DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the election filed on 08 July 2026. Claims 1-20 are pending in the application. Claims 1, 7, and 10 are independent.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I, claims 1-8, 10-12, and 14-20, in the reply filed on 08 July 2026 is acknowledged.
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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. (a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Rathod et al., US 2015/0118863.
With respect to independent claim 1, Rathod et al. disclose a method for performing trench filling, as shown in Fig. 5, comprising:
patterning a base structure to form a plurality of trenches in the patterned base structure, as shown in Figs. 2C and 5, see paragraphs [0018], [0025]-[0026], and [0028];
depositing a trench filling material over the patterned base structure to fill the plurality of trenches, see paragraphs [0029]-[0032];
performing an annealing process at a temperature not greater than 550 oC to anneal the trench filling material, see paragraph [0096]; and
performing a plasma radical treatment at a temperature not greater than 500℃ to treat the trench filling material, see paragraphs [0035]-[0041]. The plasma radical treatment is performed within 5 oC of the deposition temperature (see paragraph 0037]), which is -20 oC to 100 oC (see paragraphs [0033]).
With respect to claim 2, the method of Rathod et al. further comprises , prior to depositing the trench filling material, forming a dielectric liner element 216 over the patterned base structure, see Fig. 2C and paragraph [0026].
With respect to claim 3, in the method of Rathod et al., deposition of the trench filling material is performed by depositing a flowable nitride-containing material, see paragraph [0016].
With respect to claim 4, in the method of Rathod et al., a precursor gas for generating a plasma used in the plasma radical treatment includes oxygen gas, see paragraph [0059].
With respect to claim 5, in the method of Rathod et al., the precursor gas further includes hydrogen gas, see paragraph [0059].
With respect to claim 6, in the method of Rathod et al., the annealing process is performed in the presence of a water steam, see paragraph [0096].
Claims 1, 3, 6, 7, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Jhaveri et al., US 2015/0179501.
With respect to claim 1, Jhaveri et al. disclose a method for performing trench filling, shown in Fig. 5, comprising:
patterning a base structure 102 to form a plurality of trenches in the patterned base structure 102, as shown in Fig. 1;
depositing a trench filling material 110 over the patterned base structure 102 to fill the plurality of trenches, as shown in Fig. 2;
performing an annealing process at a temperature not greater than 550℃ to anneal the trench filling material 110, see paragraph [0035]; and
performing a plasma radical treatment at a temperature not greater than 500℃ to treat the trench filling material, see paragraph [0040].
With respect to claim 3, in the method of Jhaveri et al., deposition of the trench filling material is performed by depositing a flowable nitride-containing material, see paragraphs [0029]-[0032].
With respect to claim 6, in the method of Jhaveri et al. the annealing process is performed in the presence of a water steam, see paragraph [0035].
With respect to claim 7, Jhaveri et al. disclose a method, shown in Fig. 5, for performing trench filling, comprising:
patterning a base structure 102 to form a plurality of trenches in the patterned base structure, as shown in Fig. 1, see paragraph [0017};
depositing a trench filling material 110 over the patterned base structure 102 to fill the plurality of trenches, see Fig. 2 and paragraph [0026];
performing a first annealing process at a temperature not greater than 550℃ to anneal the trench filling material, see paragraphs [0026] and [0030]-[0032];
removing an excess portion of the trench filling material 110 to leave a portion of the trench filling material remaining in the plurality of trenches, see Fig. 3 and paragraph [0038];
performing a second annealing process at a temperature not greater than 550℃ to further anneal the trench filling material 110 remaining in the plurality of trenches, see paragraph [0035]; and
performing a plasma radical treatment at a temperature not greater than 500℃ to treat the trench filling material, see paragraph [0040].
With respect to claim 8, in the method of Jhaveri et al., the plasma radical treatment is performed after the second annealing process to treat the trench filling material, as shown in Fig. 5.
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 10-12 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jhaveri et al., US 2015/0179501.
With respect to claim 10, Jhaveri et al. disclose a method for performing a trench isolation process, shown in Fig. 5, comprising:
patterning a base structure 102 including a stack and a substrate (see paragraph [0017]: “substrate 102 can have any of a wide range of configurations, including, for example: a bulk substrate; a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structure; a wafer; and/or a multi-layered structure”) such that the patterned base structure includes a plurality of trenches, each of the plurality of trenches extending through the stack and into the patterned substrate 102 as shown in Fig. 1;
depositing a trench filling material 110 over the patterned base structure 102 to fill the plurality of trenches, as shown in Fig. 2;
performing an annealing process at a temperature not greater than 550℃ to anneal the trench filling material 110, see paragraph [0035]; and
performing a plasma radical treatment at a temperature not greater than 500℃ to treat the trench filling material 110, see paragraph [0040]. In paragraph [0017], Jhaveri et al. disclose substrate 102 can be a multi-layered structure. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that a multi-layered structure would be a stack, and in Fig. 2, each of the plurality of trenches would extend through the stack.
