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 .
DETAILED ACTION
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.
(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.
Claims 1 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shin (US 20210125929).
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Regarding claim 1. Fig 23 (also refer to the attached annotated Fig 23 for detail labels) and Fig 26A (a detail portion view of Fig 23) of Shin disclose An interconnection structure [0148], comprising:
a substrate 110 that is formed with a first metal trench (refer to the annotated Fig 23, the electrode from source/drain in the transistor);
a boron nitride dielectric that is disposed over the substrate ([0173]: refer to the annotated Fig 23, as shown Fig 26A: each dielectric layer incudes 332/334 which is boron nitride);
a second metal trench that is formed in the boron nitride dielectric ([0174]: refer to the annotated Fig 23, as shown Fig 26A: each metal via incudes 312/314); and
a metal via that is disposed to interconnect the first metal trench and the second metal trench ([0174]: refer to the annotated Fig 23, as shown Fig 26A: each metal via includes 312/314).
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Regarding claim 8. Fig 23 (also refer to the attached annotated Fig 23 for detail labels) and Fig 26A (a detail portion view of Fig 23) of Shin disclose An interconnection structure, comprising:
a substrate 110 that is formed with a first metal trench (refer to the annotated Fig 23, the electrode from source/drain in the transistor);
a first dielectric that is disposed over the substrate ([0173]: refer to the annotated Fig 23, as shown Fig 26A: each dielectric layer includes 332/334);
a metal via that is disposed in the first dielectric and that is connected to the first metal trench ([0174]: refer to the annotated Fig 23, as shown Fig 26A: each metal via includes 312/314);
a second dielectric (in 120, the dielectric above the first dielectric) that is disposed over the first dielectric and that includes boron nitride ([0173]: refer to the annotated Fig 23, as shown Fig 26A: each dielectric layer incudes 332/334 which is boron nitride); and
a second metal trench that is disposed in the second dielectric and that is connected to the metal via trench ([0174]: refer to the annotated Fig 23, as shown Fig 26A: each metal via incudes 312/314).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Burke (US 6987059).
Regarding claim 15. Burke discloses A method for fabricating an interconnection structure, comprising steps of:
forming a metal via 112 (col 4, line 65-67) over a first metal trench 106 (col 4, line 55) that is formed in a substrate 102 (Fig 1D);
forming a trench feature 101 over the metal via (Fig 1A/Fig 1D); and
forming a first dielectric 110 that includes boron nitride (col 4, line 49, ‘BN’) and that surrounds the trench feature (Fig 1D).
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.
Claims 2 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shin (US 20210125929) in view of Jang (US 20240128332).
Regarding claim 2. Shin discloses The interconnection structure according to claim 1 except wherein: a bottom width of the second metal trench is greater than a top width of the second metal trench; and
a bottom width of the metal via is greater than a top width of the metal via.
However, Fig 4 and Fig 5 (a detail view of Fig 4) of Jang disclose a bottom width (the W4 of 142) of the second metal trench 142 is greater than a top width (the width of the protruded portion of 142 which is slightly less than W1) of the second metal trench 142; and
a bottom width of the metal via 152 is greater than a top width of the metal via (because of slanted shape).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Shin’s interconnect structure to have the Jang’s structure for the purpose of providing enhanced electrical current spreading, lower resistance, improved thermal dissipation, and enhanced mechanical stability by reducing current crowding at the junction, offering more area for heat sinking into larger planes, and allowing for robust connection to thicker/wider underlying layers.
Regarding claim 9. Shin discloses The interconnection structure according to claim 8 except wherein a bottom width of the second metal trench is greater than a top width of the second metal trench; and
a bottom width of the metal via is greater than a top width of the metal via.
However, Fig 4 and Fig 5 (a detail view of Fig 4) of Jang disclose a bottom width (the W4 of 142) of the second metal trench 142 is greater than a top width (the width of the protruded portion of 142 which is slightly less than W1) of the second metal trench 142; and
a bottom width of the metal via 152 is greater than a top width of the metal via (because of slanted shape).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the Shin’s interconnect structure to have the Jang’s structure for the purpose of providing enhanced electrical current spreading, lower resistance, improved thermal dissipation, and enhanced mechanical stability by reducing current crowding at the junction, offering more area for heat sinking into larger planes, and allowing for robust connection to thicker/wider underlying layers.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7, 10-14 and 16-20 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:
Regarding claim 3. the cited prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest, along with the other claimed features, “a first metal protection film that is disposed between the second metal trench and the boron nitride dielectric, and that has a thermal conductivity smaller than 1 W/(m·K)”.
Regarding claim 10. the cited prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest, along with the other claimed features, “a first metal protection film that surrounds the second metal trench and that separates the second metal trench from the second dielectric, wherein the first metal protection film has a thermal conductivity smaller than 1 W/(m·K)”.
Regarding claim 16. the cited prior art of record does not teach or fairly suggest, along with the other claimed features, “a step of conformally forming a first metal protection film over the trench feature, the first dielectric is formed over the first metal protection film; the method further comprising, after the step of forming the first dielectric, a step of performing thermal conversion on the first dielectric”.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Changhyun Yi whose telephone number is (571)270-7799. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 8A-4P.
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/Changhyun Yi/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812