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 .
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 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.
Response to Amendment
Applicant's amendment to the claims, filed on May 21th, 2024, is acknowledged. Entry of amendment is accepted and made of record.
Claim Objections
Claims 8-10 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 8-10 recites “the method of” in line 1 which refer back to “the method for depositing a thin film” in line 1 of claim 1 and should be amended for avoiding confusion. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 2-7 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claims 2-7 recites a redundant “a thin film” in line 1 because claim 1 already recites “a thin film” in line 1. It is unclear to the examiner if “a thin film” in claims 2-7 is the same or different from “a thin film” in claim 1.
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, 5-6 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Perera et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0041875 A1), hereinafter as Perera.
Regarding claim 1, Perera discloses a method for depositing a thin film in Figs. 1-2, comprising: preparing a silicon carbide substrate (substrate 100) having a plurality of semiconductor regions (regions 111 and 113) (see Fig. 1 and [0012-0013]); and forming a gate insulation film (gate dielectric layer 105) on the silicon carbide substrate at a temperature of 100°C to 400°C through an atomic layer deposition process (forming high-k dielectric layer of gate dielectric layer 105 using atomic layer deposition with suitable temperature approximately 200-400 degrees Celsius) (see Fig. 1 and [0015-0016]).
Regarding claim 5, Perera discloses the method for depositing a thin film of claim 1, wherein the gate insulation film comprises a high-K dielectric layer (high-k dielectric layer of gate dielectric layer 105) (see Fig. 1 and [0015]).
Regarding claim 6, Perera discloses the method for depositing a thin film of claim 5, wherein the gate insulation film further comprises a silicon oxide layer (forming a base dielectric layer of silicon dioxide) or a silicon nitride layer disposed on at least one of upper and lower portions of the high-K dielectric layer (under high-K dielectric layer by ALD) (see [0015]).
Regarding claim 7, Perera discloses the method for depositing a thin film of claim 1, wherein the preparing of the silicon carbide substrate prepares the silicon carbide substrate having a source region (source 126/source123), a well region (p-well 102/p-well 103), and a drain region (drain 123), and the forming of the gate insulation film forms the gate insulation film on the well region (see Figs. 1, 5 and [0014-0015], [0023]).
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 of this title, 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
a. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
b. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
c. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
d. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perera et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0041875 A1), hereinafter as Perera as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ahmed et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0179438 A1), hereinafter as Ahmed.
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Perera and Ahmed discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the removing of the impurities comprises performing a plasma surface treatment on the silicon carbide substrate (see Ahmed, Fig. 5 and [0036], [0044-0048]).
Regarding claim 8, Perera discloses the method of claim 1, but fails to disclose further comprising removing impurities of the silicon carbide substrate before the forming of the gate insulation film.
Ahmed discloses a method of depositing thin film comprising removing impurities (remove native oxide/surfaces oxide) of the silicon carbide substrate (perform plasma surface treatment using hydrogen, or nitrogen on the surface of the SiC substrate in step 506) before the forming of a gate insulation film (deposit dielectric layer in step 508) (see Fig. 5 and [0036], [0044-0048]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the method of applying the method of removing impurities of silicon carbide substrate of Ahmed into the method of Perera comprising a plasma surface treatment using hydrogen or nitrogen to remove native oxide because the modified method would remove contaminant and unwanted surface oxide that would degrade the performance of the semiconductor device.
Regarding claim 9, the combination of Perera and Ahmed discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the impurities comprise a natural oxide film (native oxide or surface oxides on silicon carbide substrate) (see Ahmed and [0036], [0046]).
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Perera and Ahmed discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the performing of the plasma surface treatment comprises forming plasma by supplying and activating at least one of nitrogen (N2), and hydrogen (H2) and an argon gas onto the silicon carbide substrate (see Ahmed, Fig. 5 and, [0044-0048]).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Perera et al. (Pub. No.: US 2015/0041875 A1), hereinafter as Perera as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Park et al. (KR100469132 B1), hereinafter as Park (see English translation provided).
Regarding claim 3, Perera discloses the method of claim 1, but fails to disclose wherein the forming of the gate insulation film comprises: supplying a source gas onto the silicon carbide substrate; performing a plasma pre-treatment on the silicon carbide substrate; supplying a reactant gas onto the silicon carbide substrate; and performing a plasma post-treatment on the silicon carbide substrate, wherein a process cycle comprising the supplying of the source gas, the performing of the plasma pre-treatment, the supplying of the reactant gas, and the performing of the plasma post-treatment is performed a plurality of times.
Park discloses a method of depositing thin film using atomic layer deposition process (see English translation of KR100469132B1 and [0014]) in Figs. 1, 2, 3A, 3B and 3C comprising supplying a source gas (source gas containing element a is adsorbed on the substrate in step 1) onto the silicon substrate (see Fig. 3C and [0021-0022]); performing a plasma pre-treatment on the silicon substrate (fist plasma G is applied) (see [0022]); supplying a reactant gas (reaction gas b) onto the silicon substrate (in step 3) (see Fig. 3C and [0023-0025]); and performing a plasma post-treatment (second plasma A) on the silicon substrate (in step 4) (see Fig. 3C and [0026]), wherein a process cycle comprising the supplying of the source gas, the performing of the plasma pre-treatment, the supplying of the reactant gas, and the performing of the plasma post-treatment is performed a plurality of times (repeat N times) (see [0027-0028]).
Incorporating the method of depositing thin film of Park using the above method into the method of deposition gate insulation film on silicon carbide of Perera for disclosing all limitation of claim 3.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the method of deposition thin film of Park into the method of Perera because the modified method would reduce damages occurring on the substrate and provide high quality semiconductor device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if amended to overcome 112 rejection above and rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The cited art, whether taken singularly or in combination, especially when all limitations are considered within the claimed specific combination, fails to disclose or suggest the claimed invention having: wherein the performing of the plasma pre-treatment and the performing of the plasma post-treatment comprise: injecting a hydrogen gas onto the silicon carbide substrate, and discharging the hydrogen gas and generating plasma on the silicon carbide substrate as recited in claim 4.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CUONG B NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1509 (Email: CuongB.Nguyen@uspto.gov). The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30 AM-5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.
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/CUONG B NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818