DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. 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
2. Applicant’s election of Group I (claims 1-19) in the reply filed on 12/04/2025 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)).
3. Claim 20 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/04/2025.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
4. 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.
5. 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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
6a. Claims 1-6, 12-13, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Orui et al. (US 2022/0359167 A1).
6b. Claims 1-6, 12-13, 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Orui et al. (US 2022/0359167 A1) .
The applied reference has a common assignee with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B) if the same invention is not being claimed; or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed in the reference and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement.
As to claim 1, Orui discloses an etching method comprising:
(a) preparing a substrate, the substrate including a first region and a second region below the first region, the first region containing a first material (MK) and having at least one opening (OP), the second region containing a second material (SF) that is different from the first material and contains silicon; (See Fig 2, paragraph 0061-0064) and
(b) etching the second region through the at least one opening by using a plasma generated from a processing gas containing a fluorine containing gas (e.g. HF, CH2F2, CHF3, CH3F, etc. See paragraph 0074) and CHCl3 gas (paragraph 0077, CHCl3 matches formula CxHyClz where x = 1, y = 1 and z =3; Note: read on applicant’s formula CxHyClz where x and y are each an integer of 0 or more, x + y > 1, and z is an integer of 1 or more).
As to claim 2, Orui discloses the fluorine containing gas contains hydrogen fluoride gas (HF; See paragraph 0074).
As to claim 3, Orui discloses an etching method comprising:
(a) preparing a substrate, the substrate including a first region and a second region below the first region, the first region containing a first material (MK) and having at least one opening (OP), the second region containing a second material (SF) that is different from the first material and contains silicon; (See Fig 2, paragraph 0061-0064) and
(b) etching the second region through the at least one opening by using a plasma generated from a processing gas containing a CHCl3 gas (paragraph 0077, CHCl3 matches formula CxHyClz where x = 1, y = 1 and z =3; read on applicant’s formula CxHyClz where x and y are each an integer of 0 or more, x + y > 1, and z is an integer of 1 or more) and a hydrogen halide (HF) gas different from a hydrogen chloride gas (See paragraph 0074).
As to claim 4, Orui discloses the first material (MK) contains at least one selected from the group consisting of carbon, silicon and a metal (paragraph 0064).
As to claim 5, Orui discloses the first material contains a metal (paragraph 0064).
As to claim 6, Orui discloses the first material contains at least one metal selected from the group consisting of tungsten and titanium (paragraph 0064).
As to claim 12, Orui discloses the second material (SF) further contains nitrogen (paragraph 0063).
As to claim 13, Orui discloses wherein (b) is started in a state where a temperature of the substrate support (14) configured to support the substrate is set to 0 °C or lower including example of -40 °C (paragraph 0071).
As to claim 19, Orui discloses the second region include at last two layers (SF and UF) selected from the group consisting of a first silicon containing layer containing silicon and nitrogen (i.e. silicon nitride), a second silicon containing layer containing silicon and oxygen (i.e. silicon oxide) and a third silicon containing layer containing polysilicon (paragraph 0061-0063).
7. Claims 1, 3-6, 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gosset et al. (US 2024/0404833 A1).
As to claim 1, Gosset discloses an etching method comprising:
(a) preparing a substrate, the substrate including a first region and a second region below the first region, the first region containing a first material (106 and/or 206) and having at least one opening (208), the second region containing a second material (104 and/or 204) that is different from the first material and contains silicon; (See Fig 2a-2b; paragraph 0396) and
(b) etching the second region through the at least one opening by using a plasma generated from a processing gas containing a fluorine containing gas (See paragraph 0074-0076, 0272-0274; 0397) and HCl (paragraph 0079; 0092, 0203, 0208, 0415, 0425, 0433 Note: HCl matches formula CxHyClz, where x =0; y 1; z= 1; read on applicants limitation “CxHyClz where x and y are each an integer of 0 or more, x + y > 1, and z is an integer of 1 or more gas”).
