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 .
Claims 1-7 are pending.
Applicant’s arguments, see remarks, filed on December 05, 2025, with respect to the claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ANDERSON et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2015/0294880) in view of NAKAMURA et al (JP 2017092357 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The aforesaid claim rejection has been withdrawn.
Claims 1-7 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-4 and 10-11 of copending Application No. 18/031,816
Claims 1-7 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1-4 and 10-12 of copending Application No. 18/031979 Claims 1-7 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-7 of copending Application No. 18/031,412 are maintained for reasons of record as set forth in the office action dated December 05, 2025.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
NAKAMURA discloses a dry etching gas composed of hexafluoropropene purified to 99.5% or higher, in which the total concentration of metal impurities is limited to Fe, Ni, Cr, Al, and Sb and is 500 ppb by mass or less. NAKAMURA neither discloses nor suggests that the metal impurities may include at least one of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Moreover, the fluorine-containing compound gas disclosed in NAKAMURA is hexafluoropropene, not a fluorobutene. For example, when hexafluoropropene and hexafluorobutene are compared, hexafluorobutene is generally considered to be more reactive; accordingly, even if NAKAMURA's disclosure were applied as-is to ANDERSON, it would still be difficult to achieve long-term storage while maintaining purity. Furthermore, although NAKAMURA discloses that the purified dry etching gas can be filled into a container equipped with a valve, it does not disclose storing the etching gas in a container for a long period.
In contrast, the present specification shows that when the total concentration of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium in the fluorobutene is 1,000 ppb by mass or less, the polymerization of the carbon-carbon double bond in the fluorobutene is suppressed; accordingly, polymerization of the fluorobutene is less likely to proceed during storage (paragraphs [0015] and [0016], Table 5). Specifically, in Example 12, in which the total concentration of metal impurities in the fluorobutene was 846 ppb by mass, no fluorobutene dimer was detected even after 30 days from the start of storage, whereas in Comparative Example 2, in which the total concentration of metal impurities was 1,534 ppb by mass, 78 ppm by mass of a fluorobutene dimer was detected, indicating that polymerization had progressed (Tables 1-5).
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.
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/JAFAR F PARSA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1692