DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The foreign priority application No.2021-182846 filed on November 09, 2021 in Japan has been received and it is acknowledged.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group I (claims 1-9) in the reply filed on December 18, 2025 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the grounds that the claims in Groups II-IV depend or ultimately depend on claim 1 in Group I. This is not found persuasive because the searches for the inventions in Groups I-IV are divergent (the search for the composition in Group I does not overlap with the searches for the methods in Groups II-IV).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Therefore, claims 1-18 are pending, with claims 10-18 withdrawn from consideration as being directed to non-elected inventions.
Specification
The following guidelines illustrate the preferred layout for the specification of a utility application. These guidelines are suggested for the applicant’s use.
Arrangement of the Specification
As provided in 37 CFR 1.77(b), the specification of a utility application should include the following sections in order. Each of the lettered items should appear in upper case, without underlining or bold type, as a section heading. If no text follows the section heading, the phrase “Not Applicable” should follow the section heading:
(a) TITLE OF THE INVENTION.
(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS.
(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT.
(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT.
(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A READ-ONLY OPTICAL DISC, AS A TEXT FILE OR AN XML FILE VIA THE PATENT ELECTRONIC SYSTEM.
(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR.
(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION.
(1) Field of the Invention.
(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION.
(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S).
(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION.
(k) CLAIM OR CLAIMS (commencing on a separate sheet).
(l) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE (commencing on a separate sheet).
(m) SEQUENCE LISTING. (See MPEP § 2422.03 and 37 CFR 1.821 - 1.825). A “Sequence Listing” is required on paper if the application discloses a nucleotide or amino acid sequence as defined in 37 CFR 1.821(a) and if the required “Sequence Listing” is not submitted as an electronic document either on read-only optical disc or as a text file via the patent electronic system.
The specification of the instant application needs to be amended to recite under the heading (b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS that the instant application claims benefit of the foreign priority application No.2021-182846 filed on November 09, 2021 in Japan.
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, 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 Nomura et al. (JP 2009-014816A, with machine translation provided by the applicant on September 09, 2025) in view of Aqad et al. (US 2019/0202955) and in further view of Kim et al. (US 2008/0070161) and Matsumura et al. (US 2016/0314984).
With regard to claims 1 and 2, Nomura et al. teach a composition for forming a resist underlayer comprising only the resin (A-1) and propylene glycol monomethyl acetate solvent (B)(Example 1 in par.0117).
The propylene glycol monomethyl acetate solvent (B) is the organic solvent (C) in claim 1.
The composition in Example 1 of Normura et al. does not comprise an acid generator, as required in claim 1 of the instant application.
The resin (A-1) is obtained by reacting a 1-naphthol/formaldehyde condensation resin with propargyl bromide, and the resin has an alkynyloxy introduction rate of 90mol% (par.0114).
The units wherein alkynyloxy groups are not introduced are units of formula (1) in claim 1, wherein m=0, n=1, p=1, and X is a -CH2- group (divalent organic group having 1 carbon atom).
The repeating units wherein alkynyloxy groups are introduced are repeating units of formula:
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(par.0054), and are repeating units of formula (3) in claim 2, wherein m=0, n=1, p=1, R03 is an unsaturated monovalent organic group of 3 carbon atoms, and X is a -CH2- group (divalent organic group having 1 carbon atom).
Nomura et al. fail to teach that the ratio Mw/Mn of the resin (A-1).
Aqad et al. teach underlayer compositions (par.0006), and further teach that the polymers used in underlayer compositions have a polydispersity (ratio Mw/Mn) of less than 3.0 (par.0102).
Additionally, it is well-known in the art that the polydispersity (ratio Mw/Mn) of a polymer determines the physical properties of a layer comprising the polymer (see par.0027 of Kim et al.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to obtain the resin (A-1) of Nomura et al. with a polydispersity (ratio Mw/Mn) of less than 3.0 in order to provide the resist underlayer with the desired physical properties.
This range overlaps the range of 2.5-9 in claim 1 of the instant application.
Nomura et al. further teach that the resist underlayer composition may comprise a crosslinker (par.0062), but fail to teach the compound (B) of formula (2) in claim 1.
Matsumura et al. teach a composition for forming a resist underlayer film, wherein said composition may comprise a component (A), a solvent (B), and a crosslinking agent (par.0039). The crosslinking agent may be 2,6-bis(hydroxymethyl)p-cresol (par.0244).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to use 2,6-bis(hydroxymethyl)p-cresol as crosslinker in the resist underlayer composition of modified Nomura, because the compound is clearly taught for this purpose by Matsumura et al.
2,6-bis(hydroxymethyl)p-cresol is a compound (B) of formula (2) wherein Q is -CH3 (a monovalent hydrocarbon having 1 carbon atom), q=1, and R02 is a hydrogen atom.
Matsumura et al. further teach that a crosslinker may be used in an amount of 0.1-50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the component (A), which is a resin (par.0263, par.0045-0114). This range includes the range for the component (B) in claim 1.
Therefore, the composition of Nomura modified by Aqad, Kim, and Matsumura is equivalent to the material in claims 1 and 2.
The limitation of claim 1 “for forming a filling film for inhibiting semiconductor substrate pattern collapse” shows an intended use and adds no patentable weight to the claim.
With regard to claim 3, the repeating units wherein alkynyloxy groups are introduced are repeating units of formula:
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(par.0054), and are repeating units of formula (3) wherein R03 is represented by the formula
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, RA is -CH2-(divalent organic group having 1 carbon atom) and RB is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 4, the resin (A-1) obtained from reacting a 1-naphthol/formaldehyde condensation resin with propargyl bromide, and having alkynyloxy introduction rate of 90mol% (par.0114) is a resin wherein a=10 and b=90. The coefficients are within the claimed ranges.
With regard to claims 5 and 6, Nomura et al. fail to teach that the composition comprising a high-boiling point solvent.
Matsumura et al. teach a composition for forming a resist underlayer film, wherein said composition may comprise a component (A), and a solvent (B) (par.0039). The solvent (B) may be ethylene glycol (par.0211) or propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA)(par.0221)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to use ethylene glycol solvent in the composition of modified Nomura, because ethylene glycol is functionally equivalent with propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate (PGMEA).
Ethylene glycol has a boiling point of 197.3oC (see the attached “List of boiling and freezing information of solvents”).
With regard to claim 7, Nomura et al. further teach that the composition may comprise a surfactant for improving the coating property, striation, wettability, developability (par.0076, par.0081).
With regard to claims 8 and 9, the references above do not teach a metal impurity. Therefore, it is considered that the amount of metal impurities is 0, and this value is within the claimed range.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Omatsu et al. (WO 2021/157551 A1, with citations from the English equivalent US 2023/0096137) teach a composition which may be used as resist underlayer film (abstract, par.0246). The composition may comprise a crosslinking agent (par.0267), and the crosslinking agent may be represented by the formula:
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(par.0376).
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/ANCA EOFF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722