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 claims 1-14 in the reply filed on 6/22/2026 is acknowledged.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claims 1, 2 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn (20070120104).
Regarding claim 1, Ahn teaches a device comprising a PCM formed of a mixture comprising:
at least 0.90 parts by mole of a composition of three chemical elements (par. 22 teaches a GeSbTe alloy) comprising:
from 0.15 to 0.70 parts by mole of one or two chemical elements selected from Si, Ge, and Sn (par. 23-30 and Table 1 teaches Ge; looking up the molar masses of elements, e.g. Ge: 72.63 g/mol, Sb: 121.76 g/mol, Te: 127.60 g/mol, S: 32.0650 g/mol, the mass of each of these elements and calculating the total moles, the mole fractions calculated fall within the ranges specified in this limitation), and
from 0.15 to 0.70 parts by mole of S (par. 27 teaches Te can be replaced with S; given the calculations above, the mole fraction calculated fall within the range specified in this limitation),
wherein when one chemical element is selected from Si, Ge, and Sn (par. 22 teaches Ge can be used), from 0.05 to 0.45 parts by mole of one chemical element selected from N, Sb, and P (par. 23-30 and Table 1 teaches Sb; looking up the molar masses of elements, e.g. Ge: 72.63 g/mol, Sb: 121.76 g/mol, Te: 127.60 g/mol, S: 32.0650 g/mol, the mass of each of these elements and calculating the total moles, the mole fraction calculated fall within the range specified in this limitation),
wherein when present, each of the three chemical elements is present in an amount of at least 0.05 parts by mole, and at most 0.10 parts by mole of chemical elements different from the three chemical elements (par. 23-30 and Table 1 teaches Ge, Sb and S, as mentioned above; looking up the molar masses of elements, e.g. Ge: 72.63 g/mol, Sb: 121.76 g/mol, Te: 127.60 g/mol, S: 32.0650 g/mol, the mass of each of these elements and calculating the total moles, the mole fractions calculated fall within the ranges specified in this limitation).
Please note that ranges are expressed in this claim and it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA, at the time of filing to utilize these materials in these mole ranges, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art.
Regarding claim 2, Ahn teaches a device according to claim 1, wherein two chemical elements are selected from Si, Ge, and Sn, and none of N, Sb and P is present in the mixture (please see rejection for claim 1 above; further, par. 27 and 29 teach the use of Sn).
Regarding claim 14, Ahn teaches a device according to claim 1, wherein the mixture contains at most 0.02 parts by mole of arsenic and selenium (par. 27 and 28).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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.
Claim 6 is objected to based o is dependency on claim 5.
Claims 7 and 8 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.
Claim 9 is objected to based o is dependency on claim 8.
Claims 10 and 11 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.
Claims 12 and 13 is objected to based o is dependency on claim 11.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CALEB E HENRY whose telephone number is (571)270-5370. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eva Montalvo can be reached at (571) 270-3829. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CALEB E HENRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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