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 .
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)(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 1 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Son et al. (US Pub. 2018/0342521 A1).
In re claim 1, Son et al. shows (fig. 1B) a semiconductor device, comprising: a substrate (100); at least two bit line structures (BL @304a and 304b) positioned on the substrate, spaced apart from each other, and respectively comprises:
a bit line top conductive layer (304) positioned on the substrate; and a bit line capping layer (314) positioned on the bit line top conductive layer; a plurality of inner spacer layers (404) conformally positioned on sides of the at least two bit line structures; a plurality of outer spacer layers (417) conformally positioned on the plurality of inner spacer layers; a contact layer (BC, 414) positioned on the substrate and between the at least two bit line structures; and a conductive neck layer (418b) positioned on the contact layer and between the at least two bit line structures; wherein a width of a top surface of the bit line capping layer is less than a width of a bottom surface of the bit line capping layer (because the capping layer has a component 126 that cuts into the top surface).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hummler (US 6,734,059 B1), Lee (US Pub. 2022/0115382), and Son (CN-108933135-A) also disclose various elements of the claims.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW E WARREN whose telephone number is (571)272-1737. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10am - 6pm.
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/MATTHEW E WARREN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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