Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 18, 2026
Application No. 18/515,906

MEMORY CELLS AND MEMORY ARRAY STRUCTURES AND METHODS OF THEIR FABRICATION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Nov 21, 2023
Examiner
LIU, XIAOMING
Art Unit
2812
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Micron Technology, Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 4m
To Grant
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allow Rate
495 granted / 576 resolved
+17.9% vs TC avg
Moderate +11% lift
Without
With
+11.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
39 currently pending
Career history
615
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.1%
-39.9% vs TC avg
§103
61.5%
+21.5% vs TC avg
§102
24.9%
-15.1% vs TC avg
§112
3.3%
-36.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 576 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
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. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/21/2023 . The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. 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 (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 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. Claim(s) 1-3, 8 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. US 2021/0366927 in view of Nakasaki et al. US 2009/0078983 . Re claim 1 , Kim teaches a memory cell (fig16) , comprising: a control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; a channel (44, fig16, [66]) ; a gate dielectric (42, fig16, [46]) between the channel (44, fig16, [66]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; a charge-storage node (38, fig16, [41]) between the gate dielectric (42, fig16, [46]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; a charge-blocking material (34, fig16, [52]) between the charge-storage node (38, fig16, [41]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; a laminated dielectric (70, fig16, [61]) between the charge-blocking material (34, fig16, [52]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; and a high-K dielectric (28, fig16, [54]) between the laminated dielectric (70, fig16, [61]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; Kim does not explicitly show wherein the laminated dielectric comprises an instance of a first dielectric material between the charge-blocking material and the high-K dielectric, and an instance of a second dielectric material between the instance of the first dielectric material and the high-K dielectric; and wherein the instance of the first dielectric material has a higher oxygen areal density than an oxygen areal density of the instance of the second dielectric material. Nakasaki teaches the laminated dielectric (Al2O3 and SiO2, fig21 and 36, [183]) comprises an instance of a first dielectric material (Al2O3, fig21 and 36) between the charge-blocking material (SiO2 on lower side /tunnel insulating film side of Al2O3, fig21 and 36) and the high-K dielectric (Si3N4 on control gate side, fig21 and 36), and an instance of a second dielectric material (SiO2 on control gate side, fig21 and 36) between the instance of the first dielectric material (Al2O3, fig21 and 36) and the high-K dielectric (Si3N4 on control gate side, fig21 and 36); and wherein the instance of the first dielectric material has a higher oxygen areal density than an oxygen areal density of the instance of the second dielectric material (normalized oxygen areal density Al2O3~1.4 and SiO2 ~1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Kim and Nakasaki to form 70 of Kim as a laminated Al2O3/SiO2 as in fig21 and 36 of Nakasaki. The motivation to do so is to achieve highly efficient electron trap , relax electric field at the time of erasing operation and suppress injection of electrons from the control electrode, thereby realize high-speed erasing (Nakasaki, [144]). Re claim 2 , Kim modified above teaches the memory cell of claim 1, wherein the instance of the first dielectric material has an oxygen areal density that is 20% or higher than the oxygen areal density of the instance of the second dielectric material (Kim 70 with Al2O3/SiO2 normalized oxygen areal density Al2O3~1.4 and SiO2 ~1, fig16) . Re claim 3 , Kim modified above teaches the memory cell of claim 1, wherein the instance of the second dielectric material is a first instance of the second dielectric material, and wherein the laminated dielectric further comprises a second instance of the second dielectric material between the instance of the first dielectric material and the charge-blocking material (Kim 70 in fig16 with SiO2/Al2O3(x)/ SiO2 in Nakasaki fig41 with lower SiO2 between Al2O3 and CB Si3N4 ). Re claim 8 , Kim teaches a memory (fig 1 and 4 with charge-storage transistor in fig16) , comprising: a plurality of data lines (bitlines BL 228, fig 1 and 4, [8]) ; a common source (source line formed between 18 and 12, fig5, [29]) ; an array of memory cells comprising a plurality of strings of series-connected memory cells each selectively connected to a respective data line of the plurality of data lines and each selectively connected to the common source (fig4) ; and a controller (1018, fig1, [4]) for access of the array of memory cells; wherein at least one memory cell (fig16) of a particular string of series-connected memory cells of the plurality of strings of series-connected memory cells comprises: a control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; a channel (44, fig16, [66]) ; a gate dielectric (42, fig16, [46]) between the channel (44, fig16, [66]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; a charge-storage node (38, fig16, [41]) between the gate dielectric (42, fig16, [46]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]); a charge-blocking material (34, fig16, [52]) between the charge-storage node (38, fig16, [41]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]); a laminated dielectric (70, fig16, [61]) between the charge-blocking material (34, fig16, [52]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]); and a high-K dielectric (28, fig16, [54]) between the laminated dielectric (70, fig16, [61]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]); Kim does not explicitly show wherein the laminated dielectric comprises an instance of a first dielectric material between the charge-blocking material and the high-K dielectric, and an instance of a second dielectric material between the instance of the first dielectric material and the high-K dielectric; and wherein the instance of the first dielectric material has a higher oxygen areal density than an oxygen areal density of the instance of the second dielectric material. Nakasaki teaches the laminated dielectric (Al2O3 and SiO2, fig21 and 36, [183]) comprises an instance of a first dielectric material (Al2O3, fig21 and 36) between the charge-blocking material (SiO2 on lower side /tunnel insulating film side of Al2O3, fig21 and 36) and the high-K dielectric (Si3N4 on control gate side, fig21 and 36), and an instance of a second dielectric material (SiO2 on control gate side, fig21 and 36) between the instance of the first dielectric material (Al2O3, fig21 and 36) and the high-K dielectric (Si3N4 on control gate side, fig21 and 36); and wherein the instance of the first dielectric material has a higher oxygen areal density than an oxygen areal density of the instance of the second dielectric material (normalized oxygen areal density Al2O3~1.4 and SiO2 ~1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Kim and Nakasaki to form 70 of Kim as a laminated Al2O3/SiO2 as in fig21 and 36 of Nakasaki. The motivation to do so is to achieve highly efficient electron trap, relax electric field at the time of erasing operation and suppress injection of electrons from the control electrode, thereby realize high-speed erasing (Nakasaki, [144]). Re claim 14 , Kim teaches a memory array structure (fig1 and 4 with charge-storage transistor in fig16) , comprising: a data line (bitlines BL 228, fig 1 and 4, [8]) ; a common source (source line formed between 18 and 12, fig5, [29]) ; and a channel-material structure (44, fig16, [66]) between the data line (bitlines BL 228, fig4, [8]) and the common source (source line formed between 18 and 12, fig16, [29]) ; a control gate (92, fig16, [61]) surrounding the channel-material structure; a laminated dielectric (70, fig16, [61]) between the channel-material structure (44, fig16, [66]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; and a high-K dielectric (28, fig16, [54]) between the laminated dielectric (70, fig16, [61]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; wherein the channel-material structure comprises: a channel material (44, fig16, [66]) electrically connected to the common source (source line formed between 18 and 12, fig16, [29]) and electrically connected to the data line (BL formed over 12 in fig5; bitlines BL 228, fig4, [8]) ; a gate dielectric (42, fig16, [46]) between the channel material (44, fig16, [66]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; a charge-storage node (38, fig16, [41]) between the gate dielectric (42, fig16, [46]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; and a charge-blocking material (34, fig16, [52]) between the charge-storage node (38, fig16, [41]) and the control gate (92, fig16, [61]) ; Kim does not explicitly show wherein the laminated dielectric comprises an instance of a first dielectric material between the channel-material structure and the high-K dielectric, and an instance of a second dielectric material between the instance of the first dielectric material and the high-K dielectric; and wherein the instance of the first dielectric material has a higher oxygen areal density than an oxygen areal density of the instance of the second dielectric material. Nakasaki teaches the laminated dielectric (Al2O3 and SiO2, fig21 and 36, [183]) comprises an instance of a first dielectric material (Al2O3, fig21 and 36) between the charge-blocking material (SiO2 on lower side /tunnel insulating film side of Al2O3, fig21 and 36) and the high-K dielectric (Si3N4 on control gate side, fig21 and 36), and an instance of a second dielectric material (SiO2 on control gate side, fig21 and 36) between the instance of the first dielectric material (Al2O3, fig21 and 36) and the high-K dielectric (Si3N4 on control gate side, fig21 and 36); and wherein the instance of the first dielectric material has a higher oxygen areal density than an oxygen areal density of the instance of the second dielectric material (normalized oxygen areal density Al2O3~1.4 and SiO2 ~1). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Kim and Nakasaki to form 70 of Kim as a laminated Al2O3/SiO2 as in fig21 and 36 of Nakasaki. The motivation to do so is to achieve highly efficient electron trap, relax electric field at the time of erasing operation and suppress injection of electrons from the control electrode, thereby realize high-speed erasing (Nakasaki, [144]). Allowable Subject Matter Claim 4-7, 9-13, 15-18 and 20-21 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. Specifically, the limitations are material to the inventive concept of the application in hand to form a memory device with high reliability and low power consumption . Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT XIAOMING LIU whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)270-0384 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Friday, 9am-8pm, EST . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT Christine S Kim can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-8458 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /XIAOMING LIU/ Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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Prosecution Timeline

Nov 21, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 26, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §103 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+11.0%)
2y 4m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 576 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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