DETAILED ACTION
Status of Claims
As of the amendment filed 3/20/26, claims 21 and 22 have been added, claims 17 and 19 have been canceled, and claim 16 has been amended. Therefore, claims 1-18 and 20-22 remain pending, with claims 1, 8, and 16 being independent.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities: the claim ends with “conductive”. It should end with “conductive feature”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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)(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.
Claim(s) 16, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Choi (US 2023/0369111).
As to claim 16, Choi teaches a semiconductor device (fig. 18), comprises:
a substrate (110, fig. 1, [0021]);
a transistor over the substrate (, fig. 1, [0021]);
an interlayer dielectric layer (14) over the transistor (fig. 18, [0025]);
an inter-metal dielectric layer (24) over and in contact with the interlayer dielectric layer (14, fig. 18, [0026]);
a conductive feature (27-1 or 27-2) extending through the inter-metal dielectric layer (24, [0027]), wherein a top surface of the conductive feature is narrower than a bottom surface of the conductive feature (fig. 18); and
dielectric liners (26) on opposite sidewalls of the conductive feature (fig. 18, [0035]).
As to claim 18, Choi further teaches a dielectric constant of the inter-metal dielectric layer (24, low-k material, [0031]) is lower than a dielectric constant of the dielectric liners (26, SiN, [0035]).
As to claim 20, Choi further teaches the conductive feature (27-1 or 27-2) includes a trapezoid cross-sectional profile (fig. 18).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 are allowed and claims 21-22 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art taken either singularly or in combination fails to anticipate or fairly suggest the limitations of the claims listed above in such a manner that a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103 would be proper.
The prior art fails to teach a combination of all of the features in the claims. As to claims 1-15, see office action dated 12/23/25 for reasons for allowance.
As to claim 21, Choi fails to teach the bottom surface of the conductive feature, bottom ends of the dielectric liners, and a bottom surface of the inter-metal dielectric layer are coterminous.
Claim 22 is allowable at least because it depends from allowable claim 21.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAREN M KUSUMAKAR whose telephone number is (571)270-3520. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday – Friday from 7:30a – 4:30p EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Fernando Toledo can be reached on 571-272-1867. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KAREN KUSUMAKAR/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
3/30/26
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