DETAILED ACTION
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 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.
Claims 1-2 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ho et al. (Ho, US 2009/0256149) in view of Shen et al. (Shen, US 2021/0359099 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 2, Ho teaches a ternary CMOS device comprising: a common gate terminal (common control gate in [0030]) configured such that an input voltage is applied to the common gate terminal ([0030]); and two MOSFET regions (MOSFET array 16 in FGI. 3A and [0030]), a common drain terminal ( common drain in [0030]); and a source terminal ( source body column share a common body in [0030]).
Ho fails teach a two-dimensional phase change material layer formed of a two-dimensional phase change material; a two-dimensional semiconductor material layer formed of a two-dimensional semiconductor material having a characteristic of changing into a conductor by a voltage change without separate doping and stacked on either a top or bottom of the two-dimensional phase change material layer.
Shen teaches a two-dimensional phase change material layer formed of a two-dimensional phase change material; a two-dimensional semiconductor material layer formed of a two-dimensional semiconductor material having a characteristic of changing into a conductor by a voltage change without separate doping and stacked on either a top or bottom of the two-dimensional phase change material layer ([006]) and wherein the two-dimensional phase change material layer is configured to allow a constant current to flow (underlined limitations considered as function of the Ho’s MOSFET) between the common drain terminal and the source terminal regardless of a magnitude of a voltage applied to the common gate terminal.
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use a two dimensional phase change material layer, because it would have reduced the contact resistance at the contact interfaces as taught by Shen in ([0006]).
Regarding claims 7-8, Ho teaches a ternary CMOS device comprising a first oxide material layer (insulated gate in [0028]) stacked between the two-dimensional semiconductor material layer and the common gate terminal ([0030]) to be positioned between the two-dimensional semiconductor material layer (see claim 1 discussions) and the common gate terminal ([0030]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 and 9-20 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.
Conclusion
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/ELIAS ULLAH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
