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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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(s) 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Glodde et al. (“ Fluorine-free Photoacid Generators for 193 nm Lithography Based on Non-Sulfonate Organic Superacids ”, Journal of Photopolymer Science and Technology. Vol. 23, No. 2(210) . pp. 173-184 in view of Ju et al. (CN 103819378 A1; see attached English Machine Translation ).
Regarding claims 1-19, Glodde et al. teach a photoresist composition ( see abstract, figure 4 and page 176 Section 3.2) comprising a polymer, a photoacid generator, and solvent (“ To examine the optical properties of TPS CN5 and TPS CN4-C1, we formulated the model photoresists PR1,PR2 and PR3 using a polymer similar to poly(2-trifluoromethanesulfonyl-aminoethylmethacrylate-co-methyladmantanc-methacrylate-co-norbanelactonemethacrylate (TFSM-MAdMA-NLM)21,the respective PAG concentration being equimolar to 5 et.% TPS PFBuS, and an aliphatic proprietary base quencher (PAG: quencher =5:1 molar ratio). Coated at 160 nm film thickness on 3 inches wafers and optical constants of these photoresist films were determined by ellipsometry)”, wherein the photoacid generator comprising an organic cation that is a sulfonium cation or an iodonium cation and an anion comprising an anionic core , wherein the anionic core comprises a cyclopentadienide group and is substituted with one or more electron withdrawing groups ( “cyano-substituted cyclopentadiene photoacid generators” in Figure 4:
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, wherein the electron withdrawing group is -CN). Glodde et al. further teach a method for forming a pattern ( “ For the initial 193 nm photolithographic screen, the prepared photoresist formulation ( typically in PGMEA or PGMEA/CH 70/30 with PAG loading equimolar to 5 wt% TPS PFBuS, 5:1 PAG: quencher ratio) was spin coated for 30 seconds o achieve a thin film thickness of 150 nm, coated on an organic ARC layer that had been previously coated on 8 inch silicon wafers ( substrate) with a thickness of 90 nm. The photoresist film was baked at 110°C for 60 seconds. The wafer was the exposed using 193 nm radiation (ASML scanner, 0.75 NA; see pattern-wise exposing the photoresist layer to activating radiation). Contrast curve were obtained from a dose variation of 1 +0.1 mJ or 1 +0.2mJ, applied to an area of 1 X1 cm2 on the wafer. The wafer was then baked for 60 seconds (PEB) at the temperature specified in the discussion section, followed by spin-coating development for 60 seconds with 0.26 N tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) developer (developing the exposed photoresist layer to provide a resist relief image) ” ( see section 6.2 on page 182).
Further regards to the instant claims, Glodde et al. do not explicitly disclose the photoacid generator further comprises an organic group of a semimetal elements as recited by the instant claims. Nonetheless, the examiner has added Ju et al. to teach it is well-known to one of ordinary skilled in the art of resist composition ( photoresist composition; see abstract, claims 1-7 and examples) to include photoacid generator having Chemical Formula 1:
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capable of suppressing acid diffusion and thereby reducing line edge roughness, wherein X may be, R4-R6 are each independently an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms; the anionic moiety can be in particular, and the cationic moiety can be seen in claims 1-7. In paragraph [0091], Ju et al. further disclose that “in the present invention, the size of the anionic moiety is relatively small, so a larger amount of photoacid generator can be added per unit area, containing a leaving group at the anionic portion which easily detached by an acid, an acid having an acid labile structure so that it can be generated at the anionic portion after light irradiation is easily decomposed and separated to generate an acid containing a hydroxyl group, thus, the moiety comprising the leaving group is converted into an acid containing a hydroxyl group by decomposition of the acid generated after light irradiation, and the acid-generating hydroxyl group forms hydrogen bonds with other acids, thereby inhibiting acid diffusion and reducing line edge roughness. Ju et al. and Glodde et al. are analogous art in the photoresist field. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skilled in the art at the time of the invention to modify the photoacid generator having a cyclopentadiene anion moiety of Glodde et al. a leaving group easily detached by an acid in place of one substituted cyano group on the cyclopentadiene , such as silicon oxyhrdroxides (an organic group of a semi-metal element ) as taught by Ju et al. in view of reducing the line edge roughness.
Conclusion
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/CHANCEITY N ROBINSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737