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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-13 in the reply filed on 07/16/26 is acknowledged.
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) 1, 2, 4-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou(USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2020/0373420, hereinafter Chou) in view of Tang (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2023/0230930, hereinafter Tang).
Re claim 1 Chou discloses a semiconductor structure, comprising: a substrate(110); a channel layer(112), disposed on the substrate(110); a barrier layer(113), disposed on the channel layer(112); a source electrode(131/141), a gate electrode(121), a drain electrode(131/141), respectively disposed on the barrier layer(113);
Chou does not discloses a cap layer, wherein the conductive cap layer covers the source electrode(131/141) and the drain electrode(131/141) except the regions directly above the source electrode(131/141) and the drain electrode(131/141).
Tang discloses a cap layer(105)[0020,0021], wherein the conductive cap layer(since 105 comprises AlN this may be interpreted as conductive cap) covers the source electrode(S/D) and the drain electrode(S/D) except the regions directly above the source electrode(regions covered by left/right 106) and the drain electrode(regions covered by left/right 106).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Tang to the teachings of Chou in order to improve die yield [0002, Tang].
Re claim 2 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein the materials of the source electrode(131/141) and the drain electrode(131/141) are selected from a group consisting of titanium, aluminum, nickel, gold and a combination thereof.
Re claim 4 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 1, further comprising a first metal layer, disposed above the source electrode(131/141) and the drain electrode(131/141), and electrically connected to the source electrode(131/141) and the drain electrode(131/141).
Re claim 5 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 4, further comprising a liner layer(108)[0021], covering a portion of the barrier layer(113), the cap layer(105)[0020,0021], the first metal layer, and the gate electrode(121) except the other portion above the first metal layer.
Re claim 6 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 5, wherein the material of the liner layer(108)[0021] is selected from a group consisting of silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, aluminum nitride, silicon carbide and a combination thereof.
Re claim 7 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 4, further comprising a via structure and a second metal layer, respectively disposed above the first metal layer, and electrically connected to the first metal layer.
Re claim 8 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 1, further comprising a two-dimensional electron gas, disposed at an interface between the channel layer(112) and the barrier layer(113).
Re claim 9 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein the material of the barrier layer(113) comprises AlxInyGa(1-x-y)N, where 0≦x＜1，0≦x+y≦1.
Re claim 10 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 1, wherein the material of the substrate(110) is selected from a group consisting of silicon, sapphire, silicon carbide and a combination thereof.
Re claim 11 Chou discloses a semiconductor structure, comprising: a substrate(110); a channel layer(112), disposed on the substrate(110); a barrier layer(113), disposed on the channel layer(112); a source electrode(131/141), a gate electrode(121), a drain electrode(131/141), respectively disposed on the barrier layer(113);
Chou does not discloses and a conductive cap layer, wherein the conductive cap layer covers the source electrode(131/141) and the drain electrode(131/141).
Tang discloses a conductive cap layer(105)[0020,0021], wherein the conductive cap layer(since 105 comprises AlN this may be interpreted as conductive cap) covers the source electrode(S/D) and the drain electrode(S/D).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Tang to the teachings of Chou in order to improve die yield [0002, Tang].
Re claim 12 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 11, wherein the material of the conductive cap layer(105)[0020,0021] is selected from a group consisting of titanium nitride, tungsten nitride, titanium tungsten nitride, aluminum nitride, and carbon and a combination thereof.
Re claim 13 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 11, further comprising a first metal layer, disposed on the conductive cap layer(105)[0020,0021] above the source electrode(131/141) and the drain electrode(131/141), and electrically connected to the conductive cap layer, the source electrode(131/141), and the drain electrode(131/141).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou(USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2020/0373420, hereinafter Chou) in view of Tang (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2023/0230930, hereinafter Tang) and Nanjo (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2022/0199821, hereinafter Nanjo).
Re claim 3 Chou and Tang disclose the semiconductor structure of claim 1,
Chou and Tang do not disclose wherein the material of the cap layer(105)[0020,0021] is selected from a group consisting of silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, silicon oxynitride and a combination thereof.
Nanjo disclose wherein the material of the cap layer is selected from a group consisting of silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, silicon oxynitride and a combination thereof[claim 15].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the inventions to use the material of Nanjo to replace the material of Chou’s device because such material replacement is art recognized suitability for an intended purpose. See MPEP 2144.07.
Conclusion
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/PATRICIA D VALENZUELA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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