DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse to the restriction requirement mailed on 12/11/25, of Group I, in the reply filed on 2/11/26 was acknowledged in a previous office action. Claim 10 is withdrawn.
Foreign Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102, some of which 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 7, and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2022/0165946 A1 (“Navarro”).
Navarro teaches, for example:
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Navarro teaches:
1. A phase change RAM (e.g. 3, see e.g. Fig. 3) comprising:
an electrode (e.g. 21, see e.g. para 43);
a first layer (e.g. 27, see e.g. para 59) located on the electrode; and
a second layer (e.g. 25, see e.g. para 43) located on the first layer,
wherein
the first layer includes a locally formed phase change material region (e.g. the region including 29, and parts of 27 surrounding 29, see e.g. Fig. 3; this region thus comprises phase change material and GeN material, and is thus reasonably interpreted as a “phase change material region”; for details of 29, see e.g. para 61-62),
a material of the first layer includes a Group 14 element (27 may comprise GeN, see e.g. para 59; this thus contains a Group 14 element, Ge) and a material of the second layer includes a Group 15 or 16 element (25 may comprise a GeSbTe material, see e.g. para 43 and 45, thus containing e.g. Group 16 elements such as Ge, or Te),
the phase change material region comprises a combination of a material of the first layer and a material of the second layer (the phase change material region can comprise 29, which is made of GeSbTe, which thus combines a Te material of 25, which is GeSbTe with a Ge material of 27, which is GeN; furthermore and/or alternatively, the phase change material region can reasonably include a layer, or part of a layer, that includes a phase change material; 29 and a portion of 27 surrounding 29 is a part of layer 27 that comprises both GeSbTe 29 and a part of GeN 27, and thus the region comprises a combination of materials of 27 and 25), and
the second layer does not include the phase change material region (the second layer 25 does not comprise either 29, which comprises phase change material such as GeSbTe materials, nor the region of 27 that is around 29).
2. The phase change RAM of claim 1, further comprising a top electrode (e.g. 23, see para 43) located on the second layer.
7. The phase change RAM of claim 1, wherein the phase change material region has a nanoscale filament shape (see e.g. Fig. 3).
9. A phase change RAM (e.g. 3, see e.g. Fig. 3) comprising:
an electrode (e.g. 21, see e.g. para 43);
a first layer (e.g. 27, see e.g. para 59) located on the electrode; and
a second layer (e.g. 25, see e.g. para 43) located on the first layer,
wherein the first layer includes a locally formed nanofilament (e.g. 29, see e.g. para 61, 59, see e.g. Fig. 3), and the nanofilament has phase change material characteristics (see e.g. para 59, 71-81).
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.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Navarro in view of US 2019/0088869 A1 (“Han”).
Navarro teaches claim 1, as discussed above, and further teaches that a material of the second layer includes tellurium (Te) (see e.g. para 45), but does not explicitly teach wherein a material of the first layer includes silicon (Si).
Han teaches and/or would have suggested as obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, in combination with Navarro wherein a material of the first layer includes silicon (Si) (see e.g. para 44).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the invention of Han to the invention of Navarro. The motivation to do so is that the combination produces the predictable results of substituting one known material (e.g. the Si of Han) for another known material (e.g. the Ge compound of Navarro) (see e.g. para 44), wherein it is known that each material may react to form a filament (see e.g. Fig. 4) in memory cells.
It has been established that “the [obviousness] analysis need not seek out precise teachings directed to the specific subject matter of the challenged claim” because the Office or “a court can take account of the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ.” KSR Int’ Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 418 (2007). It is also well settled that a reference stands for all of the specific teachings thereof as well as the inferences one of ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably been expected to draw therefrom. See In re Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1264-65 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
Applicant has not disclosed that the claimed material is for a particular unobvious purpose, produces an unexpected result, or is otherwise critical, which are criteria that have been held to be necessary for material limitations to be prima facie unobvious. The claimed material is considered to be a "preferred" or "optimum" material out of a plurality of well known materials that a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made would have found obvious to provide to the invention of the cited prior art reference, using routine experimentation and optimization of the invention. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Navarro in view of US 2006/0118913 A1 (“Yi”).
Navarro teaches claim 1, as discussed above, but does not explicitly teach wherein the second layer functions as a top electrode.
Yi teaches and/or would have suggested as obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention, in combination with Navarro, wherein the second layer functions as a top electrode (see e.g. para 36).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add the invention of Yi to the invention of Navarro, essentially not forming the upper electrode and instead using the upper phase change material as an electrode. The motivation to do so is that the combination produces the predictable results of avoiding problems with adhesion between electrode and phase change material that is known in the art, avoiding degrading of the device characteristics (see e.g. para 36).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to the pending claims have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection; the argument are also not persuasive.
See the rejection above, which responds to applicant’s new limitation “the second layer does not include the phase change material region” and rebuts the arguments (remarks, field 6/30/26, pages 6-8) made about said region comprising “a combination of a material of the first layer and the material of the second layer” by defining the interpretation of the phase change material region and showing at two ways that these limitations are met by Navarro.
Conclusion
Conclusion / Finality
Applicant's amendment changed the scope of the claims and 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.
Conclusion / Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kevin Parendo who can be contacted by phone at (571) 270-5030 or by direct fax at (571) 270-6030. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday from 9 am to 4 pm ET.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Billy Kraig, can be reached at (571) 272-8660. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Kevin Parendo/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
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