Detailed Correspondence
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 03/03/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ submission, filed on 03/03/2026, addressing claims 1-3, 6-7, and 10 rejection from the final office action (12/18/2025) by amending claim 1 is entered and will be addressed below.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 4-5, 8-9, and 11-20 remain withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention Group II and Species 2-5, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-3 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as unpatentable over Park et al. (US 20180031978, hereafter ‘978), in view of Xie et al. (US 20130284204, hereafter ‘204).
‘978 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 1: EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET (EUV) EXPOSURE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE USING THE SAME (title), As described in FIG. 1, the load-lock chamber 110 may include first and second load-lock chambers 110-1 and 110-2 ([0033], includes the claimed “A chamber applicable for use in semiconductor manufacturing, comprising”):
The input gate valve 105 and the output gate valve 103 may be disposed in the second load-lock chamber 110-2 (Fig. 2, [0046], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “one or more sidewalls comprising: a first sidewall comprising a first loading port: and a second sidewall disposed opposite the first sidewall, the second sidewall comprising a second loading port; an internal volume defined at least partially by the one or more sidewall”);
A chuck table 112 may be disposed in the second load-lock chamber 110-2 and the wafer 300 may be disposed on the chuck table 112 (Fig. 5A, [0067], includes the claimed “one or more substrate supports disposed in the internal volume”);
the second load-lock chamber 110-2 may be provided with a gas ([0071], last sentence, includes the claimed “one or more transfer openings formed in the one or more sidewalls; a gas line fluidly connecting to the internal volume from outside of the internal volume”);
The UV lamp 132 of the UV exposure apparatus 130 may be outside the second load-lock chamber 110-2. For example, the UV lamp 132 may be disposed on an outer surface of the upper plate of the chamber cover or external wall 114, e.g., on a position where the transparent window 116 is located ([0069]), In certain embodiments, deep UV (DUV) exposure may be performed on the entire upper surface after EUV exposure. A DUV lamp generating a light within a wavelength of a DUV light, for example, a KrF laser (248 nm) lamp, an ArF laser (193 nm) lamp, or an F2 laser (157 nm) lamp may be used for the DUV exposure ([0063], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “an ultraviolet (UV) unit, the UV unit comprising: one or more UV light sources configured to generate UV light having a wavelength that is within a range of 170 nm to 254 nm”).
‘978 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: a flow wall disposed between the one or more substrate supports and the UV unit, the flow wall comprising a plurality of flow openings.
‘204 is analogous art in the field of METHOD FOR UV BASED SILYLATION CHAMBER CLEAN (title, note overlapping inventors). ‘204 teaches that The UV lamp bulbs 122 emit UV light that is directed through the windows 108 and showerheads 110 onto each substrate located within each processing region (Fig. 1, [0020], 6th sentence), for the purpose of the gas flow profile may be controlled across the substrate 126 to provide a desired uniform or non-uniform distribution ([0029], 2nd last sentence).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added a showerhead 110 of ‘204, between the UV lamp 132/window 116 and the chuck table 112 of ‘978, for the purpose of the gas flow profile may be controlled across the substrate 126 to provide a desired uniform or non-uniform distribution, as taught by ‘204 ([0029], 2nd last sentence).
The combination of ‘978 and ‘204 further teaches the limitations of:
Claim 2: The UV lamp 132 of the UV exposure apparatus 130 may be outside the second load-lock chamber 110-2. For example, the UV lamp 132 may be disposed on an outer surface of the upper plate of the chamber cover or external wall 114, e.g., on a position where the transparent window 116 is located (‘978, [0069], includes the claimed “wherein the UV unit is positioned outside of the internal volume and facing the gas line”, and the gas introduced into the second load-lock chamber 110-2 will diffuse between the window 116 and the chuck table 112, includes the claimed “and the one or more UV light sources are configured to generate the UV light toward a flow volume of the gas line”, note ‘204’s showerheads 110 also has gas flow path under UV, see Fig. 3).
Claim 3: Fig. 3 of ‘204 shows the claimed “wherein the gas line extends through the UV unit such that a gas in the flow volume is exposed to the UV light prior to flowing into the internal volume”.
‘978 further teaches the limitation of:
Claim 10: In certain embodiments, deep UV (DUV) exposure may be performed on the entire upper surface after EUV exposure. A DUV lamp generating a light within a wavelength of a DUV light, for example, a KrF laser (248 nm) lamp, an ArF laser (193 nm) lamp, or an F2 laser (157 nm) lamp may be used for the DUV exposure ([0063], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “wherein the one or more UV light sources comprise one or more UV lasers”).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘978 and ‘204, as being applied to claim 1 rejection above, further in view of Lee et al. (US 20040255862, hereafter ‘862).
The combination of ‘978 and ‘204 does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 6: further comprising a heater disposed along the gas line to heat a gas in the gas line prior to flowing into the internal volume.
