8571 105,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 .
The response of the applicant has been read and given careful consideration. Rejection of the previous office action, not repeated below are withdrawn. Responses to the arguments of the applicant are presented after the first rejection they are directed to. The certified translation perfects priority removes Lee et al. KR 102377406 as prior art. The statements of common ownership preemptively address the any ODP rejections over 17749387. The 103 rejection based upon Kaneko et al. 20010044054 in combination with Suzuki et al. WO 2006123630 and Nam et al. KR 20130051879 is withdrawn in response to the arguments advanced by the applicant and the weakness in the motivation to add the phase shift layer to Kaneko et al. 20010044054
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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 1-5,8-12,15,16 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida JP 2018-005102, in view of Suzuki et al. WO 2006123630 and Nam et al. KR 20130051879.
Yoshida JP 2018-005102 (machine translation attached) in example 1 teaches a substrate coated with a MoSiON phase shift (tri)layer, a 50 nm CrON layer with a graded composition of Cr55O40N5 to Cr80O10N10, followed by a silicon dioxide hardmask [0042-0050]. Example 2 patterns the maskblank [0051-0062].
Suzuki et al. WO 2006123630 (machine translation attached) teaches a metal:silicon with nitrogen and/or oxygen which is subjected to a heat treatment and rapid/forced cooling (abstract). The present inventors have advanced research and development focusing on the cooling process after the heat treatment. As a result, the cooling means that can cool at the in-plane uniform cooling rate in the cooling process after the heat treatment. In addition, it is possible to further reduce variations in optical characteristics (phase difference and transmittance) for products that meet the current strict specifications by performing cooling treatment with a cooling means that can be forcedly cooled. Surprisingly, it was found that this is an effective means for realizing the next higher specification (required specification) [0010].
A cooling means that can cool the light semi-transmissive film immediately after the heat treatment at an in-plane uniform cooling rate and can be forcibly cooled” includes, for example, cooling. plate Is mentioned. According to the cooling plate, the cooling temperature history can be almost the same at the periphery and the center of the substrate [0030].
the hot plate 30 was heated at a hot plate temperature of 300 ° C for 10 minutes, and then the cooling plate 31 was cooled at a cooling plate temperature of 15 ° C for 5 minutes (cooling) Speed: -56 ° CZ min). The surface temperature of the light semi-transmissive film 41 in the phase shift mask blank immediately after the cooling treatment was 22 ° C. which is the same as the room temperature. The film surface temperature of this light translucent film was measured by thermography [0060]. In addition, a light shielding film may be formed on the light semi-transmissive film for the purpose of blocking the exposure wavelength. As the material of the light-shielding film, for example, when the material different from the etching characteristics of the light translucent film is molybdenum, chromium, chromium oxide, chromium nitride, chromium carbide, chromium fluoride A material containing at least one of them is preferred. In this case, the heat treatment and the rapid cooling treatment may be performed after the light shielding film is formed [0083].
Nam et al. KR 20130051879 (machine translation attached) teaches a substrate with a Cr metal layer which is sputtered in a Ar/N2/NO atmosphere and then overcoated with a Cr metal antireflection layer sputtered in an atmosphere containing 0-30% methane (CH4) as described in table 1 to form a chromium carbide gradient within the antireflection layer [0037-0041]. Figure 2 illustrates a mask blank including a substrate (10), a phase shift layer (60), a light shielding metal film (20), a antireflection film (30) and a photoresist (50) [0029].
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In examples 8,10,12,14 and 15, a rapid heat treatment apparatus (RTP) was used to perform surface heat treatment for 20 minutes at a pressure of 10 mTorr to 2 mTorr and a temperature of 350 ° C. (examples 7,9,11,13 and 15 are comparative, not being heat treated, in table 2. The heat treated examples exhibit reduced etching dues to ozone exposure (table 3, reproduced below).
