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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I, claims 1-17, in the reply filed on February 5, 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on September 27, 2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on October 28, 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al (US Pub 2005/0202564) in view of Yasuhiko (JP 07-111232).
In re claim 1, Lee et al discloses a method to monitor process chemicals used in a semiconductor process, the method comprising: monitoring the liquid before the liquid is dispensed onto the surface of the substrate (i.e. see at least claim 9), wherein said monitoring comprises: transmitting infrared (IR) radiation through the liquid (i.e. see at least paragraph 0019); detecting the IR radiation (i.e. through the use of infrared spectrometer 80) absorbed by the liquid at one or more wavelengths (i.e. see at least paragraph 0019); and detecting a composition and a concentration of at least one process chemical included within the liquid based on the IR radiation detected at the one or more wavelengths (i.e. see at least paragraph 0019); and controlling at least one process step performed on the substrate based on the composition or the concentration of the at least one process chemical detected within the liquid (i.e. see at least paragraph 0019).
Lee et al does not explicitly disclose dispensing a liquid onto a surface of a substrate.
However, Yasuhiko discloses dispensing a liquid (i.e. 21: photoresist) onto a substrate (i.e. 20) (i.e. see at least Abstract; paragraph 0016).
The advantage is to prevent the disorder of the shapes of the liquid/photoresist (i.e. see at least Abstract).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the method as taught by Lee et al with dispensing a liquid onto a surface of a substrate as taught by Yasuhiko in order to prevent the disorder of the shapes of the liquid/photoresist.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 13-17 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: The closest prior art of Lee et al (US Pub 2005/0202564) either singularly or in combination fails to anticipate or render obvious a method to monitor and control water contamination in a semiconductor process used to process a substrate, the method comprising: dispensing a liquid photoresist material onto a surface of the substrate; monitoring the liquid photoresist material before the liquid photoresist material is dispensed onto the surface of the substrate to coat the surface of the substrate with the liquid photoresist material, wherein said monitoring comprises: transmitting infrared (IR) radiation through the liquid photoresist material; detecting the IR radiation absorbed by the liquid photoresist material at one or more wavelengths; and detecting a concentration of water (H₂O) in the liquid photoresist material based on the IR radiation detected at 1450 nm and/or 1950 nm; and controlling at least one process step performed on the substrate based on the concentration of water detected in the liquid photoresist material as recited in claim 13.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY HO whose telephone number is (571)270-1432. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 5PM, Monday-Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marlon Fletcher can be reached at 571-272-2063. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ANTHONY HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817