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
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 10-14 are 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 10-14 are directed to a method but depend from claim 1 is directed to an apparatus. Applicant may overcome this rejection by rewriting claim 10 in independent form.
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.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huai (Patent Application Publication 2006/0018057) in view of Smith (Patent Application Publication 20200006626).
Claim 1. A magnetic memory, comprising: a heavy metal layer and at least one magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ), wherein: the at least one MTJ comprises: a free layer (free layer Huai Fig 2); a pinned layer (pinned layer Huai Fig 2), located on the free layer; a tunneling barrier layer (130 Fig 4), located between the free layer and the pinned layer; a first diffusion barrier layer, located between the tunneling barrier layer and the free layer (110 Fig 4); and a second diffusion barrier layer, located between the tunneling barrier layer and the pinned layer (120 Fig 4, Huai, [0033-0041]), but is silent with respect to the MTJ formed on a heavy metal layer with the free layer located on the heavy metal layer.
Smith discloses an MTJ formed on a heavy metal layer with the free layer located on the heavy metal layer (SOT electrode under MTJ with free magnetic material layer on electrode structure, 102 Smith Fig 1A [0026]) for the purpose addressing the oxygen contamination in both the oxidation process and the post annealing process (Smith [0026-0028]).
Since Huai and Smith are both from the same field of endeavor (magnetic memories using MTJs), the purpose disclosed by Smith would have been recognized in the pertinent art of Huai.
It would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to user Huai’s top MTJ structure on Smith’s SOT electrode layer with the free layer located on the SOT electrode layer for the purposes of addressing the oxygen contamination in both the oxidation process and the post annealing process (Smith [0026-0028]).
Claim 2. The magnetic memory according to claim 1, wherein the first diffusion barrier layer is in direct contact with the tunneling barrier layer (Diffusion stop layer adjacent to tunnel barrier layer Huai Fig 2 [0033]).
Claim 3. The magnetic memory according to claim 1, wherein the second diffusion barrier layer is in direct contact with the tunneling barrier layer (diffusion stop layer directly adjacent to opposite side of tunnel barrier layer, Huai Fig 2 [0033]).
Claim 4. The magnetic memory according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the first diffusion barrier layer is less than 1 nm (Diffusion stop layer thickness less than 1nm, Huai [0036]).
Claim 5. The magnetic memory according to claim 1, wherein a thickness of the second diffusion barrier layer is less than 1 nm (Diffusion stop layer thickness less than 1nm, Huai [0036]).
Claim 6. The magnetic memory according to claim 1, wherein the first diffusion barrier layer and the second diffusion barrier layer are metal layers or metal oxide layers (Diffusion stop layers formed as metal or metal oxide layers, Huai [0029-0031]).
Claim 7. The magnetic memory according to claim 6, wherein materials of the first diffusion barrier layer and the second diffusion barrier layer individually comprise iron (Fe), tantalum nitride (TaN), ruthenium (Ru) or tungsten (W) (Smith teaches using tungsten [0032]).
Claim 8. The magnetic memory according to claim 6, wherein materials of the first diffusion barrier layer and the second diffusion barrier layer individually comprise titanium oxide (TiOx), tungsten oxide (WOx), tantalum oxide (TaOx) or ruthenium oxide (RuOx) (Diffusion stop layer materials including TiOx Huai [0029]).
Claim 9. The magnetic memory according to claim 1, further comprising an upper electrode that is connected to the pinned layer of the at least one MTJ (top electrode over fixed magnetic material stack, Smith Fig 1A [0026-0027,0040]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jason Lappas whose telephone number is (571) 270-1272. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 7:30AM-5:00PM EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Amir Zarabian can be reached on (571) 272-1852. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JASON LAPPAS/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2827
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