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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/04/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-2, 4-13, 15-22 and 24-31 are currently under examination on the merits.
Any rejections and/or objections made in the previous office action and not repeated below are hereby withdrawn.
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 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.
Claims 1-2, 4-10, 12-13 and 15-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen (US 2021/0364922, of record, ‘922 hereafter).
Regarding claims 1-2, 4-10, 12-13 and 15-22, ‘922 discloses a polymer composition ([0045]-[0077]) comprising a polymer being a matrix forming species; a photo-acid generator having nitrobenzyl ester group being a nitrobenzyl functional group covalently bonded to the polymer chain, reading upon derivative of nitrobenzyl alcohol (Fig. 10, [0067], [0116]) and/or an photo-base generator with aromatic group bond to amine group through a carbamate linkage ([0075]), which are capable of generating small molecules, such as H2O, CO2 or alcohols by radiation or heat which are metal ligand forming molecules ([Fig. 7, 8, [0045]-[0047, Fig 14A-14C]), reading upon reactive gas releasing entity; a solvent being alcohol, ketone, ether or ester, which can be used to prepare a flowable polymer composition to facilitate application of the polymer composition on a substrate ([0066], [0076]); and a thermal acid generator or a photo-base generator as needed ([0046], [0051], [0060]-[0062]) reading upon activating agent, which may include sulfonate, iodonium salt, onium salt, N-sulfonic imide or a combination thereof ([0060], Fig. 11, [0068]) satisfying present claims 9-10 and 19-20; wherein the polymer can be a styrene resin ([0065]).
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 11 and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (US 2021/0364922, of record, ‘922 hereafter).
Regarding claims 11 and 24, ‘922 teaches all the limitations of claims 1 and 12, ‘922 also teaches the photo-acid generator content is generally in a range of 0.1 wt% to 20 wt% based on the total polymer in the polymer composition ([0062]), but does not expressly set forth the polymer composition or flowable polymer composition having a content of polymer matrix and solvent in the presently claimed range. However, it is known in the art that the polymer matrix content and solvent content control the polymer concentration of the polymer composition which directly affect the thickness of the film formed from the polymer composition; thus the polymer concentration in the polymer composition of ‘922 is an effective variable in terms of thickness of the photoresist layer. Case law holds that "discovery of an optimum value of a result effective variable in a known process is ordinarily within the skill of the art." See In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980). In view of this, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to adjust the content of polymer matrix and solvent in the polymer composition of ‘922 within the scope of the present claims, so as to produce a photoresist layer having desired thickness.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 25-31 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The reason for the allowance is that the prior art of record does not specifically disclose or fairly suggest a film-forming composition as recited in the present claims 1 and 12, wherein the matrix or polymer matrix comprises polycarbosilane or a specific reactive gas releasing entity as recited in the claims 26-31
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed on 02/10/2026 have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new ground of rejection in light of Applicant's amendment. While the scope of amended claim 1 is changed by redefining reactive releasing entity, the newly defined gas releasing entity is also taught by the previously cited reference ‘922; therefore, the cited reference is still applicable and the ground of rejection has been appropriately set forth.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RUIYUN ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7934. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00-5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Arron Austin can be reached on 571-272-8935. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RUIYUN ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1782
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