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 .
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.
(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.
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) 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over US 20180335696 A1 (hereby referred to as Hatakeyama).
Regarding Claims 1-2 and 5, Hatakeyama discloses a resist composition and a patterning process. The resist composition comprises a polymer-bound acid generator comprising a structural unit derived from a sulfonium or iodonium salt having a polymerizable unsaturated bond (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0034). Examples of the anion moiety of the monomer from which the structural unit is derived are shown on pages 4-11 of Hatakeyama (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0044). The cationic moiety of the monomer from which the structural unit is derived are shown on pages 11-27 of Hatakeyama (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0045). Several examples of an anionic moiety that satisfies formula (I), according to instant claim 1, are reproduced below. Hatakeyama does not provide identifiers for the structures, but for clarity the Examiner will identify each structure.
Structure 1:
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Structure 2:
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Structure 3:
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Structure 4:
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In Structures 1-4, Q1 and Q2 are fluorine atoms; R1 and R2 are H; z is 1; X1 is *-O-CO-; L1 is an alkyl group having one -CH2- replaced by -O- and another -CH2- replaced by -CO-; Ar is a phenylene group having an iodine substituent; L2 is a single bond; X0 is *-CO-O-**; and R5 is RA; wherein RA is hydrogen or methyl (per paragraph 0041 of Hatakeyama). The difference between each structure is the length of the alkyl group that is equivalent to L1. Structures 1-4 are found on page 10 of Hatakeyama. Additional anionic species shown on page 76 of Hatakeyama also satisfy the definition of formula (I) as recited by instant claim 1. The above anions are combined with an organic cation, such as a sulfonium or iodonium ion (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0040; see formulae (a1) and (a2)). Thus, the salt according to instant claims 1, 2, and 5 is disclosed by Hatakeyama.
Regarding Claim 3, Hatakeyama does not provide a specific example of the salt according to formula (I) wherein X1 is *-CO-O- or *-O-CO-O-. However, the broader disclosure of Hatakeyama discloses that the salt has a general formula of (a1) or (a2), the structures of which are reproduced below.
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In the above structures, X3 corresponds to a single bond, ether group, ester group, or a (un)substituted methylene group (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0041). As shown in several of the exemplary compounds shown on pages 4-11 of Hatakeyama, the ester group may be added such that the ester group has the *-CO-O- or the *-O-CO- configuration as defined for X1 in instant claim 1. Whilst a specific example of a salt according to formula (I) is not provided within the disclosure of Hatakeyama, the broader disclosure of Hatakeyama discloses, teaches, and/or suggests a salt according to formula (I) wherein X1 is *-CO-O-.
Regarding Claim 4, Hatakeyama shows additional anionic species on page 76. One such structure is reproduced below.
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In the above structure, Q1 and Q2 are fluorine atoms; R1 is CF3; R2 is H; z is 1; X1 is *-O-; L1 is a single bond; Ar is a phenylene group having at least one iodine substituent; L2 is a single bond; X0 is *-O-**; and R5 is H. The above anion is combined with a cation to form an onium salt (Hatakeyama, paragraphs 0097 and 0100, see formulae (3-3) and (3-4)). Thus, a salt according to instant claim 4 is disclosed by Hatakeyama.
Regarding Claims 6-8, Hatakeyama discloses that the acid generating structures shown above (in regards to instant claim 1) are used to produce a polymer (e.g. a resin) comprising recurring units (e.g. structural units) derived from a sulfonium or iodonium salt (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0040). See formulae (a1) and (a2) on page 4 of Hatakeyama. Further, the acid generating structure shown above (in regards to instant claim 4) is used as an additional acid generating species (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0071 and 0101). Thus, Hatakeyama discloses the use of a salt according to formula (I) as an acid generator and/or as a structural unit. Hatakeyama further discloses that the acid generator may be used in a resist composition (Hatakeyama, paragraphs 0071 and 0101).
Regarding Claims 9-11, as noted above, Hatakeyama discloses the use of a salt according to formula (I) as a structural unit for a resin and/or an acid generator in a resist composition. Hatakeyama further discloses that the polymer (e.g. the resin) further comprises recurring units (e.g. structural units) containing an acid labile group (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0048). For instance, the inventive examples of Hatakeyama (see Table 1 on pages 92-93 of Hatakeyama) are resist compositions comprising both a polymer comprising a structural unit derived from a salt and an acid labile group and a photoacid generator. Whilst the inventive examples do not use salts represented by formula (I), the broader disclosure of Hatakeyama states that the resist composition comprises such a combination (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0034-0036) and that the salts may be those represented by formula (I) (see above).
Regarding Claims 12-13, Hatakeyama discloses that the polymer comprises a recurring unit containing an acid labile group (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0048). Examples of the recurring unit containing an acid labile group are shown on pages 29-31 of Hatakeyama (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0050-0052). The acid labile groups may be of the form represented by (AL-1) to (AL-3) (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0053-0054). Hatakeyama’s disclosure provides several “base” structural units (analogous to formulae (a1-0), (a1-1), (a1-2), etc. of claim 12) and several definitions of acid labile groups suitable for the polymer. Particular examples of the acid labile group-containing structural units are shown in the inventive examples (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0132-0145). The polymer may further comprise recurring units having a phenolic hydroxyl group (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0056). See the structures on page 32 of Hatakeyama. The inventive examples (Hatakeama, paragraph 0132-0145) also demonstrate specific examples of the phenolic hydroxyl group in the polymer.
Regarding Claim 14, Hatakeyama discloses that the resist composition may contain a quencher (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0112). The quencher may be an onium salt (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0113). The structure of the onium salt is shown in paragraphs 0114-0116 of Hatakeyama, and matches the description of the salt generating an acid having an acidity lower than that of an acid generated from the acid generator according to pages 233-236 of the instant application’s specification.
Regarding Claim 15, Hatakeyama discloses a process for forming a pattern using the resist composition (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0122). The resist composition is applied to a substrate and pre-baked (e.g. dried) to form a resist film (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0123). The resist film is then exposed to radiation and post-exposure baked (PEB) (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0124). The resist film is then developed with a developer to yield a patterned resist film (Hatakeyama, paragraph 0125).
Conclusion
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/JAYSON D COSGROVE/Examiner, Art Unit 1737 /JONATHAN JOHNSON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1734
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