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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed June 22, 2023 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered. JP3816640, JP5574124, and JP6083537 provided are only partial documents.
The information disclosure statement filed April 3, 2024 and October 6, 2025 fail to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(3)(i) because they do not include a concise explanation of the relevance, as it is presently understood by the individual designated in 37 CFR 1.56(c) most knowledgeable about the content of the information, of each reference listed that is not in the English language. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered. The Taiwan Office Action, the Japanese Office Action, and the Korean Notice of Allowance have not been translated.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 1 recites “(wherein…group)” in which the parentheses should be omitted. Appropriate correction is required.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claims 1-9 and 11-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiroi et al. (U.S. 2011/0053091).
Hiroi et al. teaches in Example 5, to 1.391 g of a solution containing 0.223 g of the reaction product obtained in Synthesis Example 1, 19.623 g of propylene glycol monomethyl ether, 8.910 g of propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, 0.056 g of tetramethoxymethylglycoluril (Nihon Cytec Industries Inc.; trade name: POWDERLINK (registered trademark) 1174), 0.014 g of bisphenol S (Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.), 0.006 g of p-phenolsulfonic acid (Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.), and 0.005 g of a surfactant (DIC Corporation; trade name: R-30) were added to prepare a solution. Subsequently, the solution was filtered using a polyethylene microfilter having a pore diameter of 0.10 µm to prepare a resist underlayer film forming composition [0050] in which the reaction product obtained in Synthesis Example 1 is the following:
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[0038] having a weight average molecular weight of about 7,800 in terms of standard polystyrene [0038] (claim 9) which is equivalent to a polymer comprising a structure unit represented by Chemical Formula 2 of instant claims 1-3 when A is represented by Chemical Formula A-1, L3 and L4 are substituted C3 alkylene groups, X4 and X5 are –(CO)O-, L5 is a C4 heteroalkylene group, L6 is an unsubstituted C1 alkylene group, X3 is a single bond, and Y3 is an unsubstituted C2 alkenyl group; bisphenol S is equivalent to a compound represented by Chemical Formula 2 of instant claims 1, 4, and 5, specifically Chemical formula 3-1 of instant claims 6 and 7, more specifically Chemical Formula 3-8 of claim 8; tetramethoxymethylglycoluril is equivalent to a glycoluril resin of instant claim 13; and surfactant R-30 is equivalent to a surfactant of instant claim 14. The amount of the polymer based on the total amount of the composition is 0.77 wt% while the amount of bisphenol S based on the total amount of the composition is 0.048 wt% (claims 11 and 12).
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.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiroi et al. (U.S. 2011/0053091).
With regard to claim 10, Hiro et al. teaches in Example 5, a weight ratio of the polymer and the bisphenol S compound is 15:1.
Hiroi et al. does not teach a weight ratio of about 9:1 to about 2:3.
However, Hiroi et al. teaches bisphenol S is a specific example of the phenol derivative to be added to the composition and the content of which is, for example, 0.1% by mass or more and 20% by mass or less, relative to the polymer contained in the resist underlayer film forming composition of the present invention [0029] which overlaps the claimed weight ratio. In the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists. In re Wertheim, 541 F.2d 257, 191 USPQ 90 (CCPA 1976).
Therefore, 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 Hiroi et al. to include additional compositions having other amounts and arrive at the instant claims through routine experimentation with a reasonable expectation of success.
Claims 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiroi et al. (U.S. 2011/0053091) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Park (U.S. 2019/0196332).
With regard to claims 15-20, Hiroi et al. teaches the above resist underlayer film forming composition (claims 18-20) can be used in a lithography process of a production process of a semiconductor device. The lithography process includes: applying the resist underlayer film forming composition as described in any one of the first and the second aspect of the present invention on a semiconductor substrate and baking the composition to form a resist underlayer film; applying a resist on the resist underlayer film and baking the resist to form a resist film; exposing the semiconductor substrate coated with the resist underlayer film and the resist film to light; and developing the resist film after the exposure, and a resist pattern is formed on the resist underlayer film. A representative substrate of the semiconductor substrate is a silicon wafer. However, an SOI (silicon on insulator) substrate or a wafer of a compound semiconductor such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and gallium phosphide (GaP) may be used. A semiconductor substrate on which an insulating film such as a silicon oxide film, a nitrogen-containing silicon oxide film (SiON film), and a carbon-containing silicon oxide film (SiOC film) is formed may also be used, and in this case, the resist underlayer film forming composition is applied on the insulating film (etching target layer) [0021-0022] in which the composition was baked on a hot plate at 205°C for 1 minute to form a resist underlayer film [0065], further, the resist underlayer film can be removed in a time much shorter than that for the resist pattern by dry etching with a gas such as CF4 and CHF3 [0024] (claims 16 and 17).
Hiroi et al. does not teach sequentially etching the resist underlayer and the insulating film (etching target layer).
However, Park teaches a resist underlayer composition and a method of forming patterns [abstract] in which a subject for etching may be prepared. The etching subject may be a thin layer (i.e. Hiroi’s insulating film and Applicants’ etching target layer) formed on a semiconductor substrate. Hereinafter, the etching subject is the thin layer. An entire surface of the thin layer may be washed to remove impurities and the like remaining thereon. The thin layer may be, e.g., a silicon nitride layer, a polysilicon layer, or a silicon oxide layer. Subsequently, the resist underlayer composition may be spin-coated on the surface of the washed thin layer. Then, the coated composition may be dried and baked to form a resist underlayer on the thin layer. The baking may be performed at, e.g., about 100°C to about 500°C, or about 100°C to about 300°C. The resist underlayer composition may be as described above in detail. A photoresist layer may be formed by coating a photoresist on the resist underlayer [0113-0116], the photoresist layer may be selectively exposed [0119], the exposed region of the photoresist layer may be dissolved and removed by a developing solution to form a photoresist pattern [0124], subsequently, the photoresist pattern may be used as an etching mask to etch the resist underlayer. Through the etching, an organic layer pattern may be formed. The etching may be, e.g., dry etching using etching gas, and the etching gas may be, e.g., CHF3, CF4, Cl2, BCl3, or a mixed gas thereof [0125] (claim 15). It should be noted that the selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obviousness determination in Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 65 USPQ 297 (1945). See MPEP 2144.07. In the instant case, Hiroi and Park teach known underlayer compositions and methods of forming patterning using dry etching. Park also teaches the etching gas can be used to etch the thin layer (i.e. Hiroi’s insulating film and Applicants’ etching target layer).
Therefore, 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 teachings of Hiroi et al. to include additional etching of the insulating film (etching target layer) based on the teachings of Park and arrive at the instant claims through routine experimentation with a reasonable expectation of success.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. 2022/0011671, U.S. 2021/0230127, U.S. 2021/0053916, U.S. 2020/0041905, U.S. 2017/0045820, U.S. 2016/0238936, and U.S. 5,756,255.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANNA E MALLOY whose telephone number is (571)270-5849. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00-4:30 EST M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Mark Huff can be reached at 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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/Anna Malloy/Examiner, Art Unit 1737
/MARK F. HUFF/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1737