DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This action is responsive to the following communications: the Amendment filed 7/20/2026.
Claims 1-9 are pending. Claims 10-20 are cancelled.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 5/28/2024, 6/2/2025 and 3/12/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 7/20/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-20, which have been canceled, were drawn to a nonelected Invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/20/2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 2 recites the limitation “the metal oxide” in line 2 of the claim, which the Examiner suggests amending to “the deuterium-treated metal oxide”, because it appears the claimed element was originally introduced using that specific language.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claims 1-2 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu (US 2018/0366547 A1).
Regarding independent claim 1, Figure 1 of Liu discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a first electrode 101/102 (collectively 101 “source region” and 102 “drain region”- ¶0033, which are conductive during operation and thereby are considered an electrode);
a ferroelectric layer 12 (“charge storage structure”- ¶0033) fabricated on the first electrode 101/102, wherein the ferroelectric layer 12 comprises a ferroelectric material and deuterium, which formed by performing heat treatment in a deuterium atmosphere, which would inherently lead to deuterium diffusing into structure 12 (¶¶0076, 0096-0097); and
a second electrode 11 (“gate conductive layer”- ¶0033) fabricated on the ferroelectric layer 12.
Regarding claim 2, Figure 1 of Liu discloses wherein the ferroelectric material comprises a deuterium-treated metal oxide, and wherein the metal oxide comprises at least one of hafnium oxide (HfO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), zirconium-doped hafnium oxide (Hfi-xZrx02 with x ranging from 0 to 1), scandium-doped aluminum nitride (Ali-xScxN with x>0.3), titanates (BaTiO3), niobates (LiNbO3), or tantalates (NaTaO3) (¶¶0076, 0081).
Regarding claim 5, Figure 1 of Liu discloses wherein the second electrode 11 comprises at least one of tungsten, ruthenium, molybdenum, titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, tungsten nitride, platinum, palladium, or iridium (¶0038).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 and 6-9 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 and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 3, the prior art of record including Liu, either singularly or in combination, does not disclose or suggest the combination of limitations including, but not limited to, “wherein the ferroelectric material is interstitially doped with at least one interstitial dopant, and wherein the at least one interstitial dopant comprises at least one of H, N, C, B, or F”.
Regarding claim 4, the prior art of record including Liu, either singularly or in combination, does not disclose or suggest the combination of limitations including, but not limited to, “wherein the first electrode comprises at least one of tungsten, ruthenium, molybdenum, titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, tungsten nitride, platinum, palladium, or iridium”.
Regarding claim 6 (which claim 7-9 depend from), the prior art of record including Liu, either singularly or in combination, does not disclose or suggest the combination of limitations including, but not limited to, “[the] apparatus… further comprising a first connection pad, wherein the first electrode is fabricated on the first connection pad, and wherein the first connection pad comprises a conductive material”.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Makala et al. (US 2021/0408019 A1), which discloses an apparatus comprising a ferroelectric layer between electrodes.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAY C CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-6132. The examiner can normally be reached Mon- Fri 12pm-10pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eliseo Ramos-Feliciano can be reached at (571)-272-7925. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JAY C CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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