DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-22 are pending.
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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on April 27, 2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of copending applications 17/824,972 (U.S. Patent No. 12,547,073) and 18/051,041 (U.S. Patent No. 12,572,072) has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Response to Arguments
Upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of newly found prior art Goto et al. (WO2021241086) (and further in view of Ando et al. (U.S. 2007/0149702) (cited by Applicant)), see rejections below.
Therefore, this action is Non-Final.
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 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 1-14, 16, and 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goto et al. (WO2021241086). U.S. 2023/0148344 is being used as the English translation.
Goto et al. teaches a resist composition including a resin (hereinafter also referred to as an “acid-decomposable resin”) having a repeating unit having a group having a polarity that increases through decomposition by the action of an acid (hereinafter also referred to as a “repeating unit having an acid-decomposable group”), in which the resist composition further includes, in addition to the acid-decomposable resin, a compound (hereinafter also referred to as a “specific compound”) having at least one cation (hereinafter also referred to as a “specific cation”) represented by General Formula (1) which will be described later, or the acid-decomposable resin further has, in addition to the repeating unit having an acid-decomposable group, a repeating unit having a cation represented by General Formula (1) which will be described later (hereinafter also referred to as a “specific repeating unit”) [0062] (claims 12-14 and 16) wherein the structure of the specific repeating unit is not particularly limited, but a repeating unit represented by General Formula (U) is preferable from the viewpoint that the effect of the present invention is more excellent [0488]:
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[0488] wherein RU1 represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, LU1 represents a single bond or a divalent linking group. Examples of the divalent linking group include —O—, —OC—, —CO—, —COO—, —OCO—, —S—, —N—, CS—, —SO—, —SO2—, a hydrocarbon group (for example, an alkylene group, a cycloalkylene group, an alkenylene group, and an arylene group) which may have a substituent, and a linking group formed by the linking of a plurality of those groups. Y2− represents an anionic functional group. The definition of the anionic functional group is as described above. Z2+ represents a specific cation. The definition of Z2+ is the same as that of Z2+ in General Formula (3) mentioned above [0489-0492] in which Z2+'s represents a cation, and at least one of Z2+'s represents the cation represented by General Formula (1) [0327]:
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[0084] wherein a specific example of General Formula (1) includes the following:
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[WO 0208] and a specific example of the repeating unit anion includes the following seen in B-19:
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[page 79] which is equivalent to a salt represented by formula (I) of instant claims 1-4, 6, 7, and 9-11 when m1 is 1, R1 is -O-CO-O-R10 where R10 is an acid-labile group represented by formula (1a) where Raa1 and Raa2 are alkyl groups bonded to form an alicyclic hydrocarbon group having 6 carbon atoms, and Raa3 is an aromatic hydrocarbon group having 6 carbon atoms, m2-m8 are 0, A1 is ***-X01-L01- where X01 is -S- and L01 is a single bond, Rbb1 is a hydrogen atom, X10 is *-CO-O-** (i.e. formula X10-1), L10 is a single bond, Yb1 is a single bond, Lb1 is a divalent saturated hydrocarbon group having 1 carbon atom, and Qb1 and Qb2 are fluorine atoms. Goto et al. also teaches the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples. The materials, the amounts of materials used, the proportions, the treatment details, the treatment procedure, and the like shown in Examples below may be modified as appropriate as long as the modifications do not depart from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to Examples shown below [0965] and an object of the present invention is to provide an actinic ray-sensitive or radiation-sensitive resin composition with which a pattern having excellent LWR performance is obtained [0007]. Although Goto et al. does not teach a specific example of the above cation and anion together as a structural unit derived from salt, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the specific teachings of Goto et al. and arrive at the instant claims through routine experimentation of substituting equally suitable components for the sought invention in order to achieve excellent LWR performance.
With regard to claim 7, Goto et al. teaches regarding General Formula (1) [0327]:
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[0084] where Xd2 represents a group represented by General Formula (1-1) or a leaving group that leaves by the action of an acid [0108]:
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[0108] wherein Ld2 represents a single bond or a divalent linking group [0109] and Rd2 represents a group having a polarity that increases through decomposition by the action of an acid (hereinafter also referred to as an “acid-decomposable group”) [0111] and as the acid-decomposable group, a group represented by each of General Formulae (a-1) to (a-5) is preferable, the group represented by General Formula (a-1) or (a-2) is more preferable [0126]:
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[0141] where * represents a bonding position. Ra2 represents a linear or branched alkyl group which may have a substituent or a cycloalkyl group which may have a substituent [0142] and Ra3 represents a hydrogen atom, a linear or branched alkyl group which may have a substituent, or a cycloalkyl group which may have a substituent [0145] which is equivalent to a salt represented by formula (I) of instant claims 1-7 and 9-11 when R1 is -O-R10 when R10 is an acid-labile group represented by formula (2a) of instant claim 6 when Raa1’ is a hydrogen atom, Raa2’ is a hydrogen atom or a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, Xa is an oxygen atom, and Raa3’ is a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms.
