DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-18 are pending.
The foreign priority application No.2021-009187 filed on January 22, 2021 in Japan has been received and it is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 102 that forms 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 1-4, 6, 7, and 9-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsunoda et al. (JP 2004-083900 A, with attached machine translation).
With regard to claims 1 and 4, Tsunoda et al. teach a resist composition comprising the polymer of Example 19 and triphenylsulfonium triflate (par.0140).
The triphenylsulfonium triflate is “a compound (B) which generated an acid by irradiation with an actinic ray or a radiation” in claim 1 (see par.0055 of Tsunoda et al.), and meets the limitations of claim 4 for “the compound (B) is an onium salt”.
The polymer of Example 19 comprises repeating units derived from the monomers (15) and (25):
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(par.0114-0115, Table 1 in par.0138).
The repeating unit derived from the monomer (15) is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (1) in claim 1, wherein A is a polymerizable group, L is a divalent linking group comprising fluorine atoms, p=0, m=1, R3 is an organic group, n=1, and R4 is an organic group.
Therefore, the resist composition of Tsunoda et al. anticipates the resin compositions in claims 1 and 4 of the instant application.
With regard to claim 2, the repeating unit derived from the monomer (15) is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (2), wherein A is a polymerizable group, L1 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group having a fluorine atom, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=1, R3 is an organic group, n=1, and R4 is an organic group.
With regard to claim 3, the repeating unit derived from the monomer (15) is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (3), wherein X is an organic group, L2 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group having a fluorine atom, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=1, R3 is an organic group, n=1, and R4 is an organic group.
With regard to claim 6, Tsunoda et al. teach that the resist composition forms a film (par.0141).
With regard to claim 7, Tsunoda et al. teach a process comprising the steps of:
-spin-coating a solution of the resist composition onto a silicon wafer to obtain a resist film and pre-baking;
-exposing the resist film to ultraviolet light through a mask; and
-developing the exposed resist film (par.0141).
With regard to claim to claim 9, Tsunoda et al. teach the monomer of formula (15):
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(par.0115), which is a compound of Formula (2), wherein A is a polymerizable group, L1 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group having a fluorine atom, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=1, R3 is an organic group, n=1, and R4 is an organic group.
With regard to claim 10, the monomer of formula (15) is a compound of Formula (3), wherein X is an organic group, L2 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group having a fluorine atom, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=1, R3 is an organic group, n=1, and R4 is an organic group.
With regard to claim 11, Tsunoda et al. teach the polymer of Example 19 comprising repeating units derived from the monomers (15) and (25) (par.0114-0115, Table 1 in par.0138).
With regard to claims 12 and 13, the resist composition comprises the polymer of Example 19 and triphenylsulfonium triflate (par.0140). The triphenylsulfonium triflate is an onium salt.
Claims 1-7 and 9-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (KR100557616 B1, with attached machine translation).
With regard to claim 1, Lee et al. teach a photoresist composition comprising the photoresist polymer of Example 3 and triphenylsulfonium triflate (Example 6 on page 20 of the attached translation).
The triphenylsulfonium triflate is “a compound (B) which generated an acid by irradiation with an actinic ray or a radiation” in claim 1.
The photoresist polymer of Example 3 is poly(4-(2-hydroxyphenyl) hexafluoropropyl)phenyl acrylate/ t-butyl acrylate /styrene which is represented by the formula (1c):
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(pages 18-19 of the attached machine translation).
The first repeating unit of the polymer of formula (1c) above is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (1), wherein A is a polymerizable group, L is a divalent linking group comprising fluorine atoms, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
Therefore, the photoresist composition in Example 6 of Lee et al. anticipates the resin composition in claim1.
With regard to claim 2, the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula (1c) above is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (2), wherein A is a polymerizable group, L1 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 3, the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula (1c) above is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (3), wherein X is a hydrogen atom, L2 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 4, 12, and 13, triphenylsulfonium triflate is an onium salt.
