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 Rejection of the previous action, not repeated below are withdrawn. Responses to the arguments are presented after the first rejection they are directed to.
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 1-6 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being fully anticipated by Hyakki et al. JP 2002231698
Hyakki et al. JP 2002231698 (machine language translation attached, cited in the advisory action), which discusses focusing rings (element 4 in figure 1) which in example 1 describes A phenol resin (manufactured by Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd., trade name: VP-112N) was used as a raw material resin, and 8% by weight of trichloroacetic acid (manufactured by Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) was added thereto as a curing agent. Under heating at 70 ° C., the mixture was cast into an aluminum petri dish having a diameter of 500 mm to obtain a resin plate. This resin plate was heated at 70 ° C for 3 days for 9 days. After heating and hardening at 0 ° C. for 3 days, carbonization and firing were performed at a rate of 1 ° C./min at a maximum of 900 ° C., and then heat-treated at a rate of 5 ° C./min at a maximum of 3000 ° C. to obtain glassy carbon. . After the obtained glassy carbon flat plate was processed into a required ring shape by electric discharge machining, the surface was finished with lap and polish to form a focus ring [0017].
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The frame shape includes the top and bottom surfaces which are polished flat and therefore are a straight line portion. The claims do not require the straight line portion of the frame shape correspond to the inner or outer profile when viewed from the top (plan view).
The applicant argues that the ring is a focusing ring, not a pellicle frame. The examiner points out that it meets the structural limitations and would clearly be able to support a pellicle film spaced away from a photomask so that dust does not deposit upon it. The claims do not require the presence of a pellicle film. .
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being fully anticipated by Amemiya 6812473.
Amemiya 6812473 in figure 14 illustrates a mask including a patterned support (3) of glassy carbon, a pattern support layer (6) of SiC, a electron beam scattering pattern (5) and a stress relieving overcoat (51) (col 29/lines 33-42). The polishing of the pattern supporting layer is disclosed (col 24/lines 28-31). The surface roughness of each layer (including the pattern support layer) is not more than 10 nm. (17/59-18/4, 18/13-24)
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The examiner holds that the embodiment of figure 14A, where the pattern support layer has a smooth surface with a roughness of less than 10 nm has a frame shape which includes the top and bottom surfaces which are flat and therefore meet the polished and the straight line potion limitations
This is a new rejection, so no arguments were advanced by the applicant. This rejection would be overcome by the addition of a pellicle film.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Amemiya 6812473, in view of Sano et al. 20060068298.
Sano et al. 20060068298 illustrates in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are a plan view (a) and a sectional view (b) of an embodiment of a stencil-type lithography mask according to the present invention. The mask 1 comprises a substrate 2 which is provided with a pattern region 4 over an opening 3 formed in the center thereof. The pattern region 4 lies on a self-supporting membrane "m" in which patterned holes "h" are formed. A peripheral region 5, which is a part of the upper surface of the substrate 2, is arranged around the outer periphery of the pattern region 4. The shape of the mask 1 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped which is formed as a unit such that the pattern region 4 and the peripheral region 5 are in one plane. The stencil-type lithography mask 1 is used as a lithography mask for X-ray or charged-particle beams. The alternative where the pattern is formed on the substrate, rather then by forming opening in the frame is shown in figure 5.
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Amemiya 6812473 does not teach an embodiment where the opening within the pattern support layer or the outer shape of the pattern support layer have straight side when viewed form above (plan view).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the embodiment of figure 14A of Amemiya 6812473 by using a rectangular blank for the pattern support and forming the opening for the mask pattern as in figure 1a and 1b of Sano et al. 20060068298 with a reasonable expectation of forming a useful photomask.
Claims 1-6 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamamoto 20030136512, in view of Nakayama et al., “Ceraphite, a hard and high strength new carbon material”, 1977 proceedings 13th biennial conference, pp 424-425 (06/1977), Okada et al. JP 2004170569, Hsu et al. 20160349610, Hyakki et al. JP 2002231698, Ganguli et al. 20040151990 and Uei et al. JP-H0963532.
Yamamoto 20030136512 teaches a pellicle frame 30 is constituted by four pellicle frame pieces 30a to 30d. The pellicle frame pieces 30a and 30b are made of a porous material (e.g., graphite or ceraphite), whereas the pellicle frame pieces 30c and 30d are made of an unporous material [0054]. According to the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reticle with a pellicle, comprising a reticle, a pellicle film, and a pellicle frame which supports the pellicle film so as to form a space between the reticle and the pellicle film [0031].