As to claim 3, Gosset discloses An etching method comprising:
(a) preparing a substrate, the substrate including a first region and a second region below the first region, the first region containing a first material (MK) and having at least one opening (OP), the second region containing a second material (SF) that is different from the first material and contains silicon; (See Fig 2, paragraph 0061-0064) and
(b) etching the second region through the at least one opening by using a plasma generated from a processing gas containing HCl (paragraph (paragraph 0079; 0092, 0203, 0208, 0415, 0425, 0433 Note: HCl matches formula CxHyClz where x =0; y 1; z= 1; read on applicants limitation “CxHyClz where x and y are each an integer of 0 or more, x + y > 1, and z is an integer of 1 or more gas”); and a hydrogen halide (HBr) gas different from a hydrogen chloride gas (paragraph 0079; 0092, 0203, 0208, 0415, 0425)
As to claim 4, Gosset discloses the first material contains at least one selected from carbon, silicon and a metal (paragraph 0283, 0396, 0400-0401, 0409, 0438).
As to claim 5, Gosset discloses the first material contains a metal (paragraph 0401, 0409, 0438).
As to claim 6, Gosset discloses the first material contains at least one metal selected from the group consisting of ruthenium, tungsten (W), titanium (Ti) (paragraph 0283, 0401, 0409, 0438).
As to claim 9, Gosset discloses the first region (SiN material) has a first thickness (initial thickness or thickness at 0 cycle) of around 2050 nm and the first region has a second thickness at around 1700 nm after etching of 1 cycle; or a second thickness at 1100 nm after etching 2 cycles (See Fig 32). It is possible to calculate a ratio of second thickness to the first thickness as shown below:
When the first thickness = 2050 nm; Second thickness = 1700 nm for SiN material
Ratio of second thickness to the first thickness = 1700/2050 = 0.829 (within applicant’s range of 0.4 to 0.9)
When the first thickness = 2050 nm; Second thickness = 1100 nm for SiN material
Ratio of second thickness to the first thickness = 1100/2050 = 0.829 = 0.536 (within applicant’s range of 0.4 to 0.9).
As to claim 10, Gosset discloses a dimension of the at least one opening is 5 nm to 500 nm including example of 120 nm (paragraph 0396, 0399, 0448, within applicant’s range of 5 nm to 200 nm).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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.
9. This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
10. Claims 2, 11-13, 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gosset et al. (US 2024/0404833 A1) as applied to claims 1, 3-6, 9-10 above, and further in view of Zhang (US 2021/0233775 A1).
As to claim 2, Gosset fails to disclose the fluorine containing gas contains a hydrogen fluoride gas. However, Gosset clearly discloses to use fluorine containing gas include CF4, CH2F2, CHF3, C4F8 to etch silicon containing material (paragraph 0205, 0274, 0397). Zhang teaches to etch silicon containing material using fluorine-containing gas selected from HF, CF4, CH2F2, CHF3, C4F8 (paragraph 0026, 0029). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Gosset in view of Zhang by using hydrogen fluoride gas (HF gas) because equivalent and substitution of one for the other would produce an expected result (See MPEP 2143(I)(B)).
As to claim 11, Gosset fails to disclose supplying hydrogen fluoride to the substrate under a pressure of 13.3 Pa or more after the (b). However, Gosset clearly discloses to use fluorine containing gas include CF4, CH2F2, CHF3, C4F8 to etch silicon containing material (paragraph 0205, 0274, 0397). Zhang teaches to etch silicon containing material using fluorine-containing gas including HF at a pressure of 1 mtorr to 300 mtorr, preferably 100 mtorr to 300 mtorr after step (b) (See paragraph 0026; Note: 13.3 Pa = 99.7 mtorr; 100 mtorr to 300 mtorr is within applicant’s range of 13.3 Pa or more). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Gosset in view of Zhang by supplying hydrogen fluoride to a substrate at a pressure of 100 mtorr to 300 mtorr because in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists (See MPEP 2144.05(I)).
As to claim 12, Gosset discloses the second material further contains nitrogen (i.e. SiN, SiON, TaN, TiN, ZrN; See paragraph 0283, 0284, 0438).
As to claim 13, Gosset discloses wherein the (b) is started in a state where at temperature of the substrate support (i.e. substrate holder) is configured to support the substrate is set at a temperature of -196 °C to 500 °C, preferably -120 °C to 300 °C, preferably -100 °C to 50 °C, preferably -70 °C (paragraph 0398, 0483, 0445-0446, within applicant’s range of “0 °C or lower).
