DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restriction
Applicant's election without traverse of Group I, claims 1 - 9, 14 - 20 is acknowledged. Claims 10 - 13 withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR. 1.142(b), as being drawn to non-elected invention.
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.
Claims 1, 3, 6 - 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen et al. (11587708) in view of ATTANE et al. (20240071450) further in view of Pham et al. (11637234).
With regard to claim 1, Nguyen et al. disclose a spin-orbit torque device (for example, see fig. 4), comprising:
a substrate (it is inherently a substrate “A” as annotated in fig. 4 below; wherein the substrate A having a bottom electrode BE and SOT driven DW motion device in order to support the device; or a layer 11 comprising a heavy-metal layer, e.g., a Pt, W, Hf, or Ta layer wherein the heavy-metal layer is one of materials functions as a substrate; or a layer 12 also functions as a substrate);
a bismuth antimony (BiSb) layer (11; for example, see column 6, lines 64 – 67) disposed over the substrate (A), or disposed over a bottom surface of the layer 12 wherein the layer 12 also functions as a substrate).
an interlayer (13) disposed over the BiSb layer (11); and a magnetic tunnel junction stack (a magnetic tunnel junction stack including layers 14, 15, 16) disposed over the interlayer (13).
PNG
media_image1.png
420
820
media_image1.png
Greyscale
Nguyen et al. do not clearly disclose the BiSb layer is a doped BiSb layer with a dopant.
However, ATTANE et al. disclose the BiSb layer (34, fig. 4) is a doped BiSb layer with a dopant W or Ta wherein E is one of dopants W, Ta. (for example, see paragraphs [0108], [0109], [0110], [01111], [0116]; doped with one of dopants W, Ta).
PNG
media_image2.png
441
545
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Nguyen et al.’s device to have the BiSb layer is a doped BiSb layer as taught by ATTANE et al. in order to switch the high magnetization efficiency of one of the layers composing the junction for enhancing a stability operation of the semiconductor device, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Nguyen et al. and ATTANE et al. do not clearly disclose the BiSb layer has a (012) orientation.
However, Pham et al. disclose the BiSb layer has a (012) orientation. (for example, see column 5, line 65).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Nguyen et al. and ATTANE et al.’s device to have the BiSb layer has a (012) orientation as taught by Pham et al. in order to provide a high-quality BiSb film formed on a magnetic metal substrate for enhancing a stability operation of the semiconductor device, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
With regard to claim 3, Nguyen et al. disclose a seed layer (the seed layer 11 comprising a heavy-metal layer, e.g., a Pt, W, Hf, or Ta layer disposed on the substrate. Therefore, one of the seed materials functions as a seed layer), wherein the BiSb layer (one of the seed materials in the layer 11 functions as the BiSb layer) disposed on (on a bottom or a top) the seed layer (the seed layer 11 comprising a heavy-metal layer, e.g., a Pt, W, Hf, or Ta layer disposed on the substrate. Therefore, one of the seed materials functions as a seed layer).
With regard to claim 6, Nguyen et al. disclose the substrate is a main pole (a substrate A having a bottom electrode BE functioning as a main pole; or the heavy-metal layer in the layer materials of the layer 11 is one of materials functions as a main pole).
PNG
media_image1.png
420
820
media_image1.png
Greyscale
With regard to claim 7, Nguyen et al. disclose the substrate is a magnetic shield (a layer 11 comprising a heavy-metal layer, e.g., a Pt, W, Hf, or Ta layer wherein the heavy-metal layer is one of materials functions as a magnetic shield in order to shield the magnetization from the magnetic tunnel junction stack including layers 14, 15, 16).
With regard to claim 8, Nguyen et al. disclose a capping layer (a top electrode TE functions as a capping layer) disposed on the MTJ stack (the magnetic tunnel junction stack including layers 14, 15, 16).
Applicant’s claim 9 does not distinguish over Nguyen et al., Pham et al. and ATTANE et al. references regardless of the process used to have the dopant because only the final product is relevant, not the process of making such as “a non-reactant dopant gas selected from the group consisting of N2, H2, CxHy”.
Note that a "product by process" claim is directed to the product per se, no matter how actually made, In re Hirao, 190 USPQ 15 at 17 (footnote 3). See also In re Brown, 173 USPQ 685; In re Luck, 177 USPQ 523; In re Wertheim, 191 USPQ 90 (209 USPQ 554 does not deal with this issue); In re Fitzgerald, 205 USPQ 594, 596 (CCPA); In re Marosi et al., 218 USPQ 289 (CAFC); and most recently, In re Thorpe et al., 227 USPQ 964 (CAFC, 1985) all of which make it clear that it is the final product per se which must be determined in a "product by process" claim, and not the patentability of the process, and that, as here, an old or obvious product produced by a new method is not patentable as a product, whether claimed in "product by process" claims or not. Note that Applicant has burden of proof in such cases, as the above case law makes clear.
4. Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nguyen et al. (11587708) in view of ATTANE et al. (20240071450) and Pham et al. (11637234) further in view of Abarra et al. (6828047).
With regard to claim 4, Nguyen et al., Pham et al. and ATTANE et al. do not clearly disclose the seed layer comprises a textured fcc (111) layer.
However, Abarra et al. disclose the seed layer (an underlayer 53, formed on the substrate 51, also functions as the seed layer) comprises a textured fcc (111) layer. (for example, see column 8, lines 37 – 39, fig. 12).
PNG
media_image3.png
322
584
media_image3.png
Greyscale
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Nguyen et al., Pham et al. and ATTANE et al.’s device to have the seed layer comprises a textured fcc (111) layer as taught by Abarra et al. in order to provide enhanced switched polarization, reduced operating voltage and also improves the reliability of the device, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claim 2 is 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 2 is allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as the interlayer comprises at least one texturing layer and at least one migration barrier layer, wherein the at least one migration barrier layer is disposed on the doped BiSbE layer, and wherein the MTJ stack is disposed on the at least one texturing layer as recited in claim 2.
6. Claim 5 is 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.
Claim 5 is allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as wherein the seed layer has a lattice parameter between about 3.48 Å and about 3.71 Å as recited in claim 5.
7. Claims 14 – 20 are allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as a buffer layer disposed over the substrate; a doped bismuth antimony (BiSbE) layer disposed over the buffer layer, wherein the doped BiSbE layer has a (012) orientation and wherein E is a dopant; an interlayer disposed over the doped BiSbE layer; and a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack disposed over the interlayer, the MTJ stack comprising a free perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) layer and a reference PMA layer as recited in claim 14.
Conclusion
8. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAN N TRAN whose telephone number is (571) 272 - 1923. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30-5:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davienne Monbleau can be reached on (571) 272-1945. 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 http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. 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.
/TAN N TRAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
Prosecution Insights