With regard to claims 5 and 14-18, the second repeating unit of the polymer of formula (1c) above is a repeating unit of Formula (4), wherein X11 is a hydrogen atom, and R11s are alkyl groups.
With regard to claim 6, Lee et al. teach that a resist composition solution is coated onto a water and baked (Example 6 on page 20 of the attached machine translation). The step of coating and baking forms a film.
With regard to claim 7, Lee et al. teach a pattern-forming method comprising the steps of:
- coating a resist composition solution onto a water and baking to form a resist film;
-exposing the resist film with radiation; and
-developing the exposed resist film (Example 6 on page 20 of the attached machine translation).
With regard to claim 9, the monomer forming the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula (1c) above is a compound of Formula (2), wherein A is a polymerizable group, L1 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 10, the monomer forming the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula (1c) above is a compound of Formula (3), wherein X is a hydrogen atom, L2 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 11, the polymer of formula (1c) above meets the claim limitations.
Claims 1-4 and 6-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2002/0061466).
With regard to claims 1 and 4, Lee et al. teach a resist composition comprising the polymer of Example 3 and triphenylsulfonium triflate (Example 5 in par.0059).
Triphenylsulfonium triflate is “a compound (B) which generated an acid by irradiation with an actinic ray or a radiation” in claim 1 (see par.0039 of Lee et al.), and meets the limitation of claim 4 for “the compound (B) is an onium salt”.
The polymer of Example 3 is the polymer of formula 3a:
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(par.0029, par.0055-0056).
The first repeating unit of the polymer of formula 3a above is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (1) in claim 1, wherein A is a polymerizable group, L is a divalent linking group comprising fluorine atoms, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
Therefore, the photoresist composition in Example 5 of Lee et al. anticipates the resin composition in claims 1 and 4.
With regard to claim 2, the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula 3a above is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (2), wherein A is a polymerizable group, L1 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 3, the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula 3a above is a repeating unit derived from a compound of Formula (3), wherein X is a hydrogen atom, L2 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 6, Lee et al. teach that the photoresist composition forms a photoresist film (pat.0060).
With regard to claim 7, Lee et al. teach a pattern-forming method comprising the steps of:
-spin-coated the resist composition onto a silicon wafer to form a photoresist film;
-exposing the photoresist film; and
-developing the exposed photoresist film (par.0060).
With regard to claim 8, Lee et al. teach that a semiconductor device of produced using the photoresist composition (par.0011).
With regard to claim 9, the monomer forming the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula 3a above is a compound of Formula (2), wherein A is a polymerizable group, L1 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 10, the monomer forming the first repeating unit of the polymer of formula 3a above is a compound of Formula (3), wherein X is a hydrogen atom, L2 is a divalent linking group, R1 is an organic group comprising fluorine atoms, R2 is an organic group, p=0, m=0, n=1, R4 is a hydrogen atom.
With regard to claim 11, the polymer of formula 3a above meets the claim limitations.
With regard to claims 12 and 13, the photoresist composition of Example 5 comprises the polymer of formula 3a and triphenylsulfonium triflate (par.0059). The triphenylsulfonium triflate is an onium salt.
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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsunoda et al. (JP 2004-083900 A, with attached machine translation) in view of Kramer et al. (US 2014/0065550).
With regard to claim 8, Tsunoda et al. teach the pattern-forming method in claim 7 (see paragraph 5 above), and further teach that the resist has excellent adhesion to substrate, high etching resistance, and durability (par.0004).
Tsunoda et al. fail to teach a method of manufacturing an electronic device.
However, it is well-known in the art that a method of manufacturing an electronic device comprises a method of forming a photoresist pattern (see par.0008 of Kramer et al.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to use the pattern-forming method of Tsunoda et al. in a method of manufacturing an electronic device, in order to take advantage of the excellent adhesion to substrate, high etching resistance, and durability of the photoresist.
Conclusion
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/ANCA EOFF/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722
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