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According to still another aspect of the present invention, the entire pellicle frame may be formed from the porous material [0014]
Nakayama et al., “Ceraphite, a hard and high strength new carbon material”, 1977 proceedings 13th biennial conference, pp 424-425 (06/1977) describes the process for making CERAPHITE from thermally and chemically treated petroleum pitch, which was then crushed , pressure molds and baked in a furnace. The carbon does not melt, but the particles cohere together. Generally products made of glassy carbon with thicknesses of more than several millimeters were thought to be difficult to achieve, but there are no such restrictions with CERAPHITE products, which come out of the molds and then can be further machined into the desired shape. The bulk density of 1.60 g/cm3, the coefficient of thermal expansion is 3.0 x 10-6 /oC, the ash content is 0.1 % (max) and the compressive strength is 2700 kg/cm2
Okada et al. JP 2004170569 (machine translation attached) teaches in example 1, A rectangular frame with an outer dimension of 149 mm × 122 mm and an inner dimension of 145 mm × 118 mm is cut out from a mirror-polished flat plate made of quartz glass with a plate thickness of 5.8 mm using an end mill, and each corner is rounded with a radius of 5 mm. A pellicle frame with a height of 4.0 mm was prepared by polishing the side surfaces with diamond abrasive grains and mirror-finishing the entire surface. A plurality of holes each having a diameter of 2 mm are formed on opposite sides of the pellicle frame to form a gas discharge hole and a gas introduction hole, and then a pellicle having a thickness of 0.8 mm and a planar shape that matches the outer dimensions of the pellicle frame A pellicle was produced by bonding the plates using a fluorine-based adhesive. A 0.5 mm thick layer of fluorine-based adhesive was formed on the other end surface of the quartz frame [0019].
Hsu et al. 20160349610 teaches that the pellicle frame may be formed by processes including photolithography processing, wet chemical etching, and/or other suitable processes, and may be followed by an etchback or chemical mechanical polish (CMP) process. The first material may also include a suitable porous material with pore channels including AAO or porous materials formed by a sintering method, and no further processes may be necessary. For example, in some embodiments, the first material may include a uniformly continuous porous material, and the pellicle frame may be fabricated using the uniformly continuous porous material [0036].
Uei et al. JP-H0963532 (machine translation attached) teaches a 10 mm polyimide resin film with a maximum roughness of 20 microns, which was carbonized to form a 3 mm glassy carbon film, which was shaped to form a frame with 300 x 200 mm outer dimensions and inner dimension of 200 x 100 mm [0019-0023].
Ganguli et al. 20040151990 teaches porous silica pellicle frames (14) can be machined using conventional processes, such as diamond turning, laser machining, water jet machining, and sonic milling. The porous silica article can be machined to directly provide a frame. The frame also can be prepared by cutting the porous silica article into rectangular bars and then attaching the bars together using suitable adhesives or using laser welding [0054]
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Yamamoto 20030136512 does not exemplify the pellicle frame formed exclusively of glassy carbon with a polished surface and a straight line (flat portion).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art to modify the process of forming the pellicle frame in Ceraphite taught in the combination of Yamamoto 20030136512, in view of Nakayama et al., “Ceraphite, a hard and high strength new carbon material”, 1977 proceedings 13th biennial conference, pp 424-425 (06/1977) to form a pellicle frame entirely from glassy carbon based upon the teaching at [0014] of Yamamoto 20030136512 and forming it by machining to the frame into a generally rectangular shape such as that illustrated in figure 2 of Yamamoto 20030136512 or the other applied references, using machining, grinding and polishing techniques evidenced in Ganguli et al. 20040151990, Okada et al. JP 2004170569 and Hsu et al. 20160349610 as known in the art for forming/shaping pellicle frames with a reasonable expectation of success based upon the disclosure of machining and polishing for form frame shapes in glassy carbon in Hyakki et al. JP 2002231698 and Uei et al. JP-H0963532.
The rejection has been modified to account for the exclusion of materials other than glassy carbon in the pellicle frame, based upon the teachings at [0014] of Yamamoto 20030136512 which clearly teaches that the entire frame can be made of the porous material.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hamaguchi et al. TW-I249513 (machine translation attached) teaches the roundness correction clip (24) can be graphite, glassy carbon or carbon fiber.
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Tang et al. CN 105758880 (machine translation attached) teaches the element (252), which is a glass carbon plate with a window [0053-0054].
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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 14, 2026
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