DETAILED ACTION
Amendment filed on 12/10/2025 has been entered.
Claims 1-17, 19-21 are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 12/10/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Prasad et al. Patent No. U.S. 10,964,748).
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)(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 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Prasad et al. (Patent No. U.S. 10,964,748).
Regarding claim 1, Prasad et al. disclose a device (Figure 1)comprising a magnetoresistive memory cell (Figure 1B)which comprises:
a first electrode (ABSTRACT, Figure 5A,140);
a second electrode (ABSTRACT, Figure 5A, 170); and
a layer stack (Figure 5A, 50,60) located between the first electrode and the second electrode and comprising, from one end to another (ABSTRACT), a first reference layer (Figure 5A, 170), a first tunnel barrier layer (Column 6, lines 53-67, Column 7, lines 1-30), a free layer (Figure 5A, 140), a second tunnel barrier layer (Column 6, lines 53-67, Column 7, lines 1-30), and a second reference layer (Column 15, lines 60-67, Column 16, lines 1-20),
wherein:
a first one of the first reference layer and the second reference layer comprises a positive spin polarization material, wherein the positive spin polarization material causes a spin direction of electrons passing through the positive spin polarization material to align along a magnetization direction of the positive spin polarization material (Column 9, lines 34-56); a second one of the first reference layer and the second reference layer comprises a negative spin polarization material (Column 9, lines 34-56), wherein the negative spin polarization material causes a spin direction of electrons passing through the negative spin polarization material to align along an opposite direction of a magnetization direction of the negative spin polarization material (Figures 3C, 3D); and a magnetization direction of the second reference layer is parallel to a magnetization direction of the first reference layer (Figure 4C, Column 16, lines 35-55, Figure 5B).
Regarding claim 2, Prasad et al. disclose wherein the device comprises a spin transfer torque (STT) magnetoresistive random memory (MRAM) array comprising a plurality of dual magnetic tunnel junction STT-MRAM memory cells (Column 15, lines 60-67, Column 16, lines 1-23).
Regarding claim 3, Prasad et al. disclose wherein the magnetoresistive memory cell further comprises a first magnetic polarizer layer (Figure 5A, 50),located between the first electrode (Figure 5A, 140) and the first reference layer (Figure 5A, 60).
Regarding claim 4, Prasad et al. disclose further comprising a first antiferromagnetic (Figure 3D, 50) coupling layer is located between the first magnetic polarizer layer and the first reference layer (Column 16, lines 48-55).
Regarding claim 5, Prasad et al. disclose wherein the first magnetic polarizer layer has a magnetization direction that is antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the first reference layer (Column 17, lines 1-20).
Regarding claim 6, Prasad et al. disclose wherein the first magnetic polarizer layer comprises a hard magnetization layer (Column 17, lines 35-45) or a ferromagnetic multilayer structure including a superlattice, an exchange- bias-inducing antiferromagnetic layer, or a stack of at least one ferromagnetic material layer and at least one antiferromagnetic layer (Column 17, lines 35-45).
Regarding claim 7, Prasad et al. disclose wherein the magnetoresistive memory cell further comprises a second magnetic polarizer layer (Figure 5A, 60) located between the second electrode (Figure 5A, 170) and the second reference layer (Figure 5A, 50).
Regarding claim 8, Prasad et al. disclose further comprising a second antiferromagnetic (Figure 4C, 50) coupling layer is located between the second magnetic polarizer layer and the second reference layer.
Regarding claim 9, Prasad et al. disclose wherein: the second magnetic polarizer layer has a magnetization direction that is antiparallel to the magnetization direction of the second reference layer (Figure 4C, 4D, 50); and the magnetization direction of the first magnetic polarizer layer is parallel to the magnetization direction of the second magnetic polarizer layer (Figure 5B).
Regarding claim 10, Prasad et al. disclose wherein: the first tunnel barrier layer (Figure 5A, 50,60) is in contact with a first surface of the free layer (Figure 5A,140) and with a surface of the first reference layer (Figure 5A, 170); and the second tunnel barrier layer (Figure 5A, 60) is in contact with a second surface of the free layer (Figure 5A, 170) and with a surface of the second reference layer (Figure 5A, 60).
Regarding claim 11, Prasad et al. disclose wherein: the second reference layer overlies the first reference layer; the first reference layer comprises the positive spin polarization material; and the second reference layer comprises the negative spin polarization material (Figures 3C-3D, Column 9, lines 34-55).
Regarding claim 12, prasad et al. disclose wherein: the second reference layer overlies the first reference layer; the first reference layer comprises the negative spin polarization material; and the second reference layer comprises the positive spin polarization material (Column 9, lines 34-56).
Regarding claim 13, Prasad et al. disclose wherein: the positive spin polarization material comprises Fe, Co, Ni or an alloy thereof; and the negative spin polarization material comprises Fei-xCrx where x < 0.7, a Mn2VGa Heusler alloy, Fe4N or SrRuO3 (Column 9, lines 4-33).
Regarding claim 14, Prasad et al. disclose wherein: the layer stack is a vertical stack (Figure 1, 180) in which the first reference layer, the first tunnel barrier layer, the free layer, the second tunnel barrier layer, the second reference layer are arranged along a vertical direction; and the layer stack is located over a support (ABSTRACT).
Regarding claim 21, Prasad et al. disclose wherein the magnetoresistive memory cell is configured to store binary data (Column 3, lines 21-31) by being in one of only two stable data states consisting of a parallel state in which the magnetization direction of the free layer is parallel to the magnetization directions of the first and second reference layers; and an antiparallel state in which the magnetization direction of the free layer is antiparallel to the magnetization directions of the first and second reference layers (Column 7, lines 20-30).
Regarding claims 15-20, the apparatus discussed above would perform the claimed method in 15-20.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 THONG QUOC LE whose telephone number is (571)272-1783. The examiner can normally be reached 7:30AM-5:30PM.
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/THONG Q LE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2827