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 .
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 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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-8 in the reply filed on November 24, 2025 is acknowledged. Claims 9-10 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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)(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.
Claims 1-3 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hajibabaeinajafabadi et al. (US20240027900).
Regarding claim 1, Hajibabaeinajafabadi discloses a substrate treatment method (abstract) comprising developing a substrate which has a coating film of a metal-containing resist formed thereon and has been subjected to an exposure treatment and a heat treatment after the exposure treatment (metal oxide resist reads on a metal-containing resist, abstract and paragraphs 0033 and 0038), the developing comprising: exposing the substrate to an acid atmosphere being an atmosphere containing gas of a weak acid under a pressure of an atmospheric pressure (paragraphs 0033, 0035 and 0046; HCN has a pKa of about 9.2, which falls within the range of pKa used to define a weak acid in current application, see paragraph 0053 in the Specification as originally filed); and removing a product produced by a reaction between the metal-containing resist and the gas of the weak acid, by heating the substrate (paragraphs 0034 and 0037, a temperature greater than 300oC indicates heating the substrate).
Regarding claim 2, Hajibabaeinajafabadi discloses wherein a temperature of the substrate in the removing is equal to a temperature of the substrate at the heat treatment after the exposure treatment (paragraph 0065).
Regarding claim 3, Hajibabaeinajafabadi discloses wherein at the exposing, a treatment gas containing the gas of the weak acid is discharged toward the substrate, and a flow rate of the treatment gas is different in a radial direction of the substrate (paragraph 0033 and Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 8, Hajibabaeinajafabadi discloses wherein after the heat treatment after the exposure treatment, the developing is performed without carrying the substrate from a unit which has performed the heat treatment (paragraph 0062 and Fig. 5).
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 of this title, 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.
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.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hajibabaeinajafabadi et al. (US20240027900) as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Han et al. (US20220035247).
Regarding claim 4, Hajibabaeinajafabadi discloses wherein: at the exposing, the treatment gas containing the gas of the weak acid is discharged toward the substrate (paragraph 0033 and Fig. 4); and after a pattern of the metal-containing resist is formed by the developing, the exposing and the removing by heating are performed (paragraphs 0033 and 0037; Fig. 5). Hajibabaeinajafabadi is silent about, at the heating at least one of a concentration of the gas of the weak acid in the treatment gas, a flow rate of the treatment gas, and a temperature of a hot plate configured to heat the substrate is adjusted for each of a plurality of regions along a radial direction of the substrate. However, Hajibabaeinajafabadi discloses that the heating is performed in the same apparatus as the developing step (paragraph 0038 and Fig. 4). In addition, Tan teaches a similar apparatus for dry development (paragraph 0259 and Fig. 8), wherein a temperature of a hot plate configured to heat the substrate is adjusted for each of a plurality of regions along a radial direction of the substrate in order to maintain the substrate with uniform temperature (paragraph 0326). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill, in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to adjust a temperature of a hot plate configured to heat the substrate for each of a plurality of regions along a radial direction of the substrate as taught by Tan, in order to maintain a uniform temperature for the substrate in the method of Hajibabaeinajafabadi with a reasonable expectation of success. It has been held that combining prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results is obvious. See MPEP 2143 I.(A).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-7 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 5, the cited prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious a method comprising: after the developing, smoothing a surface of a pattern of the metal-containing resist formed by the developing, the smoothing comprising: exposing the substrate to a solvent atmosphere being an atmosphere containing gas of an organic solvent to enhance flowability of the surface of the pattern of the metal-containing resist; and thereafter heating the substrate to solidify the surface of the pattern of the metal-containing resist, in the context of the instant claim.
Regarding claim 6, it is a dependent of claim 5.
Regarding claim 7, the cited prior art of record, taken either alone or in combination, fails to disclose or render obvious a method comprising: wherein the developing comprises before the exposing, developing the substrate with a developing solution so that a part of a portion to be removed by the development in the coating film of the metal-containing resist remains, in the context of the instant claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIONG-PING LU whose telephone number is (571) 270-1135. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 9:00am – 5:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joshua L Allen, can be reached at telephone number (571)270-3176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JIONG-PING LU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1713