DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Response to Amendment
This Office Action is in response to Applicant’s Amendment filed on June 15, 2026.
Claim 1 has been amended. No new claims have been added. Claim 5 has been canceled. Claims 4 and 8 have been withdrawn. Currently, claims 1-3 and 6-7 are pending.
Applicant’s amendment to claim 1 successfully overcomes the 112(b) rejection of claim 1 and dependent claims set forth in the previous Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are moot as applied to the newly added claim limitations because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fukazawa (US 2020/0318237 A1) in view of Miyahara (US 2017/0117145 A1) and Roy et al. (US 2017/0358483 A1; hereafter Roy).
Regarding claim 1, Fukazawa teaches a deposition method comprising:
preparing a substrate having a recess ….. deposit a boron nitride film in the recess (see e.g., the substrate on which boron nitride deposition is desired may comprise a patterned substrate including high aspect ratio features, such as, for example, trench structures, vertical gap features, horizontal gap features, and/or fin structures. For example, the substrate may comprise one or more substantially vertical gap features and/or one or more substantially horizontal gap features and the boron nitride film maybe deposited conformally on the exposed surfaces of the recess, Para [0029]);
Fukazawa does not explicitly teach
“supplying a first gas onto the substrate to deposit a boron-rich boron nitride film, the boron-rich boron nitride film including boron with dangling bonds, and the first gas including a boron-containing gas and a nitrogen-containing gas; and
supplying a second gas onto the substrate to heat-treat the boron-rich boron nitride film, the second gas being free of the boron-containing gas and including the nitrogen- containing gas”,
In a similar field of endeavor Miyahara teaches
supplying a first gas onto the substrate to deposit a boron-rich boron nitride film, the boron-rich boron nitride film including boron with dangling bonds, and the first gas including a boron-containing gas and a nitrogen-containing gas; and (see e.g., in step S2, a diborane (B.sub.2H.sub.6) gas may be used as the boron-containing gas. An ammonia (NH.sub.3) gas may be used as the nitriding gas. The internal temperature of the process vessel is set at a low temperature and a boron-rich boron nitride layer (boron-rich state due to an incomplete nitridation) is deposited on the substrate by CVD in which diborane and ammonia are introduced into the process vessel, Paras [0025], [0032], [0034], Figure 1)
Miyahara teaches the formation of an incompletely-nitrided, boron-rich boron nitride (BN) film characterized by a large amount of non-nitrided boron, where B-B bonds are more prevalent than B-N bonds. Due to the non-stoichiometric nature of Miyahara’s film (high atomic concentration of boron 50 to 90 atoms %, specifically 60 to 80 atoms %), the film inherently possesses a high density of reactive sites, including non-nitrided boron dangling bonds. These reactive sites are available for subsequent reaction.
supplying a second gas onto the substrate to heat-treat the boron-rich boron nitride film, the second gas being free of the boron-containing gas and including the nitrogen-containing gas (see e.g., in step S3, after forming an incompletely-nitrided boron-rich-rich BN film, nitriding process with respect to the boron-rich BN film is performed thereby obtaining a BN film having a predetermined film thickness. The nitriding process may be an annealing process in which a target substrate is heated while introducing a nitriding gas into the process vessel, Paras [0029], [0038], [0039], Figure 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to implement Miyahara’s teachings of supplying a first gas onto the substrate to deposit a boron-rich boron nitride film, the boron-rich boron nitride film including boron with dangling bonds, and the first gas including a boron-containing gas and a nitrogen-containing gas; and supplying a second gas onto the substrate to heat-treat the boron-rich boron nitride film, the second gas being free of the boron-containing gas and including the nitrogen- containing gas, in the method of Fukazawa to increase the nitrogen content and improve the composition and quality of the resulting boron nitride film.
Fukazawa does not explicitly teach
“wherein the depositing of the … boron nitride film in the recess includes forming a space in the … boron nitride film deposited in the recess,
wherein the heat-treating of the … boron nitride film includes causing the boron … in the …boron nitride film to bond with nitrogen of the nitrogen-containing gas in the second gas, thereby nitriding the … boron nitride film and increasing a volume of a boron nitride film resulting from the nitriding of the … nitride film, such that the space is filled with the boron nitride film resulting from the nitriding, and wherein the space includes a void or a seam”.
Roy teaches nitridation induced expansion and seam filling mechanism while Miyahara supplies the specific boron-rich BN film and the formation of additional B-N bonds.
In a similar field of endeavor Roy teaches
wherein the depositing of the … boron nitride film in the recess includes forming a space in the … boron nitride film deposited in the recess (see e.g., a substrate 100 having a recessed feature 110 defined by opposing sidewalls and a bottom surface and a non-stoichiometric film 130 formed on the sidewalls and bottom surface of the feature. Film 130 maybe a derivative of a metal film such as, boron nitride film. During deposition of film 130 within feature 110, a seam 115 may be formed within the feature. The seam 115 can be any space, gap or void formed between the walls of the feature 110, Paras [0022], [0023], [0026], Figure 2A),
wherein the heat-treating of the … boron nitride film includes causing the boron … in the …boron nitride film to bond with nitrogen of the nitrogen-containing gas in the second gas, thereby nitriding the … boron nitride film and increasing a volume of a boron nitride film resulting from the nitriding of the … nitride film, such that the space is filled with the boron nitride film resulting from the nitriding, and wherein the space includes a void or a seam (see e.g., The film 130 can be expanded to cause volumetric expansion to fill the feature and allow the film 130 to extend from the feature. The expansion of the film 130 can be in the range 10% to 100%. The expansion of the film causes the seam 115 to become filled.
