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 Invention I (encompassing claims 1-16 and newly added 21-24) in the reply filed on 1/5/26 is acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was submitted on 11/8/23 and 1/9/25. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 4 and 15 recite the term “about”. The term "about" is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite; it is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. “About” is defined as "almost or nearly—used to indicate that a number, amount, time, etc., is not exact or certain” (see Merriam Webster online dictionary). The term “about” modifies a target, and implicitly requires boundaries at some maximum value above the target and at some minimum value below the target beyond which one is not “about” the target any more. Neither the claims, nor the specification, defines these boundaries. Thus, it is unclear whether one must be within some small percentage of deviation of the target (such as 0.01 %, 0.1 %, 1 %, 2 %, 5 %, 10 %, or some other percentage) or within a certain number of units of the target and specifically which of these possible values defines the boundaries. If one were to poll 100 people having ordinary skill in the art, there would be many different responses for the boundaries. Thus, determining whether one is infringing the limitation is subjective, rather than objective, and thus the claim is unclear. Therefore, the claims are rejected as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant, regards as the invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3, 5-14, 16, and 21-24 are allowed.
Claim 1 contains allowable subject matter because of selectively forming a first source/drain feature over the first source/drain recess while the second source/drain recess is covered by a mask layer; removing the mask layer; depositing a first interlayer dielectric layer over the first source/drain feature and the second source/drain recess; removing the first dummy gate stack and the second dummy gate stack; releasing the plurality of channel layers in the channel region of the first fin- shaped structure and the channel region of the second fin-shaped structure to form first channel members in the first region and second channel members in the second region; forming a first gate structure to wrap around each of the first channel members and a second gate structure to wrap around each of the second channel members; after the forming of the first gate structure and the second gate structure, forming an access opening over the second source/drain recess; and forming a second source/drain feature over the access opening in combination with the other elements of the claim. Claims 2-3 and 5-9 depend on claim 1.
Claim 10 contains allowable subject matter because of the limitation of selectively forming a first source/drain feature over the first isolation layer; forming a contact etch stop layer (CESL) over the first source/drain feature and the second isolation layer; forming a first interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer over the CESL; forming an access opening through the first ILD layer, the CESL, and second isolation layer to expose the second bottom epitaxial layer; and, forming a second source/drain feature over the exposed second bottom epitaxial layer in combination with the other elements of the claim. Claims 11-14 and 16 depend on claim 10.
Claim 21 contains allowable subject matter because of the limitation of depositing a first interlayer dielectric layer over the first source/drain feature and the second source/drain recess; removing the dummy gate stack; forming a first gate structure over the channel region of the first active region and a second gate structure over the channel region of the second active region; after the forming of the first gate structure and the second gate structure, forming an access opening over the second source/drain recess; and forming a second source/drain feature over the second source/drain recess through the access opening in combination with the other elements of the claim. Claims 22-24 depend on claim 21.
The closest prior art is More (U.S. 2023/0395721 A1). More discloses a method, comprising: receiving a workpiece comprising: a substrate (202, Fig. 2), a first base fin (204-1, Fig. 2) and a second base fin (204-2, Fig. 2) over the substrate, and an isolation feature (206, Fig. 2) disposed over the substrate and between the first base fin and the second base fin; forming a first bottom epitaxial layer (CE1 of 220-1, Fig. 4) over the first base fin and a second bottom epitaxial layer (CE1 of 220-2, Fig. 4) over the second base fin; forming a first isolation layer (PE1 of 220-1, Fig. 4) over the first bottom epitaxial layer and a second isolation layer (PE1 of 220-2, Fig. 4) over the second bottom epitaxial layer. Yet, More does not disclose selectively forming a first source/drain feature over the first isolation layer; forming a contact etch stop layer (CESL) over the first source/drain feature and the second isolation layer; forming a first interlayer dielectric (ILD) layer over the CESL; forming an access opening through the first ILD layer, the CESL, and second isolation layer to expose the second bottom epitaxial layer; forming a second source/drain feature over the exposed second bottom epitaxial layer; and forming a second ILD layer over the second source/drain feature and these features are not rendered obvious by the prior art.
Conclusion
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/REEMA PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812 3/31/2026