With respect to claim 11, the method of Jhaveri et al. further comprising: after the annealing process and prior to the plasma radical treatment, removing an excess portion of the trench filling material 110 to leave a portion of the trench filling material remaining in the plurality of trenches, see Fig. 3 and paragraph [0038]; and performing an additional annealing process at a temperature not greater than 550℃ to further anneal the trench filling material 110, see paragraph [0035]
With respect to claim 12, the plasma radical treatment is performed after performing the additional annealing process, as shown in Fig. 5.
With respect to claim 18, in the method of Jhaveri et al., the trench filling material 110 is a silicon-based dielectric material, see paragraph [0029].
Claims 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jhaveri et al., US 2015/0179501, as applied to claim 10 above, and further in view of Ahn et al., KR 10-2011-0024513.
Jhaveri et al. is applied as above. Jhaveri et al. lack anticipation of, prior to depositing the trench filling material 110, forming a dielectric liner element over the patterned base structure. In the same field of endeavor, Ahn et al. disclose a method for forming a trench isolation structure comprising forming a oxide liner 38 along the sidewalls and the bottom of a trench 37 to cure damage to the surface of the trench 37 generated during the formation of the trench 37. A nitride liner 39 is then formed on the sidewall oxide film 38 to prevent damage to the sidewall oxide film 18 during subsequent annealing steps, see Figs. 2A-2C of Ahn et al. With respect to claim 14, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form a dielectric liner element 38/39 over the patterned base structure 102, prior to depositing the trench filling material 110, in the known method of Jhaveri et al. in order to cure any damage to the surface of the plurality of trenches during patterning of the base structure 102.
With respect to claim 15, the method of Ahn further comprises forming an amorphous silicon liner 40 for controlling stress of a flowable insulating film, see Fig. 2e of Ahn et al. Ahn et al. further teach to form an oxygen-including liner 41 (Spin On Dielectric Oxide) over the silicon liner 40, see Fig. 2f of Ahn et al. In light of this teaching of Ahn et al., it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the dielectric liner element to include forming a silicon liner 40 over the patterned base structure 102, followed by forming an oxygen-including liner 41 over the silicon liner 40 in the known method of Jhaveri et al. in order to control stress in the trench filling material 110.
With respect to claim 16, in the method of Jhaveri et al. in view of Ahn et al., forming the dielectric liner element 38/39 further includes, after forming the oxygen-including liner 38, forming an another silicon liner 39 over the oxygen-including liner 38, that is, liner 39 which comprises silicon nitride.
With respect to claim 17, the method of Jhaveri et al. in view of Ahn et al. fail to disclose that each of the silicon liner and the another silicon liner independently has a thickness ranging from 2 nm to 5 nm. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to deposit
each of the silicon liner and the another silicon liner independently to have a thickness ranging from 2 nm to 5 nm, since these thicknesses would be suitable for deposition of these layers within the high aspect ratio trenches 106 of Jhaveri et al. These thicknesses fail to patentably distinguish Applicant’s claimed method from that of the applied prior art.
Claims 4-5 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jhaveri et al., US 2015/0179501, as applied to claims 3 and 18 above, and further in view of Rathod et al., US 2015/0118863.
Jhaveri et al. is applied as above. Jhaveri et al. fails to teach a precursor gas for generating a plasma used in the plasma radical treatment includes oxygen and hydrogen. In the same field of endeavor, Rathod et al. disclose a method of forming a flowable dielectric in a plurality of trenches. Rathod et al. disclose exposing the flowable dielectric to a plasma comprising oxygen and hydrogen to remove porosity and densify the flowable film in the plurality of trenches. In light of the teaching of Rathod et al., it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include oxygen and hydrogen in the plasma treatment performed in the known method of Jhaveri et al. to ensure the removal of porosity and the densification of the trench filling material 110.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The additionally cited references disclose various methods for performing trench filling using a flowable dielectric.
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MARY A. WILCZEWSKI
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2898
/MARY A WILCZEWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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