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 1-7 and 21-33 in the reply filed on 8/14/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 21-25, and 27-32 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102<<102_STATUTE>> as being anticipated by Slovin (US 20200058869 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Slovin discloses a switch structure (Fig. 9B), comprising: a first electrode (leftmost 952 for example); a second electrode (rightmost 952 for example) separate from the first electrode; a phase change material layer (912) that connects the first electrode and the second electrode (Shown best in Fig. 9A), wherein the phase change material layer has a first length (Shown in Fig. 9B) along a lateral direction (Y direction); a heater element (Fig. 9A, 944) below the phase change material layer (Shown); and a heat spreader component (942) below the heater element (Shown), wherein the heat spreader component has a second length that is along a direction that is approximately parallel to the lateral direction and that is greater than or equal to the first length (Shown in Fig. 9B).
Regarding claim 3, Slovin discloses wherein the second length is less than or equal to a distance between end portions of the heater element (Shown in Fig. 9B).
Regarding claim 4, Slovin discloses wherein a width of the heat spreader component is greater than or equal to a width of a central portion of the heater element (Shown in Fig. 9B).
Regarding claim 6, Slovin discloses wherein the phase change material layer comprises: a binary chalcogenide material (Para. 35 "PCM 112 can be germanium telluride", which is known binary chalcogenide).
Regarding claim 7, Slovin discloses wherein the binary chalcogenide material comprises: a composition of germanium and tellurium (Para. 35 "PCM 112 can be germanium telluride").
Regarding claim 21, Slovin discloses a radio frequency switch structure (Figs. 9A-B), comprising: an input electrode (leftmost 952 for example); an output electrode (rightmost 952 for example) separate from the input electrode; a heater element (944) between the input electrode and the output electrode (Shown); a phase change material layer (912) above the heater element and connecting the input electrode and the output electrode (Shown), wherein the phase change material layer includes a composition of tellurium and germanium (Para. 35 "PCM 112 can be germanium telluride"), and a heat spreader component below the heater element (Shown).
Regarding claim 22, Slovin discloses wherein the molar percentage of the tellurium is greater than or equal to approximately 51% (Para. 35 "PCM 464 can be germanium telluride having from 40% to 60% germanium by composition (i.e., GeXTeY, where 0.4≤X≤0.6 and Y=1−X)"; in the case that X=0.4, Y=0.6 and the molar percentage of tellurium would be 60%).
Regarding claim 23, Slovin discloses wherein the molar percentage of the germanium is included in a range of approximately 43% to approximately 47% (Para. 35 "PCM 464 can be germanium telluride having from 40% to 60% germanium by composition).
Regarding claim 24, Slovin discloses wherein the heat spreader component is between the input electrode and the output electrode (Shown in figs. 9A-B).
Regarding claim 25, Slovin discloses further comprising: at least one dielectric layer between the heat spreader component and the heater element (Fig. 9A, 962).
Regarding claim 27, Slovin discloses an electronic device (Figs. 9A-B), comprising: a heat spreader component (942) in a first dielectric layer (962) and having a first length along a lateral direction (Y direction, shown in Fig. 9B); a second dielectric layer above the first dielectric layer (Fig. 9A, comprises 960 and 966) and containing an input electrode (leftmost 952 for example), an output electrode (rightmost 952 for example), and a heater element (944) between the input electrode and the output electrode (Shown), wherein respective second lengths of the input electrode and the output electrode along a direction approximately parallel to the lateral direction are no greater than the first length (Fig. 9A shows the Y direction lengths of electrodes 952 being no greater than first length of dielectric layer 962); and a phase change material layer (912) connecting the input electrode and the output electrode (Shown best in Fig. 9A).
Regarding claim 28, Slovin discloses wherein the phase change material layer is above the heater element (Shown in Fig. 9A).
Regarding claim 29, Slovin discloses further comprising: a third dielectric layer between the heater element and the phase change material layer (Fig. 9A, 946).
Regarding claim 30, Slovin discloses wherein the first dielectric layer comprises an undoped silicate glass material (Para. 54 "thermally resistive material 462 can comprise SiO.sub.2", which is known to be pure silicate glass).