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In recent years, in order to solve the problem of washing | cleaning using sulfuric acid, the ozone washing process containing ozone water washing | cleaning or an ultraviolet-ray has attracted much attention. However, in the cleaning process using the ozone water, for example, when the light shielding film and the antireflection film are formed of chromium (Cr), the phenomenon that the chromium is dissolved or corroded occurs in the ozone water, which reduces the reflectivity of the metal layer/antireflective layer [0004-0006]. In addition, it can be seen that the smaller the difference in the injection ratio of the reactive gas containing carbon (C) for forming the anti-reflection film 30, the smaller the difference in thickness change after cleaning [0049-0057]. The light shielding film 20 and the antireflection film 30 include chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), and palladium (Pd). , Zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), cadmium (Cd), magnesium (Mg), lithium (Li), selenium (Se), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo) And at least one or more transition metals of hafnium (Hf), tantalum (Ta), and tungsten (W). In addition, the light shielding film 20 and the antireflection film 30 may include at least one of silicon (Si), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and fluorine (F). It is configured to include. The light blocking film 20 and the antireflection film 30 may include, for example, chromium (Cr) in the transition metal. The light shielding film 20 and the antireflection film 30 include carbon (C), and in particular, the antireflection film essentially includes carbon (C) [0031]. The metal film formed of the light shielding film 20 and the anti-reflection film 30 may be heat treated, and the heat treatment process may include a rapid thermal process (RTP), a vacuum hot-plate bake, a plasma and Furnace can be carried out by one or more methods. The heat treatment process is preferably carried out in a vacuum of 10 .sup.-3 torr or less. The heat treatment step is preferably performed for 10 to 60 minutes at a temperature of 200 ℃ to 500 ℃. Cooling after the heat treatment may be performed by a method using natural cooling or a rapid cooling device [0034]. A phase inversion film 60 may be further provided between the transparent substrate 10 and the metal film 40. The phase inversion film 60 includes chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), palladium (Pd), and zinc (Zn). ), Chromium (Cr), aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), cadmium (Cd), magnesium (Mg), lithium (Li), selenium (Se), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), hafnium (Hf) ), Tantalum (Ta), tungsten (W) and silicon (Si). In addition, the phase inversion film 60 includes at least one of oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and fluorine (F) in the material. The phase inversion layer 60 may be formed of a material having an etching selectivity of 10 or more with respect to the metal film 40 with respect to the etching material, and may be formed of, for example, a molybdenum silicide (MoSi) compound [0035].
Yoshida JP 2018-005102 teaches in example 1 a mask including a phase shift layer and a graded Cr layer, but does not exemplify a light shielding multilayer where the upper layer of the light shielding layer has an SA1 being between 60 and 90 mN/m (no heat/cooling treatment). The bottom portion of the graded Cr layer is considered to be the first light shielding layer of the claims and the top portion of the graded layer is considered to be the second light shielding layer with the average composition of the layers meeting the recited compositional limitations. The claims do not preclude graded layers.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the process of forming the maskblank and mask of examples 1-2 of Yoshida JP 2018-005102 by heating the maskblank to 300 degrees C for 10 minutes followed by a rapid cooling as taught in Suzuki et al. WO 2006123630 to reduce variations in optical characteristics (phase difference and transmittance) for products that meet the current strict specifications by performing cooling treatment with a cooling means that can be forcedly cooled as discussed at [0010,0030], noting that this can be done after the light shielding layers have been applied as taught at [0083] of Suzuki et al. WO 2006123630 and that this treatment may have an effect on the etch rate of the CrCON layer when exposed to cleaning with ozone water as taught in table 3 of Nam et al. KR 20130051879. The heat treatment with the rapid cooling taught in Suzuki et al. WO 2006123630 is similar to that used in the inventive examples and is held to inherently result in the hydrophobic SA1 values of the CrCON layer.
In the response of 11/10/2025, the applicant points out that the thickness of the 50 nm graded layer of Yoshida et al. is outside the 3-20 nm range recited in claims 1,9 and 16. The rejection recognizes this, indicating that the uppermost 3-20 nm of the graded layer is interpreted to meet the composition and thickness limitations of the second light shielding layer of the claims, while the remaining 30-47 nm meets the compositional limitation of the first light shielding layer of the claims. The total thickness of the 50 nm layer is thicker than the hardmask layer and Yoshida et al does not suggest separately/partially patterning the graded layer. The examiner points out that the instant claims and specification do not describe patterning the upper and lower light shielding layers to have different patterns. The position of the examiner is that in both the instant claims/specification and the examiner’s interpretation of the Yoshida, et al., the (sub)layers of the light shielding layer have different compositions. The rejection stands.
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hashimoto et al. 5538816 in example 9 teaches the heating of the CrOCN light shielding layer for 10-30 minutes at 200-400 degrees C to improve the film textures/smoothness.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Martin J Angebranndt whose telephone number is (571)272-1378. The examiner can normally be reached 7-3:30 pm EST.
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MARTIN J. ANGEBRANNDT
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1737
/MARTIN J ANGEBRANNDT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 August 8, 2025jp-20161
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