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
Election/ Restrictions
Applicant's election of group II without traverse: claims 1-4, in the “Response to Election / Restriction Filed - 08/26/2026”, withdrawal of non-elected claim(s) 5-15 is/are acknowledged. This office action considers claims 1-15, in “Claims - 08/26/2026”, pending for prosecution, of which claim(s) 5-15 is/are withdrawn.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's foreign benefit based on CN202311474748.0 filed on 11/07/2023.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: SF gate poly, SG gate poly, sapce, drain metal plug, right spacer, source metal plug, left spacer, gate metal plug, source N+ area, drain N+ area, SG, SF in any of the figures. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-4 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 recites:
“SF gate poly and SG gate poly are formed on the P-well”. The examiner suggests that this should be reited as “a source follower transistor (SF) gate poly and a select transistor (SG) gate poly are formed on the P-well”. Subsequest recitations of the source follow transistor can be made by just “SF” and the select transistor by “SG”.
Claim 1 also recites:
“a drain metal plug of an SF”. The examiner suggest that this should be recited as “a drain metal plug of a source follower transistor (SF)”. Similar changes should be made with regard to “an SG”.
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 1-4 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:
“a gate metal plug of the SG communicated to the SF gate poly”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 2-4 depends from claim 1.
As there is a great deal of confusion and uncertainty as to the proper interpretation of the limitations of claim 1, it would not be proper for the examiner to reject such a claim on the basis of prior art. See MPEP 2173.06 II (second) wherein In re Steele, 305 F.2d 859, 134 USPQ 292 (CCPA 1962), a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 should not be based on considerable speculation about the meaning of terms employed in a claim or assumptions that must be made as to the scope of the claims.
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.
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, 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.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MOHAMMAD A RAHMAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
