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 .
Priority
Acknowledgement is made to claim of priority to international application PCT/SG2022/050688 filed on September 23, 2022 and Singaporean patent application SG 10202110532 Y filed September 23, 2021 are acknowledged. Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed on 3/21/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s amendment/request for reconsideration-after non-final rejection filed June 23rd, 2026.
Applicant’s amendments regarding claim 1 are acknowledged. Claim 1 stands amended to include the limitations of claims 2 and 3. Claims 2-3, 6-8, 17, 19-24 and 29-32 are cancelled. No new matter has been added. Claims 1, 4-5, 9-18, 25-28 and 33-34 are being examined on their merits
Applicant’s arguments regarding the objections to the drawings, specification, and claim rejections have been carefully and fully considered. The arguments advanced therein are found to be persuasive with respect to the specification and drawing objections, as well as the claim rejections of record and all objections and rejections are accordingly withdrawn. In view of a further search, however, a new basis of rejection is set forth further below. This action is not made final.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 9-16, 18, and 25-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20130043451A1) in view of Yamaguchi et al. (US 8759806 B2), further in view of Yoscovits et al. (US20190042967A1) for the following reasons:
Regarding claim 1;
Lee et al. teaches A non-volatile memory device (e.g. Fig.3 ref ME2, Detailed description [0008] “a nonvolatile memory element includes a first electrode, a second electrode which is spaced apart from the first electrode, and a memory layer disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.”), comprising: a first electrode (e.g. Fig. 3 ref E1, Detailed description [0061] “…the first electrode E1…”); a second electrode formed of a second electrode material (e.g. Fig. 3 ref E2, Detailed description [0056] “… it is possible to apply various electrode materials generally used in semiconductor devices as materials of the first and second electrodes E1 and E2.”); a buffer region, the buffer region being disposed in direct contact with the first electrode (e.g. Fig. 3 ref B1, Detailed description [0061] “a memory element ME2 according to at least one example embodiment may include a buffer layer B1 between the first electrode E1 and the base layer 10.”); and a principal memory region (e.g. Fig. 3 ref M1, Detailed description [0042] “The memory layer M1 may be a multi-layer structure. For example, the memory layer M1 may include a base layer 10 and an ionic species exchange layer 20. The memory layer M1 may be a resistance change memory layer with a resistance change characteristic caused by ionic species movement between the base layer 10 and the ionic species exchange layer 20.”), the principal memory region being disposed between the second electrode and the buffer region (e.g. see examiner markup), the principal memory region including: a first active region (Fig. 3 ref 10, Detailed description [0043] “Oxygen ions and/or oxygen vacancies may exist in the base layer 10. This base layer 10 may function as an oxygen supplying layer…”), the first active region being disposed in direct contact with the buffer region (e.g. see examiner markup), the first active region being formed with a first oxygen concentration (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “Oxygen ions and/or oxygen vacancies may exist in the base layer 10”); a first scavenger region (e.g. Fig. 3 ref 21, Detailed description [0044] “If the ionic species exchange layer 20 is an oxygen exchange layer, the first exchange layer 21 may be referred to as a first oxygen exchange layer…”), the first scavenger region being formed with a second oxygen concentration that is lower than the first oxygen concentration (e.g. Detailed description [0052]-[0053] “According to at least one example embodiment, the oxygen concentration of the ionic species exchange layer 20 may not be greater than that of the base layer 10…. where the first exchange layer 21 or the second exchange layer 22 includes a different kind of metal oxide from that of the base layer 10, the oxygen concentration of the first exchange layer 21 or second exchange layer 22 may not be higher than that of the base layer 10.”); and a second scavenger region (e.g. Fig. 3 ref 22, Detailed description [0044] “If the ionic species exchange layer 20 is an oxygen exchange layer …the second exchange layer 22 may be referred to as a second oxygen exchange layer.”), the second scavenger region being disposed in direct contact with the second electrode (e.g. see examiner markup), the second scavenger region being formed with a fourth oxygen concentration, the first active region and the second scavenger region being formed physically spaced apart from one another (e.g. see examiner markup), wherein a first interface between the second active region and the first scavenger region (e.g. see examiner markup) is characterized by a first oxygen gradient, the first oxygen gradient corresponding to a difference between the first oxygen concentration and the second oxygen concentration, and wherein a second interface between the first scavenger region and the second scavenger region (e.g. see examiner markup) is characterized by a second oxygen gradient, the second oxygen gradient corresponding to a difference between the second oxygen concentration and the third oxygen concentration.
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Lee et al. is silent to the principal memory region having: a second active region, the second active region being formed with a second oxygen concentration that is lower than the first oxygen concentration as claimed.
