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 .
Status of the Application
Claims 1-21 remain pending in this application. Acknowledgement is made of the amendment received 08/06/2026. Claims 1, 7, and 18 are amended, and claim 21 is added for consideration.
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)(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 1-6, 9-11, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Okajima et al (US 20230309294 A1, hereafter Okajima).
The applied reference has a common assignee and joint inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
Regarding claim 1, Okajima discloses: A semiconductor device (Okajima fig 2, 17, 33, ¶0137-0143, 0171-0177) comprising:
a semiconductor substrate (Okajima 10, ¶0088);
a memory capacitor (Okajima 20, ¶0090) provided on the semiconductor substrate (Okajima fig 2);
a first conductor (Okajima 32, ¶0093) provided above the memory capacitor (Okajima fig 2, 17, 33);
a second conductor (Okajima 57, ¶0129, 0172) provided above the first conductor (Okajima fig 17, 33);
an oxide semiconductor layer (Okajima 41, ¶0098, 0172) provided between the first conductor and the second conductor and extending in a first direction (Okajima Z-axis direction, ¶0098)(Okajima fig 2, 17, 33, ¶0098);
a conductive oxide layer (Okajima 51, ¶0105, 0172) between the second conductor and the oxide semiconductor layer (Okajima fig 17, 33, ¶0106, 0142, 0172);
a first conductive layer (Okajima 52, ¶0107, 0140, 0173) provided on the second conductor (Okajima fig 17, 33, ¶0142, 0173); and
a first insulating layer (Okajima 55, ¶0101, 0116, “55 contains silicon and at least one of oxygen or nitrogen”, ¶0141, under a broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of “insulating layer”) having a portion in contact with an upper surface of the conductive oxide layer (Okajima 511a, ¶0139-0141, 0172) in the first direction (Okajima fig 17, 33, ¶0139-0141, 0172), wherein a portion of the conductive oxide layer at the upper surface in contact with the first insulating layer is between and aligned with the portion of the first insulating layer in contact with the upper surface and the oxide semiconductor layer in the first direction (Okajima fig 17, 33).
Regarding claim 2, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a second conductive layer (Okajima 42, ¶0100) extending in a second direction (Okajima Y-axis direction, ¶0100) intersecting the first direction (Okajima Z-axis direction) and surrounding the oxide semiconductor layer (Okajima 41)(Okajima fig 2, 17, 33, ¶0100); and
an insulating film (Okajima 43, ¶0101) provided between the oxide semiconductor layer and the second conductive layer and in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer and the second conductive layer (Okajima fig 2, 17, 33, ¶0101).
Regarding claim 3, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 2, wherein the insulating film (Okajima 43) contains at least one element selected from the group consisting of silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), hafnium (Hf), zirconium (Zr), lanthanum (La), niobium (Nb), yttrium (Y), tantalum (Ta), vanadium (V), and magnesium (Mg), and oxygen (Okajima ¶0101 “silicon, oxygen, or nitrogen”).
Regarding claim 4, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor substrate (Okajima 10) includes a circuit (Okajima 11, fig 2, ¶0089) having a complementary field effect transistor (Okajima ¶0089).
Regarding claim 5, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the conductive oxide layer (Okajima 51) contains a metal oxide of indium-tin-oxide (ITO)(Okajima ¶0105, “a metal oxide such as indium-tin-oxide (ITO)”).
Regarding claim 6, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a second insulating layer (Okajima 54, ¶0101, 0115, “54 contains silicon and at least one of oxygen or nitrogen”, under a broadest reasonable interpretation (BRI) of “insulating layer”) in contact with a first side wall of the first conductive layer (Okajima 52)(Okajima fig 17, 33, ¶116, 0124), and separating the first conductive layer (Okajima 52) from the first insulating layer (Okajima 55)(Okajima fig 17, 33, ¶116).
Regarding claim 9, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the oxide semiconductor layer (Okajima 41) contains indium oxide and gallium oxide, indium oxide and zinc oxide, or indium oxide and tin oxide (Okajima ¶0098, “indium oxide and gallium oxide, indium oxide and zinc oxide, or indium oxide and tin oxide”).
Regarding claim 10, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first conductive layer (Okajima 52) contains at least one material selected from the group consisting of tungsten (W), titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), molybdenum (Mo), cobalt (Co), and ruthenium (Ru)(Okajima ¶0107, “tungsten and titanium nitride”).
Regarding claim 11, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first insulating layer (Okajima 55) contains at least one material selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide (AlOx), zirconium oxide (ZrOx), silicon nitride (SiNx), and silicon oxide (SiOx)(Okajima ¶0116, 0141).
