DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
This Office action is in response to the application received December 28, 2022.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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, 3, 5-6, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a) (1) as anticipated by HONG et al (2022/0252982).
The claimed invention recites the following:
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HONG et al report a photolabile protecting group on a polymer in a positive photosensitive resin composition wherein the protecting group is a nitro benzyl-based group. The method reported in Fig. 1 anticipates the claimed method by forming a photoresist on a film, deprotecting the hydroxy styrene group having the nitro benzyl-based group by exposing the first area to an excimer laser (para [0081]) which is followed by annealing (para. [0083]) and development. This method meets the independent claim as the polymer in the HONG et al is irradiated with an excimer laser which cleaves the photo-labile resist and heated, meeting step (iii) and the development step meets the claimed removing the cleaved photoresist from the substrate, see para [0083] for the annealing process and the method in claim 19 below:
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This disclosure anticipates the claimed invention for the claims listed above.
With respect to claim 5 and 6, the prior art polymer is a polymer comprising a plurality of side chains having a photocleavable group, see para. [0057] and [0065] below for the Chemical equation showing the deprotection:
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And para. [0065] diagrams the polymer structure having the photocleavable side chain group:
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No claims are allowed.
Claim(s) 1-7, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the combination of LEVENSON et al (5,763,016) and CHEN et al (8,815,489).
The claimed invention is recited above and included by reference.
LEVENSON et al report a dry-developable method of forming patterns in organic coatings of photoresist compositions which make use of the self-dissolution properties in which after exposure to radiation vacuum heating of a polyolefin sulfone resins, see col. 3, lines 48-54. This method meets claims 1-7 for the simultaneously removal, the vacuum heat step, the photoresist gas formed, photocleavable groups, depolymerization, and the polyolefin sulfone.
CHEN et al disclose polymers for negative and positive photoresist, which include polyolefin sulfones, polymethyl methacrylates, novolaks and acrylates precursors which is laser ablated by a femtosecond laser, see para. [0045], [0046], and the attached Fig. 5A and 5B below:
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It would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of photosensitive compositions to duplicate the method of CHEN et al with the polyolefin sulfone with the dry-developer with exposure to radiation and vacuum heating with the reasonable expectation of a photoresist formation by a dry-developed method without a wet step process.
Claims 8- 10 and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
None of the prior art references of record disclose the claimed limitations wherein the light responsive photoresist comprises a specific polyolefin sulfone of claim 8 having a photocleavable group (II) as claimed in claims 8-10 and the light consists of light of two or more wavelengths with a range of 10 nm.
Claims 13-20 are seen as allowed over the prior art of record.
None of the prior art of record disclose the claimed method wherein the light responsive photoresist is cleaved by irradiation with light, removing the first portion by vacuum wherein the cleaving and the removing occur simultaneously, plating the substrate cleaving and removing the second portion (stripping the remaining resist) of the photoresist.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
SCHADELI et al (5,879,855) report a composition which contains a polyolefin sulfone binder in positive electron resists as reported in col. 27, lines 41-67.
QUATE et al (6,271,957) report direct write optical lithographic method using photolabile or acid-labile polymers, see col. 1, lines 14-33.
TOMITA et al (2010/0248151) report printing plate manufacture wherein laser engraving is employed.
DESAI et al (4,397,938) report an electron beam resist which is irradiated and developed.
KILICHOWSKI (4,397,939) disclose a method of using a positive electron beam resist wherein the terpolymer contains sulfur dioxide, 3-methylcyclopentene and vinyl acetate.
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 M-F, IFP-Flex.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Huff, can be reached at telephone number 571-272-1385. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/John S. Chu/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737
J. Chu
February 4, 2026