DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Application filed March 26, 2024.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Election/Restrictions
Applicants’ election without traverse of Species A, drawn to a semiconductor device whose structure is shown in Figs. 1-21, which read on claims 1-5 and 7, in the reply filed on July 13, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 6 and 8-17 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 13, 2026.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informality:
On lines 3 of claim 3, a typo of “trenche” instead of “trench” should be corrected.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
(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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a(1) as being anticipated by Nishiwaki (JP 2012059943 A, which Applicants filed on July 21, 2026 together with IDS; attached English Translation of JP 2012059943 A is used for current Office Action).
Regarding claim 1, as best understood, Nishiwaki discloses a semiconductor device (Fig. 13) comprising: a semiconductor substrate (11) of a first conductivity type having an upper surface and a lower surface; a first trench (20) formed in the semiconductor substrate (11) so as to reach a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate (11); a field plate electrode (22) formed in a lower portion of the first trench (20) inside the first trench (20) and electrically isolated from the semiconductor substrate (11); a first gate electrode (26) formed in an upper portion of the first trench (20) inside the first trench (20) and electrically isolated from the semiconductor substrate (11) and the field plate electrode (22); a second trench (30) formed in the semiconductor substrate (11) so as to reach a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate (11); and a second gate electrode (32) formed inside the second trench (30) and electrically isolated from the semiconductor substrate (11), wherein a depth of the first trench (20) is greater than a depth of the second trench (30); and wherein the first trench (20) is surrounded by the second trench (30) in plan view.
Regarding claim 2, Nishiwaki discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein a gate potential is supplied to the first gate electrode (26) and the second gate electrode (32), and the field plate electrode (22) is electrically floating.
Regarding claim 3, Nishiwaki discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the second trench (Fig. 18b, 30) forms a honeycomb structure (Fig. 18b, 7B) in plan view, and one first trench (20) is formed in a regular hexagon of the honeycomb structure (Fig. 18b, 7B).
Regarding claim 4, Nishiwaki discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the second trench (30) forms a honeycomb structure (Fig. 18b, 7B) in plan view, and a center portion of the first trench (20) in plan view corresponds to a center of gravity of a regular hexagon of the honeycomb structure (Fig. 18b, 7B).
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, 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.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishiwaki (JP 2012059943 A).
Regarding claim 5, as best understood, Nishiwaki discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 4.
Nishiwaki does not disclose the first trench has a circular planar shape in Fig. 18b.
Nishiwaki discloses the first trench has a circular planar shape in Fig. 18c.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the hexagonal shaped first trench disclosed by Nishiwaki in Fig. 18b with the circular shaped first trench disclosed by Nishiwaki in Fig. 18c because it is common practice to improve device performance by optimizing the shape of materials used.
Allowable Subject Matter
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.
Conclusion
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/JAY C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815
/ANGELICA ROSE GALVAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2815
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