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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-3 and 5-10 are pending. Claim 4 has been canceled. Note that, Applicant’s response filed November 13, 2025, has been entered.
Claims 5-9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on July 29, 2025.
Objections/Rejections Withdrawn
The following objections/rejections as set forth in the Office action mailed 8/13/25 have been withdrawn:
The objection to claim 4 due to minor informalities has been withdrawn.
The rejection of claims 1-4 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO2015/187675, EP1,679,361, Mizutani et al (US2020/0339919), Dory et al (US 2019/0062674), or Acra et al (US2016/0215240), has been withdrawn.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-3 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2021/235479. Note that, Okamura et al (US2023/0282474) is a 371 application of WO2021/235479 (‘479) and has been used as an English language translation of WO2021/235479.
With respect to independent, instant claim 1, Okamura et al (i.e., ‘479) teaches a treatment method of treating a main surface of a semiconductor substrate that has, on the main surface of the substrate, a pattern formation region in which a pattern having a concave-convex structure with a pattern dimension of 30 nm or less is formed and a bevel region which is formed on a periphery of the pattern formation region, the method comprising: a surface treatment step of bringing a surface treatment agent composition including a silylating agent into contact with the pattern formation region and the bevel region on the main surface of the semiconductor substrate. See claim 1. The surface treatment composition may additionally contain a solvent, and as the solvent, for example, organic solvents such as hydrocarbons, esters, ethers, ketones, halogen element-containing solvents, sulfoxide-based solvents, alcohols, carbonate-based solvents, derivatives of polyhydric alcohol, nitrogen element-containing solvents, etc., and mixtures thereof may be used. Examples of suitable ethers include tetrahydrofuran, etc., and suitable alcohols include 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 1-pentanol, benzyl alcohol, etc. See paras. 165-177. Note that, the Examiner asserts that the broad teachings of Okamura et al would suggest compositions having the same Hansen solubility parameters as recited by the instant claims because Okamura et al teach compositions containing the same components in the same amounts as recited by the instant claims and further, such properties would flow naturally from the teachings of Okamura et al. Okamura et al (i.e., 479) do not teach, with sufficient specificity, a composition containing tetrahydrofuran and at least one of 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 1-pentanol, and benzyl alcohol as recited by the instant claims.
Nonetheless it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to formulate a composition containing tetrahydrofuran and at least one of 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 1-pentanol, and benzyl alcohol as recited by independent instant claim 1 and the respective dependent claims, with a reasonable expectation of success and similar results with respect to other disclosed components, because the broad teachings of Okamura et al suggest a composition containing tetrahydrofuran and at least one of 1-butanol, 2-butanol, 1-pentanol, and benzyl alcohol as recited by independent instant claim 1 and the respective dependent claims.
Response to Arguments
Note that, Applicant’s arguments are moot since all prior art rejection(s) set forth in the Office action mailed November 13, 2025, have been withdrawn and a new ground(s) of rejection has been made, as set forth above, which was necessitated by Applicant’s amendment.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY R DEL COTTO whose telephone number is (571)272-1312. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8:30am-6:00pm, EST.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Angela Brown-Pettigrew can be reached at (571) 272-2817. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/GREGORY R DELCOTTO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1761
/G.R.D/December 4, 2025