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 .
Applicant’s election without traverse of group II, claims 20-37, wherein applicant has elected formula (II) (R1)(R2)C=C(I)(R3)) in the reply filed on October 14, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 20-37 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Surla et al (US 2017/0178923 A1).
Regarding claims 20-30 Surla discloses the iodine-containing etching compounds are delivered in purity ranging from 95% to 99.999% by volume and may be purified with known standard purification techniques for removal of compounds B: CO, CO2, N2, H2O, HF, H2S, SO2, halides, and other hydrocarbons or hydrohalocarbons. Other compounds (B) such as, IF5, HI, O2 are reaction or reagent residues that are inherently present from the formation of iodofluorinated compounds. An inert gas is also introduced into the reaction chamber in order to sustain the plasma. The inert gas may be He, Ar, Xe, Kr, Ne, N2 or combinations thereof. The etching gas and the inert gas may be mixed prior to introduction to the chamber, with the inert gas comprising between approximately 0.01% v/v and approximately 99.9% v/v of the resulting mixture. Alternatively, the inert gas may be introduced to the chamber continuously while the etching gas is introduced to the chamber in pulses [0304]-[0305].
The disclosed iodine-containing etching compounds are provided at greater than 95% v/v purity, preferably at greater than 99.99% v/v purity, and more preferably at greater than 99.999% v/v purity. The disclosed iodine-containing etching compounds contain less than 5% (compound B) by volume trace gas impurities, with less than 150 ppm by volume of impurity gases, such as N2 and/or H2O and/or CO2, contained in said trace gaseous impurities. Preferably, the water content in the plasma etching gas is less than 20 ppmw by weight. The purified product may be produced by distillation and/or passing the gas or liquid through a suitable adsorbent, such as a 4A molecular sieve [0281].
Surla discloses iodine-containing etching compounds having the formula CaHxFyIz, wherein a=1-3, x=0-6, y=1-7, z=1-2, x+y+z=4 when a=1, x+y+z=4 or 6 when a=2, and x+y+z=6 or 8 when a=3.
The iodine-containing etching compound being C2F3I and having the structure of compound A:
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72
214
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Greyscale
[0166]
Wherein (R1)(R2) and (R3) are fluorine, which reads on formula (II).
Other iodine-containing compounds that can read on formula II are as follows:
Regarding claims 31, 32, 33 and 34 see the compounds listed below:
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452
302
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Greyscale
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346
282
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Greyscale
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744
314
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Greyscale
See the iodine containing C=C in Table 2.
Claims 35 and 36 do not read on formula (II).
Regarding claim 37 the etching process resulted in a precision cleaning agent comprising the composition containing of an iodofluorocarbon that containing compounds A+B with a purity of 99.99% [0281].
Claim 38 is directed to a non-elected claim.
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/JAFAR F PARSA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692