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
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.
Claim(s) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Baek (US PGPub 2020/0058667).
Claim 1: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 5A, 9E) an apparatus, comprising: a set of stacked materials comprising alternating tiers of dielectric material and tiers of conductive material (Fig. 5A), the tiers of conductive material comprising word lines of memory cells [0061]; conductive pillars (178) comprising word line contacts disposed vertically through the set of stacked materials and each coupled with a respective tier of the tiers of conductive material, the word line contacts arranged in a line that extends in a first direction; and support structures (145) disposed vertically through the set of stacked materials and arranged in a diamond formation, wherein a first pair of support structures at opposite vertices of the diamond formation are aligned with a center of a word tine contact in the first direction and a second pair of support structures at opposite vertices of the diamond formation are aligned with the center of the word line contact in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction (Fig. 4, 9E)
Claim 2: Baek teaches (Fig. 9E) each support structure in the first pair of support structures has a first length in the first direction and each support structure in the second pair of support structures has a second length in the first direction that is greater than the first length.
Claim 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein each support structure in the first pair of support structures and each support structure in the second pair of support structures has a same width in the second direction.
Claim 4: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the word line contact is disposed between the first pair of support structures in the first direction.
Claim 5: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the word line contact is equidistant from the first pair of support structures in the first direction.
Claim 6: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the word line contact is disposed between the second pair of support structures in the second direction.
Claim 7: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the word line contact is equidistant from the second pair of support structures in the second direction.
Claim 8: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the word line contacts are evenly spaced from each other in the first direction.
Claim 9: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the word line contact is disposed between the first pair of support structures in the first direction and disposed between the second pair of support structures in the second direction.
Claim 10: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the first pair of support structures is disposed between the second pair of support structures in the second direction.
Claim 11: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 5A, 9E) an apparatus, comprising: a stack of materials with conductive tiers that comprise word lines of memory cells; conductive pillars comprising word line contacts that extend through the stack of materials in a first direction and that each connect with a respective word line of the word lines, the word line contacts arranged in a line that extends in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction; and pairs of support structures (145)that extend through the stack of materials in the first direction, wherein each word line contact is disposed between a respective pair of support structures that are aligned with the center of that respective word line contact in a third direction orthogonal to the second direction.
Claim 12: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) additional pairs of support structures that extend through the stack of materials in the first direction, wherein each word line contact is disposed between a respective additional pair of support structures, wherein the respective additional pair of support structures are aligned with the center of that respective word line contact in the second direction.
Claim 13: Baek teaches (Fig. 9E) each support structure in one of the additional pairs of support structures for a word line contact has a first length in the second direction, and wherein each support structure in one of the pairs of support structures for the word line contact has a second length in the second direction that is greater than the first length.
Claim 14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein each support structure in the pairs of support structures has a width in the third direction that is less than second length.
Claim 15: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) each word line contact is equidistant from the respective pair of support structures in the third direction.
Claim 16: Baek teaches the pairs of support structures comprise through-silicon-vias filled with tungsten, oxide, or both [0164].
Claim 17: Baek teaches (Fig. 5A,) the conductive tiers are separated by dielectric tiers.
Claim 18: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 5A, 9E) an apparatus, comprising: a conductive pillar (178) comprising a word line contact that extends through a stack of materials in a first direction and that connects with a respective word line in the stack of materials (Fig. 5A); a first pair of support structures (145) comprising support structures that each extend through the stack of materials in the first direction and that each have a first length in a second direction that is orthogonal to the first direction, wherein the word line contact is disposed between the first pair of support structures in the second direction; and a second pair of support structures (145) comprising support structures that each extend through the stack of materials in the first direction and that each have a second length in the second direction that is greater than the first length of the first pair of support structures, wherein the word line contact is disposed between the second pair of support structures in a third direction that is orthogonal to the second direction and the center of the word line contact is aligned with the second pair of support structures in the second direction.
Claim 19: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the center of the word line contact is aligned with the first pair of support structures in the third direction.
Claim 20: Baek teaches (Fig. 4, 9E) the word line contact and the first pair of support structures are disposed between the second pair of support structures in the third direction, and wherein the first pair of support structures and the second pair of support structures are arranged in a diamond formation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH KATE SALERNO whose telephone number is (571)270-1266. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-2:30pm.
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/SARAH K SALERNO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814
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