As to claim 18, Gosset discloses etching the second region includes a first silicon containing layer and a second containing layer (paragraph 0034; 0284), wherein
Step (b) includes
(b3) etching the first silicon containing layer using a plasma generating from a first processing gas containing the fluorine containing gas (See paragraph 0074-0076, 0272-0274; 0397) and the HCl (paragraph 0079; 0092, 0203, 0208, 0415, 0425, 0433; Note: HCl read on applicant’s limitation CxHyClz, wherein x = 0, y =1 and z =1);
(b4) etching the second silicon containing layer by using a second processing gas containing fluorine containing gas, the second processing gas not containing HCl (paragraph 0172-0184, 0205-0223).
As to claim 19, Gosset discloses the second region include at last two layers (SF and UF) selected from the group consisting of a first silicon containing layer containing silicon and nitrogen (i.e. silicon nitride), a second silicon containing layer containing silicon and oxygen (i.e. silicon oxide) and a third silicon containing layer containing polysilicon (paragraph 0283-0284, 04442).
11. Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gosset et al. (US 2024/0404833 A1) as applied to claims 1, 3-6, 9-10 above, and further in view of Huang et al. (US 2020/0035779 A1).
As to claim 7, Gosset fails to disclose a proportion of a flow rate of the CxHyClz gas to a total flow rate of the processing gas is 0.5 vol% to 30 vol%. However, Gosset clearly teaches to use CxHyClz gas (See paragraph 0020, 0079, 0091). Huang teaches to etch using chlorine-containing gas includes CxHyClz gas such as CHCl3 wherein a proportion of a flow rate of the CxHyClz gas to a total flow rate of the processing gas is 30 vol% to 50 vol% (paragraph 0044; within applicant’s range of 0.5 vol% to 30 vol%). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Gosset in view of Huang by using CxHyClz at 30 vol% with respect to total flow rate because in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists (See MPEP 2144.05(I)).
12. Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gosset et al. (US 2024/0404833 A1) as applied to claims 1, 3-6, 9-10 above, and further in view of Sawataishi (US 2016/0351407 A1).
As to claim 8, Gosset discloses in the (b), a circular hole is formed in the second region by etching having a dimeter value and having a depth direction (paragraph 0009, 0288, 0396, 0399). As to claim 8, Gosset fails to disclose roundness of the hole is 0.95 to 1. Sawataishi discloses to etch a circular hole having a roundness of the circular hole between 0.95 to 1 (paragraph 0125-0126). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Gosset in view of Sawataishi by having a roundness of the circular hole between 0.95 to 1 because in the case where the claimed ranges "overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art" a prima facie case of obviousness exists (See MPEP 2144.05(I)).
13. Claims 14-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gosset et al. (US 2024/0404833 A1) and Zhang (US 2021/0233775 A1) as applied to claim 12 above, and further in view of Musselwhite (US 2023/0207328 A1).
As to claim 14, Gosset discloses (b1) etching the second region in a state where a temperature of a substrate support (i.e. substrate holder) configured to support the substrate is set to a first temperature; and (b2) etching the second region in state where the temperature of the substrate support is set to a second temperature (paragraph 0248, 0300, 0398, 0456, 0486, 0499). As to claim 14, Gosset fails to disclose a second temperature is different from the first temperature. As to claim 15, Gosset fails to disclose the first temperature is lower than the second temperature. As to claim 16, Gosset fails to disclose the first temperature is higher than the second temperature. Musselwhite discloses to increase or decrease the temperature during the etching process, wherein the first temperature is lower than the second temperature (increasing temperature) or the first temperature is higher than the second temperature (decreasing temperature) (See Fig 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Gosset in view of Musselwhite by having a first temperature either higher or lower than the second temperature because it helps to control the etching process.
As to claim 17, Gosset discloses step (b1) and step (b2) alternately repeated (See paragraph 0184, 0223, 0231, 0239, 0247).
Conclusion
14. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BINH X TRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-1469. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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BINH X. TRAN
Examiner
Art Unit 1713
/BINH X TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1713