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. 18/358561 by Hong et al.
Claims 1-14 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 § 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 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nam et al. (US 2021/0096458 A1), herein referred to as Nam.
Regarding claim 1, Nam teaches [0008] an EUV lithography pellicle having a pellicle portion that allows transmission of EUV exposure light, the pellicle portion comprising a core layer formed on a pellicle frame, the core layer comprising a first layer that includes silicon and a second layer (heat radiation layer for radiating heat generated by irradiation of EUV exposure light), wherein the second layer comprises metal and silicon. Nam further teaches [0012] the second layer can be configured to have a content of metal greater than a content of the silicon. When the second layer is configured to include metal and silicon, Nam discloses the atomic ratio of metal to silicon (MSix) being 0.3 to 4. Based on the disclosure of Nam, the metal content in the second layer may be adjusted so that the atomic ratio of metal to silicon is from 0.3 to less than 1.
Although Nam does not explicitly state the content of metal is greater than silicon in the second layer, Nam indicates [0056 and 0064] that by optimizing the composition of the second layer, excellent thermal characteristics for the second layer can be obtained and heat can be more effectively radiated from the pellicle. Therefore, at the time of the filing date of the instant application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the second layer composition for the pellicle taught by Nam in order to devise a pellicle with a layer having a higher composition of metal than silicon for the purpose of improving heat dissipation when the pellicle is employed during an EUV lithography process.
Regarding claim 2, Nam teaches [0012] the atomic ratio of metal to silicon contained in the second layer can be adjusted to be 1:0.3 to 1:4 and thus, overlaps the range of 1:0.6 to 0.99 in claim 2. Therefore, in view of MPEP Chapter 2144.05 and due to the atomic ratio range taught by Nam overlapping the claimed atomic ratio range, a prima facie case of obviousness exists.
Regarding claim 3, Nam teaches [0011-0012] the metal for the second layer can be molybdenum or ruthenium.
Regarding claim 4, Nam teaches [0012] the second layer may further comprise carbon, oxygen or nitrogen.
Regarding claim 5, Nam teaches [0015-0017] one or more capping layers may further be arranged on the pellicle core layer and an interface layer (auxiliary layer) may be arranged between the capping layer and the second layer.
Regarding claim 6, Nam teaches [0016] the capping layer comprises silicon, molybdenum, carbon, oxygen, or nitrogen.
Regarding claims 7-9, Nam teaches [0074-0091] various compositions and multi-layer film configurations of the capping and interface layers can be utilized with the core layer.
Regarding claims 10-12, Nam teaches [0058] the core layer (pellicle portion) is 100 nm or less and therefore, the layers constituting the core, such as the second layer would be configured to be 100 nm or less, which overlaps the claimed thickness ranges.
Regarding claim 13, Nam teaches [0067] the capping layer is configured to have a thickness of 15 nm or less, which overlaps the claimed thickness range.
Regarding claim 14, Nam teaches [0018] the transmittance of the core layer (pellicle portion) is configured to be 85% or more, which overlaps the claimed transmittance range.
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/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724