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
Claims 19-30 and 47 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected product, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 8/26/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1 and 7-10 in the reply filed on 8/26/2026 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1 and 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kumon et al. (US 2013/0056023) (“Kumon”).
With regard to claim 1, fig. 4 of Kumon discloses a method for treating a semiconductor substrate 1 having a pattern 3 disposed on a surface of a wafer 1, comprising: contacting the surface with a surface treatment composition (“liquid chemical”, par [0108]) to form a surface treatment layer 10 such that the surface treatment layer 10 has a water contact angle (“contact angle”, par [0129]) of at least about 50 degrees (“75 to 105.degree”, par [0129]) , the surface treatment composition (“liquid chemical”, par [0108]) comprising at least one solvent (“organic solvent”, par [0108]) and at least one trialkylsilyl compound (“trimethylsilyl trifluoroacetate”, par [0108]) selected from the group consisting of trialkylsilyl alkylsulfonates, trialkylsilyl arylsulfonates, and trialkylsilyl acetates (“trimethylsilyl trifluoroacetate”, par [0108]); wherein the surface treatment composition (“liquid chemical”, par [0108]) is substantially free of propylene glycol methyl ether acetate and is substantially free of an additional Si-containing compound other than the at least one trialkylsilyl compound, and the pattern 3 comprises a feature having a dimension of at most about 20 nm (“not more than 45 nm”, par [0112]).
With regard to claim 7, figure 4 of Kumon disclose that the at least one solvent (“organic solvent”, par [0108]) comprises acetic anhydride, propionic anhydride, trifluoroacetic anhydride, acetonitrile, a C6-C16 alkane, toluene, xylene, mesitylene, tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether, propylene glycol dimethyl ether, ethylene glycol dimethyl ether, dipropylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether, diethylene glycol diethyl ether, dipropylene glycol dibutyl ether, n-dibutyl ether, anisole, dimethyl sulfone, dimethyl sulfoxide, sulfolane, propylene carbonate, methyl ethyl ketone, cyclohexanone, n-butyl acetate, hexyl acetate, benzyl acetate, amyl acetate, ethyl propionate, ethyl butanoate, propyl propionate, methyl butanoate, acetic acid, formic acid, methanesulfonic acid, trifluoroacetic acid, isobutyl methyl ketone, N-methyl-pyrrolidone, hydrofluoroethers (“hydrofluoroether”, par [0108]), or a combination thereof.
With regard to claim 8, figure 4 of Kumon discloses that the at least one solvent (“organic solvent”, par [0108]) is from about 1 wt% to about 99 wt% (“76 to 99.99 mass % of an organic solvent”, par [0108]) of the surface treatment composition (“liquid chemical”, par [0108]).
With regard to claim 9, figure 4 of Kumon discloses that the surface treatment composition (“liquid chemical”, par [0108]) is substantially free of water.
With regard to claim 10, figure 4 of Kumon discloses that the surface treatment composition (“liquid chemical”, par [0108]) consists of the at least one trialkylsilyl compound (“trimethylsilyl trifluoroacetate”, par [0108]) and the at least one solvent (“organic solvent”, par [0108]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN T LIU whose telephone number is (571)272-6009. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 11:00am-7:30pm.
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/BENJAMIN TZU-HUNG LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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