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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, in the reply filed on July 29, 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.
Claim(s) 1-11, and 22-29, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0215713 (hereinafter referred to as Hessell).
Hessell, in the abstract, and in [0001], [0143], [0149], discloses a process used in the manufacturing IC (semiconductor device), the process includes forming a coating (thermally curable coating or claimed coating) on a substrate as an underlayer, and discloses that the underlayer can be a BARC (see [0139]), forming photoresist layer over the underlayer (BARC), imagewise exposing the photoresist to radiation (actinic), and developing the photoresist to form the patterned resist (developed photoresist). Hessell, in [0026]-[0035], discloses that the curable underlayer composition includes a polymer. Hessell, in [0034]-[0036], discloses that the polymer in the composition for the underlayer includes polyolefins (the claimed hydrogen donor group), or aromatic groups (see 0060] on page 5) as the hydrogen donor group, and will inherently be capable of producing a hydrogen radical upon exposure to light or heat. Hessell, in [0035], and [0061], discloses the composition includes polymers such as polyols (that includes two or more hydroxyl groups) and is the claimed water donor group and will inherently be capable of producing water upon exposure to light or heat (claims 1-4, 22, 27, and 28). Hessell, in [0027]-[0034], discloses that the polymer also includes repeat units that comprise epoxide groups and alkene groups and is the same claimed crosslinking group (claims 5-6). Hessell, in [0027]-[0035], and [0060]-0061], discloses that the polymer in the underlayer (antireflective or thermally curable) includes repeat units of epoxy containing group, and includes glycidyl methyl ether ([0029]) and is the same claimed L3-R3 group as recited in claims 7, 10, 11, and 25 -26 as the crosslinking group. Hessel discloses that the polymer includes repeat units of polyol, wherein the polyols includes pendant groups of diols or triols (see [0063], and [0064]) and is the same as the claimed L2-R2 group recited in claims 7, 9, 11, 24, and 26 and is the same as the claimed L2-R6 pendant group recited in claim 29, claimed as the water donor group. Hessell, in [0068], discloses that the composition includes polymer with repeat units of hydroxyl containing polymer that have allyl alcohols as the pendant unit and is the same as the claimed L1-R1 group recited as the hydrogen donor group in claims 7, 8, 11, 23, and 26 and the claimed pendant groups or L1-R5 group as recited in claim 29.
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(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0215713 (hereinafter referred to as Hessell) in view of U. S. Patent Application Publication No. 2021/0200091 (hereinafter referred to as Ho).
Hessell, is discussed in paragraph no. 4, above.
The difference between the claims and Hessell is that Hessell does not disclose that the photoresist layer comprises an organometallic compound (claim 21).
Ho, in [0063], discloses that the photoresist composition includes a metal-containing resist and wherein the resist includes metallic cores that complexed with organic ligands (organometallic compound).
Therefore, it would be obvious to a skilled to modify Hessell by using the metal-containing resist as the photoresist as taught by Ho because Hessell does not prohibit the use of metal-containing resist, and Ho, in [0023], discloses that the using metallic resist provide high sensitivity and good resolution.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Daborah Chacko-Davis whose telephone number is (571) 272-1380. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:30AM-6:00PM EST Mon-Fri. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sally A. Merkling can be reached on (571) 272-6297. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-272-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DABORAH CHACKO-DAVIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 September 23, 2026.
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