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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawabata et al (JP 2015-138232 and its machine translation).
Kawabata et al disclose a resist composition comprising a resin comprising a unit having a sulfonic acid salt falling within the scope of the instant claims and the ionic group of unit (a).
The exemplified resins P-15 to P-20 include units having a sulfonic acid having a molecular weight of less than 300 when the cation / leaving group is replaced with a hydrogen to form an acid as required by the instant claim 1 (see especially P-15, having a structure as exemplified compounds, [0137]-[0152]; see pages 22-26 of the instant specification, and that of P-15 has a MW of 200 or less; instant claims 1, 2). The content of the unit is preferably 1 to 40 mol% of the polymer repeat units.
The unit included in P-15 falls within the instant formula (1) of instant claims 5, 6, and 20.
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In the formula, instant A is CH=CH, L is aryl/ divalent linking group, and Z is a sulfonium cation.
With respect to the amount of ionic group, the claim sets forth two amounts; one for when the composition comprises only the ionic group-containing unit as acid generator, and another for an instance when the composition comprises both the ionic group-containing unit, and an acid generator (PAG).
Kawabata et al disclose that the composition usually comprises a PAG, wherein the compound preferably has a molecular weight of 1000 or less, in an amount preferably 0.1 to 50 % by mas with respect to the total solid content of the composition ([0168]-[0211]).
While the reference materials do not specifically teach the amounts of the unit as claimed, given the taught ranges of PAG and unit in the polymer, it appears as though the amounts fall within the scope of the instant claim 1, that being the unit or unit and PAG combined, are present in an amount of 0.50 mmol/g or more. Alternatively, one of ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed amounts as set forth by the instant claim 1, but also claims 12 and 13 (0.7 and 1.0 mmol/g, respectively), through routine experimentation and optimization of resist properties such as resist sensitivity and resolution which result in more accurate patterns.
The PAG with a molecular weight of less than 1,000 is a low molecular weight compound (As defined by the instant specification [0182]; instant claims 3, 4, 18, 19).
The resin changes solubility in developer (instant claim 7) further comprises additional units such as those meeting the limitations of the instant (A2) in claim 8, and units with phenolic hydroxyl groups and carboxyl groups (instant claim 9) falling within the scope of the instant (6) and (7) of the instant claims 10 and 11:
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R101 to R103 are H or alkyl, LA is a single bond or -C(=O)O, ArA is phenyl.
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Wherein the first unit is of (6), with instant R22 to R24 H (or alkyl), L4 is a single bondar is phenyl, R25 and R26 are alkyl or H, and R27 is alkyl group having a heteroatom. In the second monomer, R28-R30 are H or alkyl, L5 is a single bond, R31 and R32 are alkyl or H, and R33 is cycloalkyl (as examples, may be alkyl or other groups in the broader formula; instant claims 9-11).
The rest further comprises a nitrogen-containing basic compound (degradable base, instant claim 14; [0219]-[0238]).
The resist composition is included in a patterning method including applying the resist to a substrate, drying/ pre-baking to form a film, exposing to radiation, and developing as required by the instant claims 15-17 (see examples [0297]-[0304]).
Given the teachings of the reference, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention to prepare the material of Kawabata et al, choosing as the sulfonic acid-containing monomer unit, that as taught by the reference having a molecular weight of 300 or less, in an amount of 0.50 mmol/g or more.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hatakeyama et al (11,460,772).
Hatakeyama et al disclose a resist composition comprising a resin, an acid generator (ionic compound, claim 6; instant claims 4 and 19), a solvent, and a quencher (degradable base; instant claim 14; claim 8).
The reference teaches the resin may include a unit having a PAG, such as a sulfonic acid (claim 5), wherein the broad structures fall within the instant formula (1) (instant claims 5 and 20). Exemplified monomers include
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Exemplified units, and those taught by the broader formula include those having MWs of 300 or less, and 200 or less, including wherein Z3 is phenylene without fluorine substitution.The units would meet the limitations of the instant claims 1, 2, 5, 6, and 20 wherein instant A is CR=CR, instant L is a single bond, alkyl, or phenylene with or without F substitution.
