DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hioka et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2019/0285708 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Hioka et al. discloses a vertical Hall element (see vertical hall elements 100 shown in Fig. 1) formed on a surface of a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type (para 0027, first conductivity type on semiconductor substrate 101 shown in Fig. 1), the vertical Hall element comprising: an impurity diffusion layer of a second conductivity type formed on the surface of the semiconductor substrate (see second conductivity type on semiconductor layer 102 shown in Fig. 1; para 0027, lines 6-11);
a first electrode group disposed on a surface of the impurity diffusion layer and formed of three or more electrodes (see electrode group 211-215 shown in Fig. 1); and
a high-resistance diffusion layer of the first conductivity type which is disposed in a ring shape on an outer periphery separated from the first electrode group (para 0028, lines 1-5) and comprises a second electrode group capable of being applied with a voltage such that an electric field with respect to the first electrode group becomes constant (para 0043, lines 17-25).
With respect to claim 2, Hioka et al. discloses the vertical Hall element according to claim 1, wherein an inner peripheral part of the high-resistance diffusion layer is located at a constant distance from an outer peripheral part of the first electrode group (para 0060, lines 1-10).
With respect to claim 3, Hioka et al. discloses the vertical Hall element according to claim 1, wherein an impurity concentration of the impurity diffusion layer increases as a depth increases (para 0041, lines 1-8).
With respect to claim 4, Hioka et al. discloses the vertical Hall element according to claim 1, further comprising an element isolation region which is disposed on an outer periphery separated from the high-resistance diffusion layer and electrically isolates the vertical Hall element (para 0027, lines 1-14).
With respect to claim 5, Hioka et al. discloses the vertical Hall element according to claim 4, wherein the first electrode group is disposed on a straight line (para 0009, lines 1-16).
With respect to claim 6, Hioka et al. discloses the vertical Hall element according to claim 5, wherein the first electrode group comprises five electrodes (see electrodes 111-115 shown in Fig. 1), a drive current is flowed from the electrode located at a center toward the electrodes located at both ends (para 0026, lines 1-8), and a Hall voltage is detected between the two electrodes located between the electrode located at the center and the electrodes located at the both ends (para 0027, lines 1-8).
Conclusion
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/FARHANA A HOQUE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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