Regarding claim 31, Slovin discloses wherein the phase change material layer comprises a binary chalcogenide material having a composition of germanium and tellurium (Para. 35 "PCM 112 can be germanium telluride", which is known binary chalcogenide).
Regarding claim 32, Slovin discloses wherein the phase change material layer has a thickness that is included in a range of approximately 500 angstroms to approximately 1500 angstroms (Para. 46 "PCM 312 can have a thickness of approximately five hundred angstroms to approximately two thousand angstroms").
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.
Claims 2 and 33 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slovin (US 20200058869 A1) hereinafter referred to as Slovin 869 as applied to claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 21-25, and 27-32 above, and further in view of Slovin (US 20200058855 A1) hereinafter referred to as Slovin 855.
Regarding claim 2, Slovin 869 discloses the switch structure of claim 1. However, Slovin 869 does not disclose wherein the heat spreader component has a thickness that is greater than or equal to approximately 1000 angstroms.
On the other hand, Slovin 855 discloses wherein the heat spreader component has a thickness that is greater than or equal to approximately 1000 angstroms (Para. 24 "The thickness of the heat spreader 440 is approximately one micron", which converts to 10,000 angstroms). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing of the invention to modify Slovin 869 according to the teachings of Slovin 855 such that the heat spreader component would have a thickness greater than or equal to approximately 1000 angstroms, in order to ensure that the heat spreader has sufficient thermal mass to maintain heat and reduce stresses due to rapid changes.
Regarding claim 33, Slovin 869 discloses the electronic device of claim 27. However, Slovin 869 does not disclose wherein the heat spreader component has a thickness that is greater than or equal to approximately 1000 angstroms.
On the other hand, Slovin 855 discloses wherein the heat spreader component has a thickness that is greater than or equal to approximately 1000 angstroms (Para. 24 "The thickness of the heat spreader 440 is approximately one micron", which converts to 10,000 angstroms). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing of the invention to modify Slovin 869 according to the teachings of Slovin 855 such that the heat spreader component would have a thickness greater than or equal to approximately 1000 angstroms, in order to ensure that the heat spreader has sufficient thermal mass to maintain heat and reduce stresses due to rapid changes.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slovin (US 20200058869 A1) as applied to claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 21-25, and 27-32 above, and further in view of Sir (US 20250006588 A1).
Regarding claim 5, Slovin discloses the switch structure of claim 1. However, Slovin does not disclose wherein the heat spreader component comprises: copper, gold, tungsten, or an aluminum copper alloy.
On the other hand, Sir discloses wherein the heat spreader component comprises: copper, gold, tungsten, or an aluminum copper alloy (Para. 28 "The heat spreader 140 and the heat spreader 150 can include PCM-infused metallic mesh…", Para. 29 "The metallic mesh 144 can be a copper mesh"). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing of the invention to modify Slovin according to the teachings of Sir such that the heat spreader would comprise copper, in order to provide a heat spreader using materials known for high thermal conductivity.
Claim 26 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Slovin (US 20200058869 A1) as applied to claims 1, 3-4, 6-7, 21-25, and 27-32 above, and further in view of Schaffner (US 20160013549 A1).
Regarding claim 26, Slovin discloses the radio frequency switch structure of claim 21. However, Slovin does not disclose wherein the phase change material layer has a sheet resistance that is included in a range of approximately 18 ohms per square to approximately 22 ohms per square.
On the other hand, Schaffner discloses a phase change material layer having a sheet resistance of 100 ohms/square (Para. 55 "the PCM switches 34 had an on-state sheet resistance of 100 ohms/square"). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of effective filing of the invention to modify Slovin according to the teachings of Schaffner such that the phase change material would instead have a sheet resistance between 18 ohms/square and 22 ohms/square to provide a switching material with very little power loss so as to maintain high efficiency in the device, in order to <<RATIONALE>>. Furthermore, “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In re Aller, F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 223, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Conclusion
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/S.J.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2817
/ALI NARAGHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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