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 .
Claims 1-18 are pending, with claims 10-18 withdrawn from consideration as being directed to non-elected inventions.
The foreign priority application No.2021-182846 filed on November 09, 2021 in Japan has been received and it is acknowledged.
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 Hashimoto et al. (US 2017/0315445).
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.
Hashimoto et al. teach a resist underlayer film-forming composition for lithography process (abstract). The resist underlayer film-forming composition comprises a polymer (abstract), and may also comprise a crosslinker (par.0035). The crosslinker may be a crosslinker with high heat resistance which comprises an aromatic ring and may be represented by one of the formulas:
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396
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402
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200
386
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(par.0036, par.0039).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to use the crosslinkers of formulas (6-23), (6-24), and (6-27) as crosslinker in the resist underlayer composition of modified Nomura, in order to take advantage of their high heat resistance.
The crosslinker of formula (6-23) is a compound (B) of formula (2) wherein Q is a single bond, q=2, and R02 is a methyl group.
The crosslinker of formula (6-24) is a compound (B) of formula (2) wherein Q is a hydrocarbon group, q=2, and R02 is a methyl group.
The crosslinker of formula (6-27) is a compound (B) of formula (2) wherein Q is a hydrocarbon group, q=3, and R02 is a methyl group.
Hashimoto et al. further teach that a crosslinker may be used in an amount of 2 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the resin (Example 2 in par.0079, Example 3 in par.0080). This range includes the range for the component (B) in claim 1.
Therefore, the composition of Nomura modified by Aqad, Kim, and Hashimoto 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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26
114
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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 comprises a high-boiling point solvent.
Hashimoto et al. teach that the composition for forming a resist underlayer film may comprise a solvent, and the examples of solvents include propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate and N-methyl pyrrolidone (par.0047).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to use N-methyl pyrrolidone in the composition of modified Nomura, because this solvent is functionally equivalent to propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate in Example 1 in Nomura et al.
N-methyl pyrrolidone is a solvent with a boiling point of 202-204oC (see the attached “N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone”).
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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1-9 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The examiner would like to note that the rejection of claims 1-9 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) is withdrawn after the applicant’s amendment to claim 1.
However, new grounds of rejection for claims 1-9 are presented in paragraphs 5 and 6 above.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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.
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/ANCA EOFF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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