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 .
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1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 02/25/26 has been entered.
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 1-9, 11-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shinya Yoshimoto et al (U. S. Patent Application: 2022/0119944, here after Yoshimoto.
Claims 1 and 5 are rejected. Yoshimoto teaches a method of forming material within a recess on a surface of a substrate, the method comprising:
providing a substrate within a reaction chamber [0005];
forming a flowable material at a first temperature (less than 300C) within the reaction chamber, the flowable material forming deposited material within the recess, wherein a ratio of a thickness of the deposited material on a bottom of the recess to a thickness of deposited material on a top surface of the recess is greater than or equal to 1.5[0070, fig. 8, 0010];
after forming the deposited material, treating the deposited material using activated species within the reaction chamber to form treated material (plasma curing treatment) [ 0081, fig. 8]; and
after forming the treated material, heating (thermal annealing) the substrate including the treated material at a second temperature (400-1000C) [0088] to remove a portion of the treated material (film shrinks and densified and looks like removing material), wherein removing the portion of the treated material reduces a thickness of the treated material within the recess (the film shrinks and thickness reduces) [fig. 8, 0093 last two sentences]. Yoshimoto teaches the thermal annealing time(heating) of less than 10 sec via RTA (rapid thermal annealing) [0093], and not between about 30 seconds. However, an ordinary skill in at can replace regular annealing for RTA with expectation of success which in fact increasing the annealing time. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of Yoshimoto and have regular annealing rather than RTA, because substitution of equivalents requires no express motivation. In re Fount, 213 USPQ 532 (CCPA 1982); In re Siebentritt 152, USPQ (CCPA 1967). It is also to the skill of an ordinary person to adjust annealing time with annealing temperature to meet claim annealing time.
Claim 2 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches forming the deposited material within the recess comprises forming the deposited material to a thickness of the within the recess between about 5 nm and about 30 nm [0016 last sentence].
Claim 3 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the step of heating the substrate comprises providing a gas comprises one or more of argon, nitrogen (N2), helium, and/or ammonia [0083 lines 17-19, 0082 limes 13-15].
Claim 4 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the step of treating the deposited material comprises providing a treatment gas consisting of hydrogen (H₂) to the reaction chamber [0072, 0073].
Claim 6 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches plasma treatment between and after deposition pulses [0071, 0072] therefore a temperature (T3) during the step of treating is equal to T1 and less than T2.
Claim 7 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches T1 is between about 50 °C and about 90°C [0082].
Claim 8 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the step of heating the substrate comprises providing a gas consisting of ammonia and optionally, one or more of argon, nitrogen (N₂), and helium. [0083].
Claim 9 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the step of forming the flowable material comprises a cyclical deposition process, and wherein a cycle of the cyclical deposition process (ALD or CVD) for depositing silicon and nitrogen containing film [0005] which in fact comprises:
providing a precursor comprising silicon and nitrogen to the reaction chamber for a precursor pulse;
providing a reactant comprises one or more of argon, nitrogen (N₂), or hydrogen (H₂) to the reaction chamber; and
providing a plasma power for a deposition plasma power pulse period, and
wherein the cycle of the cyclical deposition process is repeated a plurality of times [0013-0015].
Claims 11 and 13 are rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the precursor comprising hexamethylcyclotrisilazane [0067].
Claim 12 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the reactant comprising hydrogen or nitrogen [0014].
Claim 14 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches pressure within the reaction chamber during the step of heating is between about 300 Pa and about 2800 Pa [claim 8].
Claim 15 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the step of treating the deposited material comprises providing a treatment gas comprising hydrogen (H₂) to the reaction chamber [0072-0073].
Claim 16 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches performing the steps of forming a flowable material and treating the deposited material a plurality of times [abstract first sentence].
Claim 17 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the step of heating the substrate consists essentially of providing the gas and heating the substrate [0083].
Claim 18 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches performing a first loop a plurality of times, and performing a second loop a plurality of times,
wherein the first loop comprises the steps of forming a flowable material and treating the deposited material, and wherein the second loop comprises the first loop and the step of heating the substrate [0010, 0015, 0072, 0081].
Claim 19 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the step of heating the substrate comprises providing a gas consisting essentially of one or more of argon, nitrogen (N2), helium, and/or ammonia [0083].
Claim 20 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches the limitation of claim 1, and therefore a structure formed (gap filled) by it.
Claim 21 is rejected. Yoshimoto teaches a system comprising:
a reactor comprising a reaction chamber (ALD or CVD); and
a controller [0048] configured to perform a method according to claim 1.
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shinya Yoshimoto et al (U. S. Patent Application: 2022/0119944, here after Yoshimoto, further in view of Kang Hu et al (Korean Patent: 20150037662, here after Hu).
Claim 22 is rejected for the same reason claim 1 is rejected above. Yoshimoto teaches densifying(shrinkage) the deposited film [0093], but does not teach the substrate comprising features with different aspect ratio. Hu teaches with substrate having features with varies of aspect ratio's, deposited film thickness in a gap with higher aspect ratio is larger than deposited film thickness in lower aspect ratio gap [fig. 3]. of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of
depositing as Yoshimoto teach, where the thickness of the treated material
within recess with higher aspect ratio is less than lower aspect ratio feature, because
shrinkage would be more in higher thickness film.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 02/25/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues Yuan does not teach new limitation of amended claim; however, Yoshimoto teaches it (see claim rejection above). The applicant further argues regarding a ratio of a thickness of the deposited material on a bottom of the recess to a thickness of deposited material on a top surface of the recess is greater than or equal to 1.5, however Yoshimoto teaches this limitation as well [0070, fig. 8, 0010]. Same above statement is valid for the rest of the applicant argument regarding claim 22.
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/TABASSOM TADAYYON ESLAMI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718