.
`
`‘ UNITED STATEE PATENT AND
`
`OFFICE
`
`In re application of:
`Serial No.:
`Filed;
`For;
`
`Attorney Docket No.:
`
`TINGP. YEN
`08/561,951
`November 22, 1995
`METAL PLUG LOCAL
`INTERCONNECT
`64,663-O04
`
`Group Art Unit: 2503
`Examiner: WALLACE, V.
`In Response to Ofiice Action
`gfip/:rp 1996
`
`5/@
`L
`
`f 55 7 "f4
`REC ENED
`AUG 2 3 19%
`
`P’
`G
`Certificate ofMailing (37CFR 1.8a)
`I hereby certify that this paper (along with any referred to as being attached or enclosed) is being deposited with the United
`States Postal Service on the date shown below with sufficient postage as first class mail in an envelope addressed to the Assistant
`Commissioner for Patents, Washington D.C. 20231.
`
`Date:August 14, 1996 (Signature of person maili
`
`Assistant Commissioner for Patents
`
`Washington, D.C. 20231
`
`Dear Sir:
`
`A M E N D M E N T
`
`In response to the Oflice Action mailed April 17, 1996, please consider the following
`
`amendments and remarks regarding the above-identified application.
`
`
`
`INTEL 1014
`
`
`
`‘ UNITED STATEE PATENT AND
`
`OFFICE
`
`In re application of:
`Serial No.:
`Filed;
`For;
`
`Attorney Docket No.:
`
`TINGP. YEN
`08/561,951
`November 22, 1995
`METAL PLUG LOCAL
`INTERCONNECT
`64,663-O04
`
`Group Art Unit: 2503
`Examiner: WALLACE, V.
`In Response to Ofiice Action
`gfip/:rp 1996
`
`5/@
`L
`
`f 55 7 "f4
`REC ENED
`AUG 2 3 19%
`
`P’
`G
`Certificate ofMailing (37CFR 1.8a)
`I hereby certify that this paper (along with any referred to as being attached or enclosed) is being deposited with the United
`States Postal Service on the date shown below with sufficient postage as first class mail in an envelope addressed to the Assistant
`Commissioner for Patents, Washington D.C. 20231.
`
`Date:August 14, 1996 (Signature of person maili
`
`Assistant Commissioner for Patents
`
`Washington, D.C. 20231
`
`Dear Sir:
`
`A M E N D M E N T
`
`In response to the Oflice Action mailed April 17, 1996, please consider the following
`
`amendments and remarks regarding the above-identified application.
`
`
`
`INTEL 1014
`
`
`
`Please cancel claims 1 and 7, and replace with the new claims 13 and 14.
`
`IN THE CLAIMS
`
`/
`
`A semiconductor structure comprising:
`1§\
`a sili on substrate having atop surface,
`
`a diffiusi n region formed in said substrate adjacent to said top surface,
`
`a polysilic
`
`gate formed on the top surface of said substrate juxtaposed to but not
`
`contacting said diffusion regi
`
`ii,
`
`an insulator layer ubstantially covering said polysilicon gate and said difliision region,
`
`and
`
`
`aiconducting plug at le
`
`electrical communication between said
`
`lysilicon gate and said difliision region.
`
`t partially filling a via in said insulation layer, providing direct
`
`
`
`
`
`local interconnect in a semiconductor structure,
`
`14.
`
`A method of forming
`
`comprising the step of:
`
`depositing an electrically conductin material in a via exposing at least a portion of
`
`a gate and a portion of a diffusion region such that said
`
`ectrically conducting material contacts and
`
`provides electrical communication between said gate and aid diffusion region, said semiconductor
`
`structure comprising said diffusion region in a silicon subst
`
`te, said gate being on said substrate
`
`juxtaposed to but not contacting said diffusion region, said via be g in an insulating material on said
`
`
`gate.
`
`
`
`Amend clai
`
`s 2~6 an 8~l2 as follows:
`
`1, d:/Xv/claim l", and substitutetherewith--claim 13--.
`Claim2 1i
`
`Claim‘ , line
`etc “
`im 1", and substitute therewith --claim 13--.
`Claim 4,
`' e 1 del e“cl 'm 1", and substitute therewith --claim 13--.
`
`Claim
`'
`l, del<%:m 1", and substitutetherewith--claim 13--.
`
`
`
`, line 1, delete “claim 1", and substitute therewith --claim 13--
`
`Line 4, delete “a molybdenum”, and substitute therewith --, molybdenum
`
`’
`
`Claim 1
`
`, line 3, delete “and molybdenum” , and substitute therewith --, molybdenum
`
`and tungsten-- /
`andtungsten-—.
`
`/
`
`Add new claims l5~l7.
`
`
`
`\2
`
`A semiconductor structure according to claima1v3,’wherein said conducting
`
`l
`
`plug comprises an outer glue layer and a plug material therein.
`
`H
`.16
`
`l
`A semiconductor structure according to claim 1'3,’wherein said polysilicon gate
`
`and said diffusion region being exposed in said via in the absence of said conducting plug.
`
`*1
`\5
`A method according to claim 14: wherein said gate is a polysilicon gate.
