DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the IDS received April 10, 2026.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over KR-10-2014-0105377 (SAGEHASHI et al) in view of MASAYAMA et al (JP-2017-0119678).
The claimed invention recites the following:
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SAGEHASHI et al disclose a photosensitive polymer having the following structure as seen on page 58 shown here:
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The first monomer unit meets the claimed polymer of Formula 1, lacking only the R3 group being a t-butyl substituted with a first substituent wherein the first substituent is a C1 to C10 alkyl group. Applicants are directed to the second monomer unit above in SAGEHASHI et al which is a t-amyl group having a first substituent which is a C1 alkyl group. Both groups on the polymer side chain are acid labile and applicants have disclosed on page 23 that the acid labile groups for XE can be any of those listed in para. [0149], see below:
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In addition, the divalent linking group between the esters groups can be alkylene or cycloaliphatic groups, see below from para. [0093].
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SAGEHASHI et al lacks a repeating unit comprising an aromatic ring.
MASAYAMA et al disclose a photosensitive polymer comprising units similar to those disclose in SAGEHASHI et al wherein a divalent linking group in a repeating unit between two ester groups can be alkylene and further disclose the addition of a non-acid labile unit having an aromatic ring for use having a KrF excimer laser, EUV , see para. [0047]
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Claims 2-13 are met by the copolymer above for the linking groups defined by R2 .
Claims 14-20 for the method are reported in paras. [0048] – [0056] in MASAYAMA et al and in para. [0241] of SAGEHASHI et al, see the translation from MASAYAMA et al below:
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It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of photosensitive compositions to substitute any known acid labile side chain groups as reported in para. [0149] in for the t-butyl group on the first monomer unit as these acid labile group are seen as equivalent in function to give improved photolithographic properties. And absent any objective evidence to show unexpected results over the prior art acid labile group, the claims would be seen as obvious to the skilled artisan in the photoresist art.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOHN S. CHU whose telephone number is (571)272-1329. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F, IFP-Flex.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Keith Hendricks, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-1401. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center to authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to the USPTO patent electronic filing system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
Examiner interviews are available via a variety of formats. See MPEP § 713.01. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/InterviewPractice.
/John S. Chu/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737
J. Chu
June 22, 2026
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