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 .
This is the initial office action for US Patent Application No. 18/254744 by Shibayama et al.
Claims 1-17 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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, 12-14 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takeda et al. (US 2013/0183830 A1), herein referred to as Takeda.
Regarding claim 1, Takeda teaches [0032-0036] a composition for a resist underlayer film containing a silicon compound wherein the composition may include a hydrolysis-condensation product of a hydrolyzable organosilane wherein the hydrolysis-condensation product is a polymer having a polysiloxane structure, nitric acid as a hydrolysis catalyst [0087], a bisphenol compound [0037] and solvent [0032].
Regarding claim 2, Takeda teaches [0035] the hydrolysis-condensation product of the polymer having a polysiloxane structure is modified to include protected aliphatic alcohol groups.
Regarding claim 3, Takeda teaches [0037 and 0134] the bisphenol compound may include bisphenol S compounds, such as Formulas (E-1) to (E-23), which are examples of bisphenol sulfone compounds.
Regarding claim 4, Takeda teaches [0016] the hydrolyzable organosilane for forming the polymer having a polysiloxane structure has a Chemical Formula (1) of:
PNG
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58
424
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Greyscale
In Chemical Formula (1) above, when a is selected to be an integer of 1 or 2; and b is selected to be 0; Chemical Formula (1) then satisfies the chemical structure of the hydrolyzable silane recited in claim 4.
Regarding claim 5, Takeda teaches [0091] an alcohol-based solvent may be used in a hydrolysis-condensation reaction (thereby resulting in water to be removed via dehydration during the reaction) to form the polymer having the polysiloxane structure.
Regarding claim 6, Takeda teaches [0037] the composition may include a curing catalyst, but it is optional. Therefore, the composition taught by Takeda may not include a curing catalyst as well.
Regarding claim 7, Takeda teaches [0129 and 0131] the composition may include water.
Regarding claim 8, Takeda teaches [0128-0129] an organic acid (pH adjuster) may be included in the composition.
Regarding claim 9, Takeda teaches [0136] the composition may include a surfactant.
Regarding claim 12, Takeda teaches [0021] a resist underlayer film formed from the composition of claim 1 wherein the resist underlayer film is formed by applying the composition onto a semiconductor substrate and baking (curing) the composition.
Regarding claim 13, Takeda teaches [0021] a semiconductor processing substrate comprising the resist underlayer film discussed above which is applied onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate.
Regarding claim 14, Takeda teaches [0023] a method of producing a semiconductor device comprising forming an organic underlayer film on a semiconductor substrate, applying the composition for forming a resist underlayer film as described above onto the organic underlayer film and baking the composition to form a resist underlayer film and applying a resist composition onto the underlayer film to form a resist layer.
Regarding claim 16, Takeda teaches [0023] a pattern forming method for forming a semiconductor device comprising forming an organic underlayer film on a semiconductor substrate, applying the composition for forming a resist underlayer film as described above onto the organic underlayer film and baking the composition to form a resist underlayer film and applying a resist composition onto the underlayer film to form a resist layer, exposing the resist film to light, developing the resist after exposure with a solvent to create a resist pattern, etching the resist underlayer film based on the resist pattern, etching the organic underlayer film based on the patterned resist underlayer film, and fabricating the semiconductor substrate based on the patterned resist film, resist underlayer film, and organic underlayer film.
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 10 and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeda et al. (US 2013/0183830 A1), herein referred to as Takeda, in view of Ogihara et al. (US 2013/0137041 A1), herein referred to as Ogihara.
Takeda teaches the composition for a resist underlayer film of claim 1. Takeda does not appear to explicitly teach the limitations of claims 10 and 11.
However, from the same field of technology, Ogihara recites (Abstract) the formation of a silicon-containing resist underlayer film-forming composition. In view of claim 10, Ogihara teaches [0030] a metal oxide additive may be included in the silicon-containing resist underlayer film-forming composition. In view of claim 11, Shigaki teaches [0177-0178] the silicon-containing resist underlayer film-forming composition is used for a EUV lithography process.
At the time of the filing date of the pending application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the composition for a resist underlayer film taught by Takeda to include the teachings of Ogihara directed to including a metal oxide additive in the composition and employing the composition in a EUV lithography process because metal oxide additives provide improved storage stability properties, improved adhesive properties with a photoresist layer and high resolution patterning is enabled at low wavelength photolithography processes such as EUV wavelength.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeda et al. (US 2013/0183830 A1), herein referred to as Takeda, in view of Ogihara et al. (US 2019/0198341 A1), herein referred to as Ogihara.
Takeda teaches the composition for a resist underlayer film of claim 1. Takeda does not appear to explicitly teach the limitations of claim 15.
However, from the same field of technology, Ogihara recites [0117] the formation of an underlayer film-forming composition. In view of claim 15, Ogihara teaches [0294] employing a nylon filter during formation of the underlayer film-forming composition.
At the time of the filing date of the pending application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the composition for a resist underlayer film taught by Takeda to include the teachings of Ogihara directed to using a nylon filter during the formation of the resist underlayer because the nylon filter removes unwanted impurities in the resist underlayer composition, thereby ensuring a resist underlayer film is formed with improved uniformity.
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takeda et al. (US 2013/0183830 A1), herein referred to as Takeda, in view of Cui et al. (US 2019/0041751 A1), herein referred to as Cui.
Takeda teaches the composition for a resist underlayer film of claim 1. Takeda does not appear to explicitly teach the limitations of claim 17.
However, from the same field of technology, Cui recites the formation of a silicon containing polymeric underlayer. In view of claim 17, Cui teaches (Claims 18 and 19) a step of wet stripping the polymeric underlayer
At the time of the filing date of the pending application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the composition for a resist underlayer film taught by Takeda to include the teachings of Cui directed to performing a wet stripping step of removing the underlayer film because wet stripping and removal of the underlayer film may be performed at lower temperatures in contrast to dry stripping and plasma processes that require higher temperatures to perform removal of underlayer compositions.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEWART A FRASER whose telephone number is (571)270-5126. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7am-4pm, EST.
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/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724