The unit is included to affect resolution and line width reduction (LWR) (column 87, lines 24-32). Unit (d3) is included in the polymer in an amount of 0< d3 < 0.3 (column 90, lines 25-36).
The PAG is included in an amount of 0.1 to 50 parts by weight of the base polymer, and it appears as though the amount of d3 and the PAG would meet the limitations of the instant claim 1, that being the unit or unit and PAG combined, are present in an amount of 0.50 mmol/g or more. Alternatively, one of ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed amounts as set forth by the instant claim 1, but also claims 12 and 13 (0.7 and 1.0 mmol/g, respectively), through routine experimentation and optimization of resist properties such as resist sensitivity and resolution which result in more accurate patterns.
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The resin which changes solubility in developer further comprises units having a phenolic hydroxyl group meeting the limitations of the instant (A2) in claim 8, wherein R101 to R103 are H or alkyl, LA is a single bond or -C(=O)O, and ArA is phenyl:
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The reference resin further comprises an acid-decomposable group having an acid-labile group-containing unit (b1) and/or (b2) (claim 3, examples).
Examples include those of (b1) of instant (3) of claim 10, with R5 to R7 H or alkyl, L2 a single bond, and R8 to R10 alkyl or aryl or two join to form a ring.
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Additional ALG-containing units include those of instant formula (6) wherein the instant L4 is a single bond or C(=O)O, Ar1 is phenyl, R25 and R26 are H, alkyl, cycloalkyl, and R27 is alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl as defined by the broader formulas (instant claims 9-11):
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The method of patterning and forming a film and device meet the limitations of the instant claims 15-17.
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Given the teachings of the reference, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention to prepare the material of Hatakeyama et al, choosing as the sulfonic acid-containing monomer unit, that as taught by the reference having a molecular weight of 300 or less, in an amount of 0.50 mmol/g or more.
Claim(s) 1, 2,7,8, 12, 13, 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kodama (JP 2007-192907 and its machine translation).
Kodama discloses a resist composition comprising a acid generator (A) (ionic compound having a low molecular weight; [0018], [0035], [0036]), wherein the compound may be included in the resin and have the following general structure meeting the limitations of the instant claims 1 and 2:
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Wherein Wa is a polymer backbone, and Ya1 is a single or divalent linking group. Preferred examples of the divalent linking group include a divalent linking group formed by bonding an arylene group, an alkylene group, a monocyclic or polycyclic alkylene group, or a plurality of these groups via a single bond, a - C (O) O - bond, or a - (C ═ O) NRy - bond (R y is an alkyl or aryl group) falling within the scope of the instant claim 5 ([0043]).
The unit is present in an amount of 40 to 100 mol% of the units, which appears to fall within the scope of the instant claim 1 wherein the content is 0.50 mmol/g or more. Alternatively, one of ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed amounts as set forth by the instant claim 1, but also claims 12 and 13 (0.7 and 1.0 mmol/g, respectively), through routine experimentation and optimization of resist properties such as resist sensitivity and resolution which result in more accurate patterns.
The resin increases solubility in developer (instant claim 7) and further comprises units meeting the limitations of (A2) of the instant claim 8, wherein R101 to R103 are alkyl or H, LA is a single blond, and ArA is phenyl.
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The pattern forming method comprises the steps as claimed including forming a photosensitive film by applying and drying/pre-baking on a substrate, and exposing and developing the photosensitive film to form a device pattern (instant claims 15-17).
Given the teachings of the reference, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention to prepare the material of Kodama, choosing as the PAG, a monomer unit, that as taught by the reference having a molecular weight of 300 or less, in an amount of 0.50 mmol/g or more.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Additional references, such as Masunaga et al JP 2011-195812 as cited by applicant, teach resist polymers comprising PAG salts, which is known in the art, however, the references teach and prefer compound having higher MWs than the instant claim 1.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMANDA C WALKE whose telephone number is (571)272-1337. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday 5:30am to 4pm.
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/AMANDA C. WALKE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1722