With regard to claim 20, Goto et al. teaches the resist composition may include another photoacid generator (a compound which does not correspond to the specific compound and generates an acid upon irradiation with actinic rays or radiation) which does not correspond to the specific compound [0780] and examples of such another photoacid generator include the following compound [0804]:
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[0804] which is equivalent to a salt represented by formula (B1) of instant claim 20 when Z+ is an organic cation, Qb1 and Qb2 are fluorine atoms, Lb1 is a divalent saturated hydrocarbon group having 3 carbon atoms in which one -CH2- is replaced by -O- and another -CH2- is replaced by -CO-, and Y is an alicyclic hydrocarbon group having 10 carbon atoms.
With regard to claim 21, Goto et al. teaches the resist composition may further include an acid diffusion control agent. The acid diffusion control agent acts as a quencher that traps an acid generated from a photoacid generator and functions to control the phenomenon of acid diffusion in the resist film [0816] and a specific example includes the following compound D-9 used in the example compositions:
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[1000] which is equivalent to a salt generating an acid having an acidity lower than that of an acid generated from the salt represented by formula (I) of instant claim 21.
With regard to claim 22, Goto et al. teaches the procedure of the pattern forming method using the resist composition is not particularly limited, but preferably has the following steps: Step 1: A step of forming a resist film on a substrate using a resist composition; Step 2: A step of exposing the resist film; Step 3: A step of developing the exposed resist film using a developer to form a pattern [0857-0860] wherein after the application of the resist composition, the substrate may be dried to form a resist film [0868] and it is preferable to perform baking (heating) before performing development after the exposure [0879].
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Goto et al. (WO2021241086) as applied to claim 7 above, and further in view of Ando et al. (U.S. 2007/0149702).
With regard to claim 8, Goto et al. teaches the structure of the specific repeating unit is not particularly limited, but a repeating unit represented by General Formula (U) is preferable from the viewpoint that the effect of the present invention is more excellent [0488]:
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[0488] wherein RU1 represents a hydrogen atom or a substituent, LU1 represents a single bond or a divalent linking group. Examples of the divalent linking group include —O—, —OC—, —CO—, —COO—, —OCO—, —S—, —N—, CS—, —SO—, —SO2—, a hydrocarbon group (for example, an alkylene group, a cycloalkylene group, an alkenylene group, and an arylene group) which may have a substituent, and a linking group formed by the linking of a plurality of those groups. Y2− represents an anionic functional group. The definition of the anionic functional group is as described above. Z2+ represents a specific cation. The definition of Z2+ is the same as that of Z2+ in General Formula (3) mentioned above [0489-0492] and a specific example shown in B-19 [page 79] when Yb1 is a single bond but fails to provide a specific example when the defined groups include when Yb1 is a cyclohexanediyl group, an adamantanediyl group, a norbornanediyl group, an adamantanelactonediyl group or a norbornanelactonediyl group.
However, Ando et al. teaches a resin generating an acid by irradiation and is a salt of an organic cation and an anionic polymer wherein the anionic polymer has no carbon-carbon unsaturated bond [0013] and examples of the preferred structural unit include a structural unit represented by the formula (Ia) and a structural unit represented by the formula (Ib) [0021] and specific examples of the structural unit include the following:
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[page 11] which is equivalent to the anion of formula (I) of instant claims 1 and 7 when Rbb1 is a methyl group, X10 is *-CO-O-**, L10 is a hydrocarbon group having 1 carbon atom, Yb1 is a cyclohexanediyl group, Lb1 is a divalent saturated hydrocarbon group having 3 carbon atoms in which one -CH2- is replaced by -O- and another -CH2- is replace by -CO-, and Qb1 and Qb2 are fluorine atoms. Ando et al. also teaches the present resin is suitably used for an acid generator for chemically amplified positive resist composition, and using the same can suppress the elution of the cation and anion components to water or a solvent having a high refractive index. The present composition provides excellent resist pattern in resolution and pattern profiles and is especially suitable for ArF excimer laser lithography, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography and electron lithography [0227]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the specific teachings of Goto et al. to include other known anionic structural units such as that taught by Ando et al. and arrive at the instant claims through routine experimentation of substituting equally suitable components for the sought invention in order to suppress the elution of the cation and anion components and achieve optimum resolution and pattern profiles.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15 and 17-19 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art of record does not teach or provide motivation to use a salt represented by formula (I) as an acid generator, i.e. a monomeric compound, in a resist composition. Closest prior art Goto et al. teaches a structural unit derived from a salt represented by formula (I) only.
Conclusion
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/Anna Malloy/Examiner, Art Unit 1737
/KEITH WALKER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1735
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