`Pf
`
`
`
`
`
`
`R E M A R K S
`
`Claims 1 and 7 have been canceled. New claims l3~l7 have been added. Thus claims
`
`2~6 and 8~17 are now pending. No new matter is added by the present amendment.
`
`Support for the amendment to claims 6 and 12 can be found in the specification at p.
`
`10, lines 10-11; p. 11, step 24; p. 12, step 17 and p. 13, step 24.
`
`Support for claim 15 can be found in the specification at p. 11, steps 23~24; p. 13,
`
`steps 23~24; p. 12, steps 16~17 and Figure 3B.
`
`Rejection Under 35 USC §102(a)
`
`The rejection of Claims 1~12 under 35 USC §102(a) as being anticipated by Kinoshita,
`
`US. Patent No. 5,453,640, is respectfully traversed.
`
`Kinoshita teaches a Contact hole formed in an insulating layer over a diffiision region,
`
`and a conducting tungsten plug fills the contact hole. Kinoshita further teaches a block of static
`
`memory cells using CMOS transistors, wherein metal interconnections, e.g.,ground lines for the
`
`CMOS transistors, are simplified by using buried layers in the substrate. Buried tungsten contacts
`
`in the memory cell form connections of the n-MOS and p—MOS transistor diffusion layers to
`
`underlying layers of opposite conductivities. Kinoshita further uses supply voltage or ground
`
`potential to each buried layer from the substrate surface by using additional buried contacts which
`
`are made at convenient locations outside the memory block, As shown in Kinoshita’s Figure 5, the
`
`
`
`diffusion region 46 and the polysilicon gate electrode 26 are adjacent but not in contact with each
`
`other. A tungsten contact plug fills the contact hole 32 for making electrical contact only with the
`
`diffusion region 46 (and not with the gate electrode 26).
`
`The applicant’s claims 1~l2 are not anticipated by Kinoshita ‘640. To anticipate a
`
`claim of a patent, a single source must contain all its essential elements. See, e. g., Tights, Inc. v.
`
`Acme—McCrar)g Corg, 191 USPQ 305 (4th Cir. 1976),
`
`Kinoshita fails to teach a plugthat contacts and provides electrical communication
`
`between a polysilicon gate and a diflhsion region in a via opening exposing the gate and the diffusion
`
`region in the absence of the plug.
`
`Instead insulating layer 38 of silicon oxide or silicon nitride
`
`prevents polysilicon gate electrode 26 from being exposable or exposed in contact hole 32 (see Figure
`
`5 of Kinoshita).
`
`Therefore, Kinoshita does not anticipate the present invention. Withdrawal of the
`
`rejections of claims 1~l2 under 35 USC §l02(a) is respectfiilly requested.
`
`Rejection under 35 USC §102(b)
`
`The rejection of Claims 1~12 under 35 USC §lO2(b) as being anticipated by
`
`Nishigoori, US. Patent No..5,245,210, is respectfully traversed.
`
`Nishigoori 210 discloses a MOS type semiconductor device which has a contact hole
`
`
`
`opened in a layer of insulating material. This first contact hole has a length similar to the width of the
`
`corresponding source/drain dilfusion regions. A refractory metal is then deposited to fill the contact
`
`hole. As shown in Figure 2b ofNishigoori, polysilicon gate electrode 4 is insulated from the diflilsion
`
`regions 5 and 7 by gate oxide 4, side-wall oxide 7 and insulating layer 8. A contact plug is formed
`
`in contact hole 12 for making electrical contact to the diffusion region 7. The contact plug in contact
`
`hole 12 is insulated from the gate electrode 4 by the insulating layer 8 and the side-wall oxide 6.
`
`Therefore Nishigoori does not disclose or suggest a plug contacting and providing
`
`electrical communication between a polysilicon gate electrode and a difiusion region. Consequently,
`
`Nishigoori does not anticipate the present invention.
`
`Therefore, withdrawal of the rejection of claims 1~l2 under 35 USC §lO2(b) in view
`
`of Nishigoori ‘2l0 is respectfully requested.
`
`Based on the foregoing, it is respectfully submitted that all of the pending claims in
`
`the present application are in condition for allowance and such action at an early date is respectfully
`
`solicited.
`
`
`
`The Examiner is respectfiilly invited to call the applicant’s representative at his Detroit,
`
`Michigan Ofiice at (313) 962-4790 should it be desirable to do so to expedite allowance of the
`
`present application.
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`BARNES, KISSEL
`WHITT
`O
`
`
`
`‘
`
`RAISCH, CHOATE,
`& HULBERT, P.C.
`
`By:
`
`___,‘
`
`dy W. Tung
`Registration No. 31, 311
`Telephone: (313) 962-4790
`
`RWT:bp
Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.
After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.
Accept $ Charge
Still Working On It
This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.
Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.
A few More Minutes ... Still Working
It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.
Thank you for your continued patience.
This document could not be displayed.
We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
Set your membership
status to view this document.
With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll
get a whole lot more, including:
- Up-to-date information for this case.
- Email alerts whenever there is an update.
- Full text search for other cases.
- Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.
One Moment Please
The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.
Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.
Your document is on its way!
If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.
Sealed Document
We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.
If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.
Access Government Site
