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 of claims 21-40 in the reply filed on 6/22/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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 § 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 21-23, 28, 31-34, 39 and 40 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim (20090149006)
Regarding claim 21, Kim teaches a phase change material (par. 45 and 46), comprising:
a hafnium-containing material (par. 45 and 46 teaches PCM being doped with Hf), the hafnium-containing material comprising a parent material doped with a hafnium-containing or a hafnium-containing compound (par. 45 and 46 teaches PCM being doped with Hf), and the parent material comprises a compound comprising tellurium (par. 45 teaches the material including Te) and at least one of germanium, antimony, or bismuth (par. 45 teaches the material including Ge or Sb) and that is capable of performing a phase change (par. 45 and 46).
Regarding claim 22, Kim teaches a phase change material according to claim 21, wherein the phase change material further comprises a sulfur compound material, and the sulfur compound material is located above or below the hafnium-containing material (par. 45 and 46).
Regarding claim 23, Kim teaches a phase change material according to claim 22, wherein the phase change material comprises a plurality of phase change material units that are superposed together, and each phase change material unit comprises one layer of the hafnium- containing material and one layer of the sulfur compound material (par. 45 and 46).
Regarding claim 28, Kim teaches a phase change material according to claim 21, wherein the parent material comprises any one of the following materials:GexSbyTei-x-y or GexBiyTei-x-y, wherein a value range of a sum of x and y is greater than o and less than 100%, or the parent material comprises SbxTey, or the parent material comprises GexSbyBizTei-x-y-z, wherein a sum of x, y, and z is 100% (par. 45 and 46 and it is known that the stoichiometry of the chemical equation equals 100%).
Regarding claim 31, Kim teaches a phase change material according to claim 21, wherein the hafnium compound comprises at least one of the following compounds:a hafnium metal oxide, a hafnium metal boride, a hafnium metal carbide, a hafnium metal nitrogen compound, a hafnium metal sulfur compound, a hafnium metal halogen compound, or a binary or multi-ary compound formed by a hafnium metal and another metal (par. 46).
Regarding claim 32, Kim teaches a storage devices, comprising:
a plurality of storage units (par. 4 and 5), each storage unit of the plurality of storage units comprising a phase change material, the phase change material comprising a hafnium-containing material, the hafnium-containing material comprising a parent material doped with a hafnium-containing or a hafnium-containing compound, and the parent material comprising a compound comprising tellurium and at least one of germanium, antimony, or bismuth and that is capable of performing a phase change (par. 45 and 46).
Regarding claim 33, Kim teaches a storage chip according to claim 32, wherein the phase change material further comprises a sulfur compound material, and the sulfur compound material is located above or below the hafnium-containing material (par. 45 and 46).
Regarding claim 34, Kim teaches a storage chip according to claim 3, wherein the phase change material comprises a plurality of phase change material units that are superposed together, and each phase change material unit comprises one layer of the hafnium-containing material and one layer of the sulfur compound material (par. 4, 5, 45 and 46).
Regarding claim 39, Kim teaches a storage chip according to claim 32, wherein each storage unit further comprises a gating material, and the gating material is doped with hafnium or a hafnium compound (par. 45 and 46).
Regarding claim 40, Kim teaches a phase change memory, comprising:
a controller (par. 4 and 5); and
at least one storage chip (par. 4 and 5),
wherein the controller is configured to store data to the at least one storage chip, or read data from the at least one storage chip (par. 4 and 5), and each of the at least one storage chip comprises:
a plurality of storage units, each storage unit of the plurality of storage units comprising a phase change material, the phase change material comprising a hafnium- containing material, the hafnium-containing material comprising a parent material doped with a hafnium-containing or a hafnium-containing compound, and the parent material comprising a compound comprising tellurium and at least one of germanium, antimony, or bismuth and that is capable of performing a phase change (par. 45 and 46).
Claims 21, 24 and 32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shimuta (20130001496).
Regarding claim 21, Shimuta teaches a phase change material (fig. 5B, 6A, 6B: 72), comprising:
a hafnium-containing material (par. 36 and 40), the hafnium-containing material comprising a parent material doped with a hafnium-containing or a hafnium-containing compound (par. 36 and 40), and the parent material comprises a compound comprising tellurium (par. 34 teaches Te) and at least one of germanium, antimony, or bismuth (par. 40 teaches Ge) and that is capable of performing a phase change (par. 4).
Regarding claim 24, Shimuta teaches a phase change material according to claim 21, wherein atomic percentages of different parts of the hafnium-containing or the hafnium-containing compound in the phase change material vary spatially within the phase change material (please see fig. 6B which shows the Hf varying spatially).
Regarding claim 32, Shimuta teaches a storage devices, comprising:
a plurality of storage units (see fig. 2), each storage unit of the plurality of storage units comprising a phase change material, the phase change material comprising a hafnium-containing material, the hafnium-containing material comprising a parent material doped with a hafnium-containing or a hafnium-containing compound, and the parent material comprising a compound comprising tellurium and at least one of germanium, antimony, or bismuth and that is capable of performing a phase change (par. 34, 36 and 40).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 25 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.
Claims 26 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.
Claims 27 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.
Claims 29 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.
Claims 30 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.
Claims 35 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.
Claim 36 is objected to based on its dependency on claim 35.
Claims 37 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.
Claims 38 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.
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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