DETAILED ACTION
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 – 3, 6, 7, 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wu et al. (7883991).
With regard to claim 1, Wu et al. disclose a method for processing a semiconductor substrate (for example, see figs. 2A – 2D), the method comprising:
receiving the semiconductor substrate (200, fig. 2A), the semiconductor substrate (200, fig. 2A) having a frontside surface (200b, fig. 2A), a backside surface (200a, fig. 2A), a side edge surface (referred to as “200c” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 2A below), a peripheral edge region (referred to as “P1” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 2A below) and a frontside center region (referred to as “C1” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 2A below),
wherein the peripheral edge region (P1) includes the side edge surface (200c) and annular portions (referred to as “200c1” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 2A below) of the frontside surface (200b) and the backside surface (200a) adjacent to the side edge surface (200c), and
wherein the frontside center region (C1) extends from a center of frontside surface (a middle region surface of the frontside center region C1) to the peripheral edge region (P1);
spin-on depositing a sacrificial film (coating an adhesive layer 202, applied in spin-on method, inherently functioning as a spin-on depositing a sacrificial film in order to remove a top portion of the substrate 200 as shown in fig. 2C; for example, see column 2, lines 61 - 67) within the peripheral edge region (P1) of the semiconductor substrate (200, fig. 2A), wherein said spin-on depositing the sacrificial film (202) uses a spin-on deposition process (for example, see column 2, lines 61 - 67) to coat the peripheral edge region (P1) with the sacrificial film (202); and
processing the semiconductor substrate (200) after spin-on depositing the sacrificial film (202), wherein said processing comprises:
etching (as shown in figs. 2B, 2C) an exposed surface (a top surface functioning as an exposed surface) of at least one material layer (referred to as “C1” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 2B below) provided within the frontside center region (C1) of the semiconductor substrate (200),
wherein the sacrificial film (202) inherently protects the peripheral edge region (P1) of the semiconductor substrate (200) from damage during said etching (the etching, as shown in figs. 2B, 2C, the exposed surface of at least one material layer C1 shown in fig. 2B below).
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With regard to claim 2, Wu et al. disclose said spin-on depositing the sacrificial film (202) comprises dispensing a liquid material (for example, see column 3, lines 2 – 6) within the peripheral edge region (P1) that is not removed during said processing (because the sacrificial film 202, fig. 2C still formed on the peripheral edge region P1 as shown in fig. 2C)
With regard to claim 3, Wu et al. disclose dispensing the liquid material (for example, see column 3, lines 2 – 6) comprises dispensing a spin-on glass material (spin-on dielectric material 202 inherently including a spin-on glass material; for example, see column 2, lines 61 - 67)) within the peripheral edge region (P1) of the semiconductor substrate (200).
With regard to claim 6, Wu et al. disclose said spin-on depositing the sacrificial film comprises dispensing the liquid material (for example, see column 3, lines 2 – 6) comprises dispensing a spin-on glass material (spin-on dielectric material 202 inherently including a spin-on glass material; for example, see column 2, lines 61 - 67)) within the peripheral edge region (P1) of the semiconductor substrate (200) and on the backside surface (200a) of the semiconductor substrate (200).
With regard to claim 7, Wu et al. disclose the dispensing the liquid material (for example, see column 3, lines 2 – 6) comprises dispensing a spin-on glass material (spin-on dielectric material 202 inherently including a spin-on glass material; for example, see column 2, lines 61 - 67)) within the peripheral edge region (P1) of the semiconductor substrate (200) and on the backside surface (200a) of the semiconductor substrate (200).
With regard to claim 9, Wu et al. disclose said processing the semiconductor substrate comprises: providing the semiconductor substrate (200) within a processing chamber (the layer 202 having a trench functioning as a processing chamber) having a chuck (a carrier 300, fig. 2B) configured to support one or more surfaces of the semiconductor substrate (200); and wherein the sacrificial film (202) inherently protects the peripheral edge region (P1) and/or the backside surface (200a) of the semiconductor substrate (200) from damage caused by the chuck (300).
Allowable Subject Matter
3. Claims 4, 5, 8, 10 - 20 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.
Claim 4 is allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as said dispensing the liquid material is performed within a processing chamber comprising a frontside bevel nozzle, and wherein said dispensing the liquid material comprises: using the frontside bevel nozzle to dispense the liquid material onto the annular portion of the frontside surface while spinning the semiconductor substrate at a rotational speed, which causes the liquid material to wrap around the side edge surface of the semiconductor substrate to coat the annular portion of the backside surface as recited in claim 4.
Claim 5 is allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as said dispensing the liquid material is performed within a processing chamber comprising a backside bevel nozzle, and wherein said dispensing the liquid material comprises: using the backside bevel nozzle to dispense the liquid material onto the annular portion of the backside surface while spinning the semiconductor substrate at a rotational speed, which causes the liquid material to wrap around the side edge surface of the semiconductor substrate to coat the annular portion of the frontside surface as recited in claim 5.
Claim 8 is allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as said dispensing the liquid material is performed within a processing chamber comprising a backside nozzle, and wherein said dispensing the material comprises: using the backside nozzle to dispense the liquid material onto the backside surface of the semiconductor substrate near the center of the semiconductor substrate while spinning the semiconductor substrate at a rotational speed, which causes the liquid material to cover the backside surface and wrap around the side edge surface of the semiconductor substrate to coat the annular portion of the frontside surface as recited in claim 8.
Claims 10 – 14 are allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as said processing the semiconductor substrate comprises: etching the exposed surface of the at least one material layer provided within the frontside center region of the semiconductor substrate using a wet or dry etch process, which exposes the frontside center region and the peripheral edge region of the semiconductor substrate to an etchant chemical or gas; and wherein the sacrificial film acts as a hard mask to protect the peripheral edge region of the semiconductor substrate from being etched by the etchant chemical or gas during the wet or dry etch process as recited in claim 10.
Claims 15 – 20 are allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as said processing the semiconductor substrate comprises: depositing the at least one material layer within the frontside center region of the semiconductor substrate using a dry deposition process, which exposes the frontside center region and the peripheral edge region of the semiconductor substrate to a process gas; and wherein the sacrificial film protects the peripheral edge region of the semiconductor substrate from gas particles that adhere to the sacrificial film during the dry deposition process as recited in claim 15.
Conclusion
4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAN N TRAN whose telephone number is (571) 272 - 1923. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30-5:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davienne Monbleau can be reached on (571) 272-1945. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TAN N TRAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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