However, Yamaguchi et al. teaches a non-volatile memory device, comprising: a principal memory region including: a first active region (e.g. Fig. 4F ref 124, Detailed description [0061] “…an upper portion (surface) of the hafnium metal [is] become HfO2…”) the first active region being disposed in direct contact with the buffer region (e.g. see examiner markup), the first active region being formed with a first oxygen concentration; and a second active region (e.g. Fig. 4F ref 124, Detailed description [0061] “…a lower portion of the hafnium metal to become oxygen-deficient HfO.”), the second active region being formed with a second oxygen concentration that is lower than the first oxygen concentration (e.g. Fig. 5B).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to form the active region (e.g. Fig. 3 ref 10) taught in Lee et al. to have the integrally formed active region structure taught in Yamaguchi et al. (e.g. Fig. 4F ref 124) because doing so is known to improve operating margins and decrease the power consumption of the device during operation (e.g. Detailed description [0046]-[0047] “a ratio of transition metal and oxygen configuring the transition metal oxide varies between 1:1 and 1:2 along the Z direction (depth direction). A concentration gradient of oxygen in the above-described variable resistance layer 124 allows a large operating margin to be secured and power consumption to be suppressed in the variable resistance layer 124 compared to the case where there is substantially no concentration gradient of oxygen (the case where a ratio of concentrations of transition metal and oxygen are substantially constant).”).
Further, Yoscovits et al. teaches a non-volatile memory device, comprising: a principal memory region including: a first scavenger region (e.g. Fig. 7B ref 410a, detailed description [0090] “…the OEL 410 is represented as a stack of two OE portions, a first OE portion 410 a…”), and a second scavenger region (e.g. e.g. Fig. 7B ref 410b, detailed description [0090] “…the OEL 410 is represented as a stack of two OE portions… and a second OE portion 410 b.”), the second scavenger region being disposed in direct contact with the second electrode (e.g. see examiner markup), the second scavenger region being formed with an oxygen concentration lower than the oxygen concentration of the first scavenger layer (e.g. Detailed description [0091] “…the oxygen content of the different OE portions may provide a stepped gradient from the top electrode 404 to the oxide layer 408 so that the oxygen content of the OE portion closest to the oxide layer 408 has a higher oxygen content than the OE portion closest to the top electrode 404. For example, in the two-layer embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7B, the first OE portion 410 a may be HfOy1, the second OE portion 410 b may be HfOy2, and the oxide layer 408 may be HfOx, where 0≤y1<y2<x≤2. More generally, for an n-layer OEL 410, the OE portions 1, . . . , n (where the portion 1 is closest to the bottom electrode 402 and the portion n is closest to the oxide layer 408), the oxygen contents y1, . . . , yn may be 0≤y1< . . . <yn≤2.”).
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At the effective time of filing, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the modifications to the active region structure taught in Yamaguchi and the oxygen concentration configuration taught in Yoscovits et al. into the principal memory region (e.g. Fig. 3 ref M1) taught in Lee et al. because each modified feature would perform its established function in the combined device (e.g. decrease power consumption, improve operating margin, , etc.), leading to a predictable aggregation of design advantages in the resulting device. See MPEP 2144.
The resulting device, as detailed in the teachings of Yamaguchi et al. and Yoscovits et al., would provide a second oxygen gradient (defined as the difference in oxygen content of the second active region and the first oxygen scavenger region) configured to be steeper than each of the first oxygen gradient (defined as the difference in the oxygen content of the first and second active regions) and a third oxygen gradient (defined as the difference between the Oxygen content of the first and second oxygen scavenger regions) due to the active region having an oxygen content greater than either oxygen scavenger regions as taught in Lee et al.
Regarding claim 9;
Lee et al. further teaches that the buffer region is formed of a first metal oxide; and wherein the first metal oxide comprises at least one of MgO, AlOxi, SiOxi,CaO, LaAlO3, HfSiOxi, or any combination thereof (e.g. Detailed description [0062] “The buffer layer B1 may include at least one of AlOx, SiOx, SiNx, ZrOx, HfOx, and combinations thereof.”).
Regarding claim 10;
Lee et al. further teaches that the first active region comprises a second metal oxide formed with a stoichiometric material composition or a near-stoichiometric material composition (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “The base layer 10 may include, for example, a metal oxide...if the metal oxide includes a Ta oxide, the Ta oxide may be TaOx where, 0<x<2.5 or 0.5≦x≦2.0. Oxygen ions and/or oxygen vacancies may exist in the base layer 10”).
