DETAILED ACTION
Notice of 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
Claims #25-26 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention/species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 27, 2026.
Claims #14-24 are under examination in the present Office Action.
IDS
The IDS document(s) filed on May 24, 2024 has been considered. Copies of the PTO-1449 documents are herewith enclosed with this office action.
Specifications
The title is objected to because a more descriptive title is requested.
Claim Rejections – 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. § 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 14-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant, regards as the invention.
As to claim 14, it is unclear what is meant by ‘in particular’ in the limitation “fins and gate trenches extending in particular horizontally” (emphasis added). The Examiner assumes ‘extending horizontally’.
As to claim 14, it is unclear if the first types in “a drain layer doped according to a first type; a channel layer located vertically between the source layer doped according to a first type and the drain layer doped according to a first type; fins and gate trenches extending in particular horizontally wherein each of the fins and the gate trenches extends in a vertical direction from the source layer doped according to a first type to the drain layer doped according to a first type, and wherein the gate trenches arc in each case formed between two adjacent fins; and a support structure for the fins” (emphasis added) refer to a first type of a source layer. The Examiner suggests “the first type” to prevent antecedent basis issues.
As to claim 15, it is unclear if “from the source layer doped according to a first type to the drain layer doped according to a first type” (emphasis added) is referring to a new first type or the same first type that the source layer is doped according to.
Indication of Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 14-24 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
As to claim 14, Huang et al. (U.S. Patent Publication No. 2016/0149036 A1), hereafter “Huang”, teaches in FIG. 1 a source layer 232 doped according to a first type; a drain layer 232 doped according to a first type; a channel layer (not shown but necessarily present in a finFET) located vertically between the source layer and the drain layer; fins 220 and gate trenches (space between adjacent fins) extending horizontally wherein the gate trenches, by definition, are in each case formed between two adjacent fins; and a support structure 314+320 for the fins.
However, Huang does not teach each of the gate trenches extends in a vertical direction from the source layer doped according to a first type to the drain layer doped according to a first type because the source and drain layers 232 are laterally spaced apart, not vertically stacked.
Conclusion
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/SUBERR L CHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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