Regarding claim 21, Okajima discloses: The semiconductor device according to claim 1,
wherein a length of the conductive oxide layer (Okajima 51) in a second direction (Okajima Y-axis direction, ¶0100) parallel to a surface of the semiconductor substrate (Okajima 10)(Okajima fig 17, 33) is greater than a length of the first conductive layer (Okajima 52) in the second direction and a length of the second conductor (Okajima 57) in the second direction (Okajima fig 33, 52 and 57 are bounded within 54 which sits on top of 51, therefore the length in the Y-direction of 51 must be greater than a length of 52 or 57 in the Y-direction).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okajima et al (US 20230309294 A1, hereafter Okajima), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sawabe et al (US 20200303554 A1, hereafter Sawabe).
Regarding claim 8, Okajima teaches: The semiconductor device according to claim 1.
Okajima does not teach: a second conductive layer between the conductive oxide layer and the second conductor.
Sawabe, in the same field of endeavor of semiconductor device manufacturing, teaches: a second conductive layer (Sawabe 12, ¶0028, W portion of 12) between a conductive oxide layer (Sawabe 12, ¶0028, ITO portion of 12) and a second conductor (Sawabe 22)(Sawabe fig 1, 2, ¶0028).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Okajima to include a second conductive layer “between the conductive oxide layer and the second conductor”, as taught by Sawabe, in order to provide a composite electrode (Sawabe ¶0028), thereby reducing contact resistance.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-20 are allowed.
Claim 7 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 7, it is allowable primarily because the prior arts of record, singly or in combination, neither anticipates nor render obvious the following limitations when taken in combination with all other limitations:
wherein the second insulating layer is not in contact with a second side wall of the first conductive layer that is on an opposite side of the first conductive layer from the first side wall in the second direction. (Applicant fig 5A, ¶0084).
Gawase in view of Ramaswamy, in combination disclose some of the features of the claimed invention, but there is no motivation/teaching and do not render obvious to combine and/or modify Okajima, Gawase, Ramaswamy, Sawabe, Kawai, or any other prior arts of record so that all of limitations of claim 7 as a whole can be met.
Regarding claim 12, it is allowable primarily because the prior arts of record, singly or in combination, neither anticipates nor render obvious the following limitations when taken in combination with all other limitations:
a second conductive layer disposed on the first conductive layer, and having an inverted trapezoidal shape when viewed in the first direction;
a first insulating layer in contact with the conductive oxide layer and having a portion that is between the conductive oxide layer and the first and second conductive layers in a second direction intersecting the first direction. (Applicant fig 7, 9F, ¶0096, 0111).
Gawase et al (US 20220302320 A1, hereafter Gawase) and Sawabe et al (US 20200303554 A1, hereafter Sawabe) as applied to claim 12 in the previous office action dated 05/06/2026, in combination disclose some of the features of the claimed invention, but there is no motivation/teaching and do not render obvious to combine and/or modify Okajima, Gawase, Ramaswamy, Sawabe, Kawai, or any other prior arts of record so that all of limitations of claim 12 as a whole can be met.
Regarding claims 13-16, the dependent claims are allowed for their dependency to claim 12.
Regarding claim 17, it is allowable primarily because the prior arts of record, singly or in combination, neither anticipates nor render obvious the following limitations when taken in combination with all other limitations:
the second conductor including a conductive oxide layer and having an inverted trapezoidal shape when viewed in the first direction. (Applicant fig 7, 9F, ¶0096, 0111).
Gawase et al (US 20220302320 A1, hereafter Gawase) in view of Sawabe et al (US 20200303554 A1, hereafter Sawabe), as applied to claim 17 in the previous office action dated 05/06/2026, in combination disclose some of the features of the claimed invention, but there is no motivation/teaching and do not render obvious to combine and/or modify Okajima, Gawase, Ramaswamy, Sawabe, Kawai, or any other prior arts of record so that all of limitations of claim 17 as a whole can be met.
Regarding claims 19 and 20, the dependent claims are allowed for their dependency to claim 17.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 08/06/2026, with respect to the specification has been fully considered and is persuasive. The objection to the specification has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments filed 08/06/2026, with respect to claims 7 and 18 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 USC § 112 rejections of claims 7 and 18 have been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-6 and 8-11 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NICHOLAS B. MICHAUD whose telephone number is (703)756-1796. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 0800-1700 Eastern Time.
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/NICHOLAS B. MICHAUD/
EXAMINER
Art Unit 2818
/BRIAN TURNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
