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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schroder(USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2017/0256552, hereinafter Schroder) in view of Lee (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2024/0081081, hereinafter Lee).
Re claim 1 Schroder discloses a capacitor comprising: a first electrode(101A/103A) and a second electrode(101A/103A) spaced apart from each other; and a dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] between the first electrode(101A/103A) and the second electrode(101A/103A) and including a ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] and a portion in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058], wherein an energy band gap of the portion is lower than about 4.0 eV (since the energy band gap of ZnO is lower than about 4.0 eV this may be interpreted as wherein an energy band gap is lower than about 4.0 eV).
Schroder does not discloses an auxiliary portion in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058]
Lee discloses an auxiliary portion(110/112) in the ferroelectric layer(102)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Lee to the teachings of Schroder in order to further increase the memory window and endurance is required for improving the ferroelectric [0002, Lee].
Regarding the limitation “wherein an energy band gap of the auxiliary portion is less than about 4.0 eV” this is considered a statement of the inherent properties and/or functions of the device or method. The prior art of Saito anticipates or renders obvious the claimed limitation. Under the principles of inherency, if a prior art device, in its normal and usual operation, would necessarily perform the method claimed, then the method claimed will be considered to be anticipated by the prior art device. When the prior art device is the same as a device described in the specification for carrying out the claimed method, it can be assumed the device will inherently perform the claimed process. In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 231 USPQ 136 (Fed. Cir. 1986). See MPEP2112.02.
Re claim 2 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] includes a plurality of auxiliary patterns dispersed in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058].
Re claim 3 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 2, wherein the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] further includes an insulating layer between the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] and at least one of the first and second electrode(101A/103A)s, and the insulating layer includes at least one of an antiferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] or a paraelectric layer.
Re claim 4 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 2, wherein the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] includes a plurality of first auxiliary patterns dispersed in the insulating layer.
Re claim 5 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 1, wherein the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] includes an auxiliary thin film layer in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058].
Re claim 6 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 5, wherein a thickness of the auxiliary thin film layer is less than a thickness of the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058].
Re claim 7 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 5, wherein a planar area of the auxiliary thin film layer is smaller than a planar area of the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058].
Re claim 8 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 5, wherein the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] further includes an insulating layer between the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] and at least one of the first or second electrode(101A/103A)s, and the insulating layer includes at least one of an antiferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] or a paraelectric layer.
Re claim 9 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 8, wherein the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] further includes at least two auxiliary thin film layer in the insulating layer.
10Re claim Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 6, wherein the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] further includes an insulating layer between the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] and at least one of the first and second electrode(101A/103A)s, and the insulating layer includes at least one of an antiferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] or a paraelectric layer.
Re claim 11 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 10, wherein the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] further includes at least two auxiliary thin film layers in the insulating layer.
Re claim 12 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 1, wherein a ratio of the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] of the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] to a remainder of the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] is about 3%[0023 of Lee] to about 10%[0023 of Lee].
Re claim 13 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 12, wherein the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] includes a metal oxide.
Re claim 14 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 13, wherein the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] includes at least one of zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO2), indium oxide (In2O3), titanium dioxide (TiO2), tungsten trioxide (WO3), niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5), manganese monoxide (MnO), or nickel oxide (NiO).
Re claim 15 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 1, wherein a leakage current (x) of the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] is 10-4 A/cm2≤ x ≤ 10-8 A/cm2 at 1 volt.
Re claim 16 Schroder and Lee disclose the capacitor of claim 15, wherein a thickness of the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] is greater than 0 and less than or equal to about 50 Å.
Re claim 17 Schroder discloses a semiconductor device comprising: a substrate; and a capacitor structure over the substrate, the capacitor structure including a plurality of lower electrode(101A/103A)s spaced apart from each other in a direction parallel to an upper surface of the substrate, a supporter(902) between the plurality of lower electrode(101A/103A)s, an upper electrode(101A/103A) over the plurality of lower electrode(101A/103A)s, and a dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] insulting the plurality of lower electrode(101A/103A)s from the upper electrode(101A/103A), the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] including a ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058] and an portion in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058], wherein an energy band gap of the portion is less than about 4.0 eV(since the energy band gap of ZnO is lower than about 4.0 eV this may be interpreted as wherein an energy band gap is lower than about 4.0 eV).
Schroder does not discloses an auxiliary portion in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058]
Lee discloses an auxiliary portion(110/112) in the ferroelectric layer(102)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Lee to the teachings of Schroder in order to further increase the memory window and endurance is required for improving the ferroelectric [0002, Lee].
Regarding the limitation “wherein an energy band gap of the auxiliary portion is less than about 4.0 eV” this is considered a statement of the inherent properties and/or functions of the device or method. The prior art of Saito anticipates or renders obvious the claimed limitation. Under the principles of inherency, if a prior art device, in its normal and usual operation, would necessarily perform the method claimed, then the method claimed will be considered to be anticipated by the prior art device. When the prior art device is the same as a device described in the specification for carrying out the claimed method, it can be assumed the device will inherently perform the claimed process. In re King, 801 F.2d 1324, 231 USPQ 136 (Fed. Cir. 1986). See MPEP2112.02.
Re claim 18 Schroder and Lee disclose the semiconductor device of claim 17, wherein the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] includes a plurality of auxiliary patterns dispersed in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058].
Re claim 19 Schroder and Lee disclose the semiconductor device of claim 17, wherein the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] includes an auxiliary thin film layer in the ferroelectric layer(ZnO)[0058].
Re claim 20 Schroder and Lee disclose the semiconductor device of claim 17, wherein a ratio of the auxiliary portion(110/112 of Lee)[0024] of the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] to a remainder of the dielectric layer(dielectric)[0072] is about 3%[0023 of Lee] to about 10%[0023 of Lee].
Conclusion
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/PATRICIA D VALENZUELA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812