DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Cross-Reference to Related Applications
2. This application is a 371 of PCT/KR2023/003931 03/24/2023.
Preliminary amendment
3. Preliminary amendment filed on 09/20/2024 has been acknowledged and considered.
In the Preliminary amendment, the applicants have amended the specification and claim 9 and remained claims 1-8.
Claims 1-9 are currently pending in the application.
Oath/Declaration
4. The oath/declaration filed on 09/20/2024 is acceptable.
Priority
5. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
6. The office acknowledges receipt of the following items from the applicant:
Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) filed on 09/20/2024, 04/10/2026 and 08/14/2026.
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 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.
7. Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over DO K (KR-20090104340-A) in view of KIM K (KR-20050108772-A).
Regarding claim 1, DO K discloses a method for forming a capacitor electrode, the method comprising:
forming a TiN thin-film (TiN, Fig. 4b) by injecting a source containing titanium (Ti) and a reactant containing nitrogen, wherein at least one of the source containing titanium (Ti) and the source containing silicon (Si) is injected a plurality of times (Fig. 4b and English Text).
DO K discloses the features of the claimed invention as discussed above, but does not disclose forming a SiN thin-film by injecting a source containing silicon (Si) and a reactant containing nitrogen.
KIM K, however, discloses forming a SiN thin-film by injecting a source containing silicon (Si) and a reactant containing nitrogen (see English Text).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of DO K to provide disclose forming a SiN thin-film by injecting a source containing silicon (Si) and a reactant containing nitrogen as taught by KIM K for a purpose of improving the final silicon nitride product quality.
8. Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over DO K and KIM K in view of ZHANG P (CN-109638155-A).
Regarding claim 2, DO K and KIM K the features of the claimed invention as discussed above, but does not disclose wherein the forming of the TiN thin-film and the forming of the SiN thin-film are consecutively performed.
ZHANG P, however, discloses wherein the forming of the TiN thin-film (3) and the forming of the SiN thin-film (4) are consecutively performed (Fig. 2 and English Text).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of DO K and KIM K to provide wherein the forming of the TiN thin-film and the forming of the SiN thin-film are consecutively performed as taught by ZHANG P for a purpose of providing a process for forming a capacitor electrode.
9. Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over DO K, KIM K and ZHANG P in view of NARUSHIMA K (WO-2021210441-A1).
Regarding claim 3, DO K, KIM K and ZHANG P the features of the claimed invention as discussed above, but do not disclose wherein the forming of the TiN thin-film is consecutively performed more times than the forming of the SiN thin-film
NARUSHIMA K, however, discloses wherein the forming of the TiN thin-film is consecutively performed more times than the forming of the SiN thin-film (see English Text).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of DO K, KIM K and ZHANG P to provide wherein the forming of the TiN thin-film is consecutively performed more times than the forming of the SiN thin-film as taught by NARUSHIMA K for a purpose of providing a different thickness of the lower and upper capacitor electrode.
Regarding claim 4, DO K, KIM K and ZHANG P the features of the claimed invention as discussed above, but do not disclose wherein a ratio (Ti:T2) of the performed number (T1) of the forming of the TiN thin-film to the performed number (T2) of the forming of the SiN thin-film is adjusted to 1:1 to 4:1.
However, the selection of the claimed process parameters would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date was made to form a ratio (Ti:T2) of the performed number (T1) of the forming of the TiN thin-film to the performed number (T2) of the forming of the SiN thin-film is adjusted to 1:1 to 4:1, since it is well settles that when the general conditions of a claim are discloses in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
10. Claims 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over DO K, KIM K and ZHANG P in view of KWAK J (KR-20150051834-A1).
Regarding claims 5-6, DO K, KIM K and ZHANG P the features of the claimed invention as discussed above, but do not disclose wherein the source containing silicon (Si) is a silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) or a silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl), or a mixed gas in which the silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) and the silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl) are mixed, and wherein the silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl) is hexachlorodisilane (HCDS: Si2C16) or dichlorosilane (DCS: SiH2Cl2), and the silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) is silane (SiH4).
KWAK J, however, discloses wherein the source containing silicon (Si) is a silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) or a silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl), or a mixed gas in which the silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) and the silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl) are mixed, and wherein the silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl) is hexachlorodisilane (HCDS: Si2C16) or dichlorosilane (DCS: SiH2Cl2), and the silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) is silane (SiH4) (see English Text).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of DO K, KIM K and ZHANG P to provide wherein the source containing silicon (Si) is a silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) or a silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl), or a mixed gas in which the silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) and the silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl) are mixed, and wherein the silicon (Si) precursor containing chlorine (Cl) is hexachlorodisilane (HCDS: Si2C16) or dichlorosilane (DCS: SiH2Cl2), and the silicon (Si) gas containing hydrogen (H) is silane (SiH4) as taught by KWAK J for a purpose of providing a better materials used for the capacitor electrode.
Allowable Subject Matter
11. The following is a statement of reason for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 7-9 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.
Cited Prior Arts
12. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure.
LEE K (KR-20070000532-A) discloses a method for forming a capacitor electrode, the method comprising: a first step, TiCl .sub.4 gas as a titanium source gas and NH .sub.3 gas as a nitride source gas are injected into the reaction chamber to form a TiN film of atomic layer units or more. TiCl .sub.4 gas and NH .sub.3 gas supply amount is approximately 10-30mgm to ensure a step coverage of approximately 80% or more. Next, as a second step, hydrogen (H .sub.2 ) gas is supplied into the reaction chamber to purge the inside of the reaction chamber. The H .sub.2 gas supplied at this time is combined with the Cl component in the reaction chamber by the high reaction force with the Cl component, whereby the Cl component in the reaction chamber is effectively removed. The supply of H .sub.2 gas is maintained for approximately at least 2 seconds to reduce the concentration of Cl component in the reaction chamber to approximately 0.5 wt% or less. Next, as a third step, the NH .sub.3 gas is injected into the reaction chamber to react with the Ti component remaining in the reaction chamber to form a TiN film (380) (Figs. 4-5 and English Text).
Conclusion
13. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Phuc T. Dang whose telephone number is 571-272-1776. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 am-5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Jacob Choi can be reached on 469-295-9060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHUC T DANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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