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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-5 are pending and have been examined.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made the instant application is divisional of US Patent application 17670744 filed on 06/18/2024.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 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.
Claim 1 recites:
“forming a recessed structure, wherein the recessed structure comprises a substrate and a material layer disposed on the substrate and having a through hole, and a sidewall of the through hole defines a sidewall of the recess”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. The applicant may recite the following to overcome this rejection:
“forming a recessed structure, wherein the recessed structure comprises a substrate and a material layer disposed on the substrate and having a through hole, and a sidewall of the through hole defines a sidewall of the recessed structure”.
Claims 2-5 depend from claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2):
(a) NOVELTY; PRIOR ART.—A person shall be entitled to a patent unless—
(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.
Notes: when present, semicolon separated fields within the parenthesis (; ;) represent, for example, as (30A; Fig 2B; [0128]) = (element 30A; Figure No. 2B; Paragraph No. [0128]). For brevity, the texts “Element”, “Figure No.” and “Paragraph No.” shall be excluded, though; additional clarification notes may be added within each field. The number of fields may be fewer or more than three indicated above. These conventions are used throughout this document.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lai et al. (US 20220277994 A1 – hereinafter Lai).
Regarding Claim 1, Lai teaches a method for preparing a contact structure (see the entire document; Fig. 2 along with Figs. 1-5; specifically, ([0047] - [0065]), and as cited below), comprising:
forming a recessed structure (Fig. 16, wherein the recessed structure comprises a substrate (50 – Fig. 16 – [0029]) and a material layer (58 – Fig. 16 - [0047]) disposed on the substrate (50) and having a through hole (103 – [0052]), and a sidewall of the through hole defines a sidewall of the recess (sidewall of 103 is seen in Fig. 16);
forming a first functional layer (104 – Fig. 17 – [0051]) to at least cover a sidewall of a recess of the recessed structure (104 covers the sidewalls of 103 as seen is Fig. 17B);
forming a second functional layer (106 – Fig. 18 – [0051]) to cover the first functional layer (104);
performing a rapid thermal treatment (107 – [0051], [0065] states “the thermal process 107 may be, for example, an annealing process, such as a rapid thermal anneal (RTA) process or the like”), to form an interfacial layer (105 – [0051]) extending along an interface between the first functional layer (104) and the second functional layer (106 – see [0051]); and
forming a conductive feature (108 – Fig. 20B – [0051]) to fill up the recess (103).
Regarding Claim 2, Lai teaches the method of claim 1, wherein contents in the first functional layer and the second functional layer inter-diffuse across the interface between the first and second functional layers during the rapid thermal treatment for forming the interfacial layer ([0051], [0065]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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.
The following is the Examiner’s Reasons for Allowance:
The prior art fails to disclose and would not have rendered obvious:
Regarding claim 3: The method of claim 1, wherein an additional interfacial layer extending along an interface between the second functional layer and a portion of the recessed structure lying below the second functional layer is further formed during the rapid thermal treatment, and the additional interfacial layer is formed as a result of inter-diffusion between the second functional layer and the portion of the recessed structure.
Regarding claim 4: The method of claim 1, wherein formation of the first functional layer comprises: forming an initial functional layer globally and conformally covering the recessed structure; and removing a portion of the initial functional layer above the recessed structure and another portion of the initial functional layer extending along a bottom surface of the recess, wherein a portion of the initial functional layer remained in the recess and extending along a sidewall of the recess form the first functional layer.
Regarding claim 5: The method of claim 1, wherein oxygen in the first functional layer diffuses into a thin portion of the second functional layer in contact with the first functional layer during the rapid thermal treatment, and the thin portion of the second functional layer is oxidized to form the interfacial layer.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD A. RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571) 270-0168 and email is mohammad.rahman5@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8:00-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julio J. Maldonado can be reached on (571) 272-1864. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MOHAMMAD A RAHMAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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