‘862 is analogous art in the field of Reactor For Producing Reactive Intermediates For Low Dielectric Constant Polymer Thin Films (title), a thin film deposition system suitable for depositing a low dielectric constant polymer film (Fig. 1, [0010]), Vapor deposition system 10 includes a vapor deposition chamber 20, and a wafer holder 22 for holding a wafer during deposition. Deposition chamber 20 may also include an energy source, such as an ultraviolet light source 24, for various purposes, for example, for drying a wafer surface before depositing a low dielectric constant film, or for activating the polymerization of a keto-, vinyl- or halo-organosilane layer that may be deposited above or below the low dielectric constant polymer film ([0033], Fig. 1 shows UV lamp 22 is above the cooling chuck 24). ’862 teaches that A heater 32 may be provided to heat precursor source 30 to generate a vapor pressure of the precursor within the source ([0034]], last sentence), reactor 100 may include multiple heating zones to help prevent gas choking (i.e. a significantly impeded gas flow) within the reactor … Once the precursors in the pre-heater reach a desired temperature, the heated precursors can then be quickly released into, or flow into, a second heating zone for cracking ([0064]), for the purpose of preventing frequent cleaning ([0008], last sentence).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added heater 32 and/or reactor with heating zones of ‘862, to the gas source of ‘978, for the purpose of preventing frequent cleaning, as taught by ‘862 ([0008], last sentence).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘978 and ‘204, as being applied to claim 1 rejection above, further in view of Nowak et al. (US 20060251827, hereafter ‘827).
‘978 further teaches some limitations of:
Claim 7: the UV exposure apparatus 130 includes at least two lamps generating lights having different wavelengths. For example, the at least two lamps may be used simultaneously or alternately ([0050], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “wherein the one or more UV light sources are disposed in a plurality of bulbs”).
The combination of ‘978 and ‘204 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 7: (a plurality of bulbs) that are cylindrical and oriented parallel to each other, wherein the plurality of bulbs are spaced from each other by a distance to allow a gas to flow through a plurality of spaces between the plurality of bulbs.
‘827 is analogous art in the field of TANDEM UV CHAMBER FOR CURING DIELECTRIC MATERIALS (title). ’827 teaches that FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a process chamber 600 with a first array of UV lamps 602 selected for curing and a second array of UV lamps 604 remotely located and selected for activating a cleaning gas. The first array of UV lamps 602 is divided into a first group of bulbs 601 having a first wavelength distribution and a second group of bulbs 603 having a second wavelength distribution. Both groups of bulbs 601, 603 within the first array of UV lamps 602 focus UV light (depicted by pattern 605) onto a substrate 606 during a cure process. Thereafter, the cleaning gas (depicted by arrows 608) is introduced through inlet 610 and subjected to UV radiation from the second array of UV lamps 604 to preferably generate ozone. Subsequently, ozone enters a process region 612 where oxygen free radicals caused by activation of the ozone clean the processing region 612 prior to being exhausted via outlet 614 ([0042]), The power sources 214 can be turned on to cause UV light emission from the bulbs 302 in the desired wavelengths, preferably about 184.9 nm and about 253.7 nm when the cleaning gas is oxygen (Fig. 3, [0035], 2nd sentence, Fig. 6 and 7 show the claimed “wherein the one or more UV light sources are disposed in a plurality of bulbs that are cylindrical and oriented parallel to each other, wherein the plurality of bulbs are spaced from each other by a distance to allow a gas to flow through a plurality of spaces between the plurality of bulbs”), for the purpose of increase throughput, consume a minimum of energy and be adapted for in situ cleaning processes of surfaces within the chamber itself ([0007]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have adopted groups of bulbs 601, 603 and the second array of UV lamps 604 of ‘827, as the US exposure apparatus 130 of ‘978, for the purpose of increase throughput, consume a minimum of energy and be adapted for in situ cleaning processes of surfaces within the chamber itself, as taught by ‘827 ([0007]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/03/2026 have been fully considered but they are not convincing in light of the new grounds of rejection above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20180182607 is cited for in-line processing chamber with UV ([0034], therefore, two opposite ports).
US 20020064944 is cited for a perforated plate 52 between UV lamp 54 and susceptor 12 (Fig. 4) and a substrate transfer opening ([0065]). US 20040154743 is cited either a window 111 (Fig. 4a) or a gas dispersion plate 112 (Fig. 4b) between UV source 108 and pedestal 104.
US 20030051662 is cited for An improved TP Reactor that consists of UV source and a fractionation device for chemicals is provided to generate useful reactive intermediates from precursors (abstract) and pre-heater for precursors ([0061]). US 20130065402 is cited a preheater for cleaning gas ([0118]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEATH T CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1870. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am-5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Parviz Hassanzadeh can be reached at 571-272-1435. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEATH T CHEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1716
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