, albeit a spiral, made from, e.g., a resistive polysilicon ribbon 48 (Neilson: Figs. 4, 5a; col. 3, line 60-col. 4, line 27). Neilson further teaches that “the ribbon 48 of resistive material illustrated in FIG. 5a may be metal, polysilicon, single crystal silicon or other electrically resistive materials suitable for semiconductor devices” (Neilson: col. 4, lines 12-22).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to make the circular elements 102 of Chan from metal because Neilson teaches that metal is a suitable alternative to the polysilicon that Chan uses. As such, the selection of metal amounts to obvious material choice. (See MPEP 2144.07.)
With regard to claims 2-5 and 7, Chan modified according to Nielson to make the circular elements 102 form metal, further teaches,
2. (Original) The structure of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of circular metal elements 102 [of Chan/Neilson] includes a cut at one location 1028 [of Chan, Fig. 2A] where each of the plurality of circular metal elements 102 is connected to an adjacent circular metal element 102 of the plurality of circular metal elements through one of the plurality of metal connectors [Chan: ¶ 25, supra].
3. (Original) The structure of claim 2, wherein a distance between each of the plurality of circular metal elements and each of the adjacent circular metal elements is the same [as shown in each of Figs. 2A-2E].
4. (Original) The structure of claim 1, wherein a thickness of each of the plurality of circular metal elements is the same [as shown in Fig. 1].
5. (Original) The structure of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of circular metal elements 102 [of Chan/Neilson] includes a same metal material [because they are simultaneously patterned from the same layer (Chan: ¶ 23)].
7. (Original) The structure of claim 1, further comprising: at least one electrode 102a each attached to one of the plurality of metal connectors [¶¶ 19, 24, ; Figs. 1, 2A].
With regard to claim 8, Chan modified according to Neilson to make the circular elements 102 form metal, teaches,
8. (Original) A device comprising:
[1] a substrate 100 [of Chan: ¶ 15] including a layer of dielectric material [i.e. field oxide 104 and layer shown overlying circular elements 102 in Fig. 1 but not labeled]; and
[2] a circular resistor 102 embedded in the layer of dielectric material [as shown in Fig. 1],
[3] wherein the circular resistor 102 includes a plurality of circular metal elements 102 [of Chan/Neilson] that are concentrically arranged and connected through a plurality of metal connectors [as explained under claim 1].
With regard to feature [1] of claim 8, although Chan does not label or indicate what the material layer overlying the circular elements 102 of the resistor, it is held, absent evidence to the contrary, that the material is necessarily inherently a dielectric material as, if it were not a dielectric material, then the rings 102 would be electrically shorted together by an electrically conductive material for the overlying layer, or would simply form a continuous resistor of 102 plus the overlying layer if the material of the overlying layer were a semiconducting material, e.g. polysilicon. As such, the burden of proof is shifted to Applicant to prove the contrary, i.e. that the layer overlying the circular elements 102 is not a dielectric material. (See MPEP 2112(I)-(V).)
Claims 11-14 and 16 read,
11. (Original) The device of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of circular metal elements includes a cut at one location where each of the plurality of circular metal elements is connected to an adjacent circular metal element of the plurality of circular metal elements through one of the plurality of metal connectors.
12. (Original) The device of claim 11, wherein a distance between each of the plurality of circular metal elements and each of the adjacent circular metal elements is the same.
13. (Original) The device of claim 8, wherein a thickness of each of the plurality of circular metal elements is the same.
14. (Original) The device of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of circular metal elements includes a same metal material.
16. (Original) The device of claim 8, further comprising: at least one electrode each attached to one of the plurality of metal connectors.
See the explanations associated with claims 2-5 and 7, respectively.
VI. Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2016/0300912 (“Tanaka”) is cited for teaching a resistor composed of concentric rings 16 connected by a plurality of metal connectors 23. See Embodiment 1 in Figs. 1-10 and associated text.
US 2021/0109059 (“Chen”): is cited for teaching a resistive heating element 300 composed of concentric circular rings 302-312 (Fig. 3A; ¶¶ 66-67) of e.g. TiAlN or WSix (¶¶ 61, 75), which is consistent with that metal nitrides and silicides indicated as suitable “metal materials” in the Instant Application (Instant Specification: ¶ 27).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIK KIELIN whose telephone number is (571)272-1693. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 10:00 AM-7:00 PM.
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Signed,
/ERIK KIELIN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814
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