The film 130 is expanded by exposure to a nitridation agent or nitridation conditions to convert the deposited film into a nitride film. The nitridation agent can be any suitable nitridation agent including, ammonia, hydrazine, nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen containing plasmas. The nitridation conditions comprise a thermal nitridation, plasma enhanced nitridation, remote plasma nitridation, microwave and radio-frequency.
Expansion of the film 130 can occur at any suitable temperature depending on, for example, the composition of the film and the expanding agent, Paras [0027], [0029], [0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to implement Roy’s teachings of wherein the depositing of the … boron nitride film in the recess includes forming a space in the … boron nitride film deposited in the recess,
wherein the heat-treating of the … boron nitride film includes causing the boron … in the …boron nitride film to bond with nitrogen of the nitrogen-containing gas in the second gas, thereby nitriding the … boron nitride film and increasing a volume of a boron nitride film resulting from the nitriding of the … nitride film, such that the space is filled with the boron nitride film resulting from the nitriding, and wherein the space includes a void or a seam in the method of Fukazawa in order to improve film continuity, gap-fill performance and structural integrity.
Regarding claim 2, Fukazawa, as modified by Miyahara and Roy, teaches the limitations of claim 1 as mentioned above. Fukazawa does not explicitly teach
“wherein the depositing of the boron-rich boron nitride film includes maintaining the substrate at a first temperature, and
wherein the heat-treating of the boron-rich boron nitride film includes maintaining the substrate at a second temperature, the second temperature being higher than the first temperature.”
In a similar field of endeavor Miyahara teaches
wherein the depositing of the boron-rich boron nitride film includes maintaining the substrate at a first temperature, and (see e.g., The temperature for forming the B-rich BN film of this state may fall within a range of 250 to 400 degrees C., especially 280 to 380 degrees C, Para [0034])
wherein the heat-treating of the boron-rich boron nitride film includes maintaining the substrate at a second temperature, the second temperature being higher than the first temperature (see e.g., For nitriding the B-rich BN film, the annealing process may be performed at a high temperature falling within a range of 550 to 900 degrees C., for example, at 700 degrees C. The annealing process may be performed using only the nitriding gas, Para [0040], Figure 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to implement Miyahara’s teachings of wherein the depositing of the boron-rich boron nitride film includes maintaining the substrate at a first temperature, and wherein the heat-treating of the boron-rich boron nitride film includes maintaining the substrate at a second temperature, the second temperature being higher than the first temperature in the method of Fukazawa to increase the nitrogen content and improve the composition and quality of the resulting boron nitride film.
Regarding claim 3, Fukazawa, as modified by Miyahara and Roy, teaches the limitations of claim 2 as mentioned above. Fukazawa does not explicitly teach
“wherein the first temperature is 300°C or lower and the second temperature is 550°C or higher”.
In a similar field of endeavor Miyahara teaches
wherein the first temperature is 300°C or lower and the second temperature is 550°C or higher (see e.g., The temperature for forming the B-rich BN film of this state may fall within a range of 250 to 400 degrees C., especially 280 to 380 degrees C. For nitriding the B-rich BN film, the annealing process may be performed at a high temperature falling within a range of 550 to 900 degrees C., for example, at 700 degrees C. The annealing process may be performed using only the nitriding gas, Paras [0034], [0040], Figure 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to implement Miyahara’s teachings of wherein the first temperature is 300°C or lower and the second temperature is 550°C or higher in the method of Fukazawa to increase the nitrogen content and improve the composition and quality of the resulting boron nitride film.
Regarding claim 6, Fukazawa, as modified by Miyahara and Roy, teaches the limitations of claim 1 as mentioned above. Fukazawa does not explicitly teach
“wherein the depositing of the boron-rich boron nitride film and the heat-treating of the boron-rich boron nitride film are repeatedly performed a plurality of times.”
In a similar field of endeavor Miyahara teaches
wherein the depositing of the boron-rich boron nitride film and the heat-treating of the boron-rich boron nitride film are repeatedly performed a plurality of times (see e.g., a BN film having a predetermined thickness maybe obtained by repeating the process of forming a B-rich BN layer at a low temperature, and nitriding it at a high temperature a number of times, Para [0043]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to implement Miyahara’s teachings of wherein the depositing of the boron-rich boron nitride film and the heat-treating of the boron-rich boron nitride film are repeatedly performed a plurality of times in the method of Fukazawa to increase the nitrogen content and improve the composition and quality of the resulting boron nitride film.
Regarding claim 7, Fukazawa, as modified by Miyahara and Roy, teaches the limitations of claim 1 as mentioned above. Fukazawa does not explicitly teach
“wherein the boron- containing gas includes diborane gas, and the nitrogen-containing gas includes an ammonia gas.”
In a similar field of endeavor Miyahara teaches
wherein the boron-containing gas includes diborane gas, and the nitrogen-containing gas includes an ammonia gas (see e.g., a diborane (B.sub.2H.sub.6) gas may be used as the boron-containing gas. An ammonia (NH.sub.3) gas may be used as the nitriding gas, Para [0032], Figure 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time the invention was effectively filed to implement Miyahara’s teachings of wherein the boron-containing gas includes diborane gas, and the nitrogen-containing gas includes an ammonia gas in the method of Fukazawa to increase the nitrogen content and improve the composition and quality of the resulting boron nitride film.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/FAKEHA SEHAR/Examiner, Art Unit 2893
/YARA B GREEN/Supervisor Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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