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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made that the information disclosure statement has been received and considered by the examiner. If the applicant is aware of any prior art or any other co-pending applications not already of record, he/she is reminded of his/her duty under 37 CFR 1.56 to disclose the same.
Drawings
There are no objections or rejections to the drawings.
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 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 pre-AIA 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 beYou’e fore 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.
Claim 1 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Peng et al. (US Patent Application Publication No 2020/0035907) hereinafter referred to as Peng.
Per Claim 1 Peng discloses a method, (see figure 2) comprising
depositing one or more tantalum nitride layers (122a) on a copper interconnect (121a’) and within a via (see figure 2 and [0036]), on the copper interconnect, for a magnetic tunnel junction; The examiner notes that the term "on" includes "directly on" (no intermediate materials, elements or space disposed therebetween) and "indirectly on" (intermediate materials, elements or space disposed therebetween)
depositing titanium (122a’) with nitridation on the one or more tantalum nitride layers and within the via; [0036] and
depositing tungsten (121a”) on the titanium with nitridation and within the via (see figure 2 and [0036]).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 5 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng as applied to claim 1 above.
Per Claim 5, Peng teaches the device of claim 1 including the titanium with nitridation.
Peng does not teach the titanium with nitridation has a thickness in a range from approximately 40 angstroms to approximately 80 angstroms.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 and 6-8 are 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. Claims 9-20 are allowed.
Per Claims 9-20, the closest prior art appears to be Wu (US 2020/0006639) which teaches an analogous device including forming a copper interconnect (135) in a dielectric layer (150); forming at least one of a fluorine barrier layer (900) in a via of the dielectric layer; forming tungsten (910) within the via; and forming a bottom electrode (710) and a magnetic tunnel junction structure (700) on the contact
Wu does not specifically disclose or suggest the element/step of “forming at least one of a fluorine barrier layer or a copper diffusion barrier layer in a via, of the dielectric layer, and on the copper interconnect; forming an adhesion layer on the at least one of the fluorine barrier layer or the copper diffusion barrier layer and within the via; forming tungsten within the via and on the adhesion layer to form a contact;”, as recited by the independent claim 9, in combination with the other elements/steps of the claim. No prior art was found that taught this novel method/device.
Wu does not specifically disclose or suggest the element/step of “a magnetic tunnel junction; a copper interconnect; and a via comprising: at least one of a fluorine barrier layer or a copper diffusion barrier layer on the copper interconnect, an adhesion layer on the at least one of the fluorine barrier layer or the copper diffusion barrier layer, and tungsten metal disposed on the adhesion layer”, as recited by the independent claim 15, in combination with the other elements/steps of the claim. No prior art was found that taught this novel method/device.
Cited Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Applicants are directed to consider additional pertinent prior art included on the Notice of References Cited (PTOL 892) attached herewith.
Jandl (US 2020/0144066) is cited as analogous art including fluorine barrier layer but lacking a copper layer.
The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant.
Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMI VALENTINE MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-9786. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday 7am-5pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eva Montalvo can be reached on (571) 270-3829. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Jami Valentine Miller/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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