Regarding claim 11;
Lee et al. further teaches that the first active region comprises one of a Ta oxide, a Ti oxide, a Hf oxide, a Zr oxide, a Sr oxide, a La oxide, a W oxide, a V oxide, or any combination thereof (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “…the base layer 10 may include at least one of tantalum (Ta) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), titanium (Ti) oxide, hafnium (Hf) oxide, manganese (Mn) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, and combinations thereof.”).
Regarding claim 12;
Lee et al. further teaches that the first active region comprises Ta2Ox in which 4 < x < 5 (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “…the base layer 10 may include at least one of tantalum (Ta) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), titanium (Ti) oxide, hafnium (Hf) oxide, manganese (Mn) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, and combinations thereof.”).
Regarding claim 13;
Yamaguchi et al. further teaches that the second active region comprises a third metal oxide (e.g. Detailed description [0046] “The variable resistance layer 124 is configured by a transition metal oxide (for example, hafnium oxide (HfOx)).”).
Regarding claim 14;
Yamaguchi et al. is silent to the second active region comprises TaOy in which 1.5 <y < x/2, as claimed.
However, Lee et al. teaches that the active region can be formed from metal oxides (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “…the base layer 10 may include at least one of tantalum (Ta) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), titanium (Ti) oxide, hafnium (Hf) oxide, manganese (Mn) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, and combinations thereof.”).
At the effective time of filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the second active region of a Tantalum oxide (TaOy) within the claimed stoichiometry (e.g. 1.5 <y < x/2) since it has been held to be within the general skill of worker in the art to select known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design variation and choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Regarding claim 15;
Lee et al. further teaches that the first scavenger region comprises a fourth metal oxide (e.g. Detailed description [0047] “…the first exchange layer 21 includes a first metal oxide…”).
Regarding claim 16;
Lee et al. further teaches that wherein the first scavenger region comprises TaOz in which 0 <z< 0.5 (e.g. Detailed description [0047]“…the first exchange layer 21 may include one of Ta oxide, Zr oxide, Y oxide, YSZ, Ti oxide, Hf oxide, Mn oxide, Mg oxide, and combinations thereof.”).
Regarding claim 18;
Lee et al. further teaches that the second scavenger region comprises at least one of Ta, Ti, Hf, Zr, Co, Ni, Fe, or any alloy thereof (e.g. Detailed description [0047] “The second exchange layer 22 may include one of Ta oxide, Zr oxide, Y oxide, YSZ, Ti oxide, Hf oxide, Mn oxide, Mg oxide, and combinations thereof, but different from the material of the first exchange layer 21.”).
Regarding claim 25;
Lee et al. further teaches that the first electrode comprises W (e.g. Detailed description [0056] “The first and second electrodes E1 and E2 may be a non-noble metal, for example, titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), titanium nitride (TiN), titanium-tungsten (TiW), tantalum nitride (TaN), tungsten (W), nickel (Ni), or aluminum (Al) and/or a compound material thereof…it is possible to apply various electrode materials generally used in semiconductor devices as materials of the first and second electrodes E1 and E2.”), the buffer region comprises Al2O3 (e.g. Detailed description [0062] “The buffer layer B1 may include at least one of AlOx, SiOx, SiNx, ZrOx, HfOx, and combinations thereof.”), the first active region comprises Ta2O5 (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “…the base layer 10 may include at least one of tantalum (Ta) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), titanium (Ti) oxide, hafnium (Hf) oxide, manganese (Mn) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, and combinations thereof.”), the second active region comprises TaO2 (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “…the base layer 10 may include at least one of tantalum (Ta) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), titanium (Ti) oxide, hafnium (Hf) oxide, manganese (Mn) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, and combinations thereof.”), the second scavenger region comprises Ta (e.g. Detailed description [0047] “The second exchange layer 22 may include one of Ta oxide, Zr oxide, Y oxide, YSZ, Ti oxide, Hf oxide, Mn oxide, Mg oxide, and combinations thereof”), and the second electrode comprises Pt (e.g. Detailed description [0056] “The first and second electrodes E1 and E2 may be a noble metal, for example, platinum (Pt), iridium (Ir), palladium (Pd), aurum (Au), or ruthenium (Ru) and/or an alloy thereof…it is possible to apply various electrode materials generally used in semiconductor devices as materials of the first and second electrodes E1 and E2.”), and wherein the first scavenger region comprises TaOz in which 0 <z< 0.3 (e.g. Detailed description [0047] “…the first exchange layer 21 may include one of Ta oxide, Zr oxide, Y oxide, YSZ, Ti oxide, Hf oxide, Mn oxide, Mg oxide, and combinations thereof.”).
