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 .
Response to Amendment
Examiner acknowledges the amendments to claims 1, 3-5, 7, and 14-16. No new matter is introduced by the amendments.
Response to Arguments
Examiner acknowledges the argument in view of the amended claim 1 (see pg. 15 of Applicant Arguments) with respect to the sulfonamide cation being substituted with at least one halogen and initial agreement by the Examiner that Hirano et al. (JP 2013125204 A) did not teach this embodiment. However, after carefully revisiting Hirano et al., the Examiner believes Hirano et al. does in fact teach this embodiment and therefore, the previous rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) remains in effect. The current 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) rejection has only modified the previously presented rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) to include the teachings of Hirano et al. with respect to the newly presented embodiments via the amendments to claims 1 and 3-4.
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.
(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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hirano et al. (JP 2013125204 A).
Hirano et al. teaches a resist composition that contains a base component (A’), also referred to as resin component (A1’) [0017], comprising of a group represented by general formula (a5-10):
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510
546
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wherein Q represents a single bond or a divalent linking group; RX represents a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, an alkyl group, or a fluorinated alkyl group; p represents an integer of 1 to 10; A+ is an organic cation; and a structural unit represented by general formula (a3-1):
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332
493
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wherein P0 is -C(=O)-O-, -C(=O)-NR0- (R0 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms) or a single bond; and W0 is a cyclic hydrocarbon group having at least one group selected from the group consisting of -OH, -COOH, -CN, -SO2, -NH2, and -CONH2 as a substituent, and may have an oxygen atom or a sulfur atom at any position [0010] (claims 1-2 and 5). Specific examples of (a5-10) include [0028-0031]:
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329
309
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and
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312
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wherein general formula (a5-10) is preferably represented by general formula (a5-1) [0032]:
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662
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where R represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, or a halogenated alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms; Q represents a single bond or a divalent linking group; Rx represents a hydrogen atom, a fluorine atom, an alkyl group, or a fluorinated alkyl group; p represents an integer of 1 to 10 [0032-0034]; A+ is an organic cation wherein examples include a sulfonium ion (such as the sulfonium cations depicted above), an iodonium ion, a phosphonium ion, a diazonium ion, an ammonium ion, and a pyridinium ion and specific examples of the cation moiety include those similar to general formula (b-1) to (b-8), and further, the sulfonium ion represented by: S+(R1)(R2)(R3) wherein at least one of R1 to R3 has a substituent [0027] and the iodonium ion represented by: I+ (R5)(R6) [0027] wherein R1 to R3 and R5 to R6 are each further defined as an aryl group, an alkyl group or an alkenyl group which may have a substituent [0152] wherein it is preferable that all of R1 to R3 are aryl groups [0153] with examples of the aryl group including substituted aryl groups in which some or all of the hydrogen atoms of the unsubstituted aryl group are replaced with a halogen atom [0154] (claims 1-4).
Specific examples of above general formula (a3-1) include [0100-0108]:
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274
187
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,
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296
203
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,
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378
190
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,
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321
168
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,
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389
265
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,
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387
215
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,
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487
344
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,
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388
255
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, and
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439
224
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(claims 5-9). The amount of structural unit (a5) relative to all structural units is between 1 to 50 mol% [0035] (claim 10) and the proportion of structural unit (a3) relative to all structural units is preferably between 1 to 50 mol% [0109]. Further, polymer synthesis examples 1 to 29 (tables 1-3) comprising of compounds (1) to (25) [0263-0264], such as:
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224
91
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,
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253
114
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,
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330
182
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,
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201
111
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,
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287
85
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, and
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82
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, in predetermined composition ratios. Polymer synthesis examples 14, 15, and 28 comprise of the following composition ratios: 14: 2/13/6 = 42.5/41.8/4.8; 15: 2/12/6 = 44.3/40.6/5.1; 28: 1/9/6 = 45.8/49.2/5.0 (claims 11 and 15-16). Regarding claims 13 and 14, the amount of 6 (referred to as polymer of claim 1 in instant claim 13) is in a range of ~5-6 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of 2/13 or 2/12 or 1/9 (referred to as the base resin in instant claim 13). The weight average molecular weight of resin component (A1’) is preferably 1,000 to 50,000 [0148] and a dispersity (Mw/Mn) is most preferably from 1.0 to 3.0 (claim 12).
Regarding claims 13 and 17-18, Hirano et al. teaches resist composition examples in Table 7 (pg. 102) comprising of the base component (A’), composed of the repeat units as explained above, a compound represented by the chemical formula (B)-2:
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(referred to as a photoacid generator in claims 13 and 17-18), a compound represented by the chemical formula (F)-1:
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, and a solvent mixture comprising of: propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, propylene glycol monomethyl ether, cyclohexanone, and γ-butyrolactone.
Regarding claims 19-20, Hirano et al. teaches a method of forming a resist pattern comprising: forming a resist film on a support using the resist composition as explained above, exposing the resist film to light, and developing the resist film to form a resist pattern [0249]. The exposure apparatus uses either: ArF, electron beam, or EUV and the development treatment is carried out using either an alkaline developer or an organic solvent [0249].
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christine Curiac whose telephone number is (703)756-1375. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00 ET.
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/CHRISTINE CURIAC/Examiner, Art Unit 1737
/MARK F. HUFF/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1737