DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claim(s) 1-6, and 8-20, is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U. S. Patent No. 5,994,430 (hereinafter referred to as Ding).
Ding, in col 1, lines 6-11, in col 4, lines 26-40, discloses the process of fabricating a semiconductor device, the process includes coating the substrate with a composition (antireflective composition, the claimed resist underlayer film) to form an underlying antireflective coating on the substrate (antireflective coating), applying a resist film composition on the underlying antireflective coating to form a photoresist film, performing an imagewise exposure of the photoresist film to radiation (UV), and developing the exposed photoresist film. Ding, in col 3, lines 7-40, and in col 6, lines 24-57, discloses that the antireflective composition (claimed composition) includes a polymer and a solvent, and discloses the polymer to include the following repeating unit, see below,
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240
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wherein R4 is a sulfonate ester i.e., -SO3R, and is the claimed polymer with the terminal sulfonic acid ester structure and is the same as the claimed formula (1) wherein the claimed L2 is a divalent linking group, and as disclosed above, is a divalent linking group such as a substituted divalent aromatic hydrocarbon, and in the sulfonate ester, the R group can be an alkyl group (claimed monovalent hydrocarbon group) that includes substitution with halo groups wherein the halo groups include fluorine and is the same structure as recited in claims 1-2, 8, 9, 10, and 11-14. Ding, in col 9, lines 61-67, and in col 10, lines 1-4, discloses that the antireflective composition (underlayer composition) is coated onto the substrate and subjected to heating to a temperature of about 250° C (claim 3). Ding, in col 4, lines 9-11, and in col 7, lines 40-43, discloses that the irradiation wavelengths used for the exposure of the photoresist includes 248nm (KrF excimer laser) (claim 4). Ding, in col 8, lines 55-63, discloses that the antireflective coating is coated onto the substrate in a thickness of about 0.1micron and includes less than 0.1 micron (includes the claimed 20nm) (claim 5). Ding, in col 4, lines 10-13, discloses that the exposed photoresist is developed using an alkaline developer (basic solution) (claim 6). Ding, in col 6, lines 61-67, and in col 7, lines 7-21, discloses that the polymer in the antireflective composition includes additional structural units (copolymeric units) such as methyl methacrylate that have incorporated pendant/terminal groups such as benzotriazole and is the same as the claimed repeating unit of formula (3), wherein the pendant is a benzotriazole and is a monovalent heterocyclic group (claims 15-16). Ding, in col 7, lines 65-67, and in col 8, lines 32-34, discloses that the polymer in the antireflective composition can be included in a content of at least about 10 mole% (claims 17, and 20). Ding, in col 7, lines 33-36, and lines 60-63, discloses that the polymer in the antireflective composition (underlayer composition) can be a block copolymer (claim 18). Ding, in col 8, lines 7-11, discloses that the antireflective composition also includes crosslinking agents (claim 19).
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) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U. S. Patent No. 5,994,430 (hereinafter referred to as Ding) in view of U. S. Patent No. 9,244,345 (hereinafter referred to as Ishimaru).
Ding is discussed in paragraph no. 3, above.
The difference between the claim and Ding is that Ding does not disclose that the substrate used in the semiconductor device manufacturing includes forming a silicon-containing film on the substrate before applying antireflective underlayer film composition (claim 7).
Ishimaru, in col 52, lines 49-60, discloses that the substrate used for the semiconductor manufacturing can include multiple layers or a layered semiconductor, and Ishimaru, in col 91, lines 65-67, and in col 92, lines 1-2, discloses that the substrate includes a surface layer of silicon containing film prior to coating the organic antireflective coating.
Therefore, it would be obvious to a skilled artisan to modify Ding by including the silicon containing layer on the substrate prior to the coating of the resist underlayer such as the antireflecting layer as taught by Ishimaru because Ding uses the substrate for the manufacturing of a semiconductor device such as integrated circuits and will inherently include forming multiple layers on the substrate prior to subjecting the semiconductor device substrate to lithographic patterning processes, and Ishimaru, in col 91, lines 66-67, and in col 92, lines 1-2, discloses that a substrate that is used for IC manufacturing requires the formation of the underlying layers such as silicon-containing layers on the substrate prior to the formation of resist or resist underlayers such as antireflective layers, and Ishimaru, in col 52, lines 49-60, discloses that a semiconducting substrate normally includes layered semiconductor that includes layers of silicon oxide, silicon nitride etc., on the substrate.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Daborah Chacko-Davis whose telephone number is (571) 272-1380. The examiner can normally be reached on 9:30AM-6:00PM EST Mon-Fri. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sally A. Merkling can be reached on (571) 272-6297. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-272-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DABORAH CHACKO-DAVIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1737 July 23, 2026.
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