Regarding claim 26;
Lee et al. further teaches that the buffer region comprises Al2O3 (e.g. Detailed description [0062] “The buffer layer B1 may include at least one of AlOx, SiOx, SiNx, ZrOx, HfOx, and combinations thereof.”), and wherein the first active region comprises Ta2Ox in which 4.5 < x < 5 (e.g. Detailed description [0043] “…the base layer 10 may include at least one of tantalum (Ta) oxide, zirconium (Zr) oxide, yttrium (Y) oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ), titanium (Ti) oxide, hafnium (Hf) oxide, manganese (Mn) oxide, magnesium (Mg) oxide, and combinations thereof.”).
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20130043451A1) in view of Yamaguchi et al. (US 8759806 B2), further in view of Yoscovits et al. (US20190042967A1), further still in view of Chiang et al. (US 9306160 B2) for the following reasons:
Regarding claim 4;
The combination of Lee et al., Yamaguchi et al., and Yoscovits et al. teaches the device of claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection) wherein the first oxygen concentration and the second oxygen concentration define a first range of oxygen concentrations (e.g. while not explicit, the first and second active regions having different oxygen concentrations implicitly define a first “oxygen concentration range”), and wherein the third oxygen concentration and the fourth oxygen concentration define a second range of oxygen concentrations (e.g. while not explicit, the third and fourth active / first and second scavenger regions having different oxygen concentrations implicitly define a second “oxygen concentration range”).
The combination of Lee et al., Yamaguchi et al., and Yoscovits et al. is silent to the second range of oxygen concentrations being lower than the first range of oxygen concentrations, and the first range of oxygen concentrations and the second range of oxygen concentrations are non-overlapping and distinct from one another as claimed
However, Chiang et al. teaches a memory device (Fig. 1 ref 100) with a plurality of oxygen control layers (Fig. 1 ref 131-135, equivalent to active layers) wherein a second range of oxygen concentrations is lower than the first range of oxygen concentrations (e.g. Fig. 2, see examiner markup), and wherein the first range of oxygen concentrations and the second range of oxygen concentrations are non-overlapping and distinct from one another (e.g. Fig.2, see examiner markup).
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At the effective time of filing, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the oxygen concentration range configuration taught in Chiang et al. into the device of claim 1 taught by Lee et al., Yamaguchi et al., and Yoscovits et al. because the modification would improve operating properties(e.g. memory state retention stability, SET/RESET operational windows, read disturbance immunity, etc.) in the combined device (e.g. Fig.8+9+10, Detailed description [0034]-[0037]) leading to a predictable aggregation of design advantages in the resulting device. See MPEP 2144.
Regarding claim 5;
Chiang et al. further teaches in figure 2 that the principal memory region is characterized by a monotonic oxygen profile having at least a first range of oxygen concentrations and a second range of oxygen concentrations, and wherein the monotonic oxygen profile is characterized by a step decrease in oxygen concentration from the first range of oxygen concentrations to the second range of oxygen concentrations (e.g. see examiner markup of claim 4).
Claims 33-34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US20130043451A1) in view of Yamaguchi et al. (US 8759806 B2), further in view of Yoscovits et al. (US20190042967A1), further still in view of (US 20130277636 A1) for the following reasons:
Regarding claim 33-34;
The combination of Lee et al., Yamaguchi et al., and Yoscovits et al. teaches the device of claim 1 (see claim 1 rejection).
The combination of Lee et al., Yamaguchi et al., and Yoscovits et al. is silent to a method of making the non-volatile memory of claim 1 as claimed.
However, Lee et al. teaches a method of making the non-volatile memory, the method comprising: disposing the second active region on the first active region (Description [0029] “when performing such plasma processing…at least a part of the first metal oxide layer 12 is reduced from the surface thereof and changed to a second metal oxide layer 12′ which is lower in oxygen content than the first metal oxide layer 12.”); and disposing the first scavenger region on the second active region before disposing the second scavenger region on the first scavenger region such that the principal memory region is formed with four distinct regions of different oxygen concentrations (Description [0069] where “a third metal oxide layer 16 is interposed between the second electrode 13 and the second metal oxide layer 12′. The third metal oxide layer 16 is to supply oxygen vacancies to the second metal oxide layer 12′… further, while not shown, the upper portion of the third metal oxide layer 16 may be reduced by performing plasma processing under an atmosphere of a reduction gas after forming the third metal oxide layer 16.”).
At the effective time of filing, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art that the inclusion of these method steps in the production of the non-volatile memory are obvious and can be performed irrespective of order without impacting the performance of the device. See MPEP 2144.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 27-28 are objected to as being dependent upon the rejected base claim 1, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/WILLIAM ROBERT MANN/Examiner, Art Unit 2897
/JACOB Y CHOI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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