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 .
Response to Amendment
In view of the amendment filed 01/12/2026:
Claims 1-3 and 5-13 are pending.
Claim 4 is cancelled.
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 13, Examiner respectfully suggests amending the limitation “silicon coated” to “silicone coated” to clarify that, as shown in the support provided in Figure 3, the release film is silicone coated and not silicon coated.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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(s) 1-3, 5, and 7-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al. (“Thermally assisted nanotransfer printing with sub–20-nm resolution and 8-inch
wafer scalability”, Sci. Adv. 2020; 6: eabb6462), and further in view of Kitayama et al.
(KR101492371B1- Machine translation provided herein).
Regarding claim 1, Park teaches a method of printing a nanostructure comprising:
preparing a template substrate on which a pattern is formed (“First, we prepared an 8-
inch Si wafer consisting of approximately 50 chips with three line/space structures with
different widths of 250 nm/250 nm, 500 nm/500 nm, and 1 µm/1 µm, fabricated by a
conventional photolithography process, as shown in Fig. 1 (B and C) and fig. S2.”- see pg. 2);
forming a replica pattern having an inverse phase of the pattern by coating a polymer
thin film on an upper portion of the template substrate, adhering a thermal release tape to an
upper portion of the polymer thin film, and separating the polymer thin film from the template
substrate 9” After spin-coating poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) dissolved in a mixture of
toluene and acetone onto the hydrophobic surface of the Si mold, the spin-coated PMMA thin
film was attached with an adhesive PI film, and the two films were subsequently detached
together”- see pg. 3 and replica pattern in Figure 1a);
forming a nanostructure by depositing a functional material on the replica pattern (“the
functional materials are initially formed on the surface of the replicated polymer pattern by
physical vapor deposition (PVD)”- see pg. 2); and
printing the nanostructure deposited on the replica pattern to a substrate by positioning
the nanostructure on the substrate, applying heat and pressure to the nanostructure (“To
transfer the functional nanostructures on the PMMA replica pattern on a large area, both
uniform pressure and heat conduction over the entire patterning area are required during the
contact printing process, as schematically illustrated in Fig. 2A”- see pg. 3 and Figure 1A), and
weakening an adhesive force between the thermal release tape and the replica pattern by the
heat (“a heat-injection process is also needed to move the functional nanostructures with the replica pattern onto the target substrate by weakening the adhesion between the adhesive PI
film and the replica thin film”- see pg. 3 and Figure 2B).
While Park teaches the thermal release tape is a polyimide film, Park fails to teach wherein the thermal release tape comprises a thermal release adhesive layer disposed between two films.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to imprint lithography, Kitayama teaches a
thermal release tape comprising a thermal release adhesive layer disposed between two films
([0030] 1 is a supporting substrate (sometimes referred to simply as a substrate), a divalent
thermally expandable pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, and 3 is a peelable film (separator).
Here, in this invention, it is essential to have a thermally expansible adhesive layer of 2, and 1
and 3 may be arbitrarily selected; see Figure 1). The films protect the thermal release adhesive
layer ([0103] Although the separator 3 may be used as surface (adhesive surface) protective
materials, such as the thermally expansible adhesive layer 2) and can modify the thermal
release tape’s mechanical properties ([0036] when a plastic base material is used as a base
material, strain, such as elongation rate, can also be controlled by an extending | stretching
process and [0043] The thickness of the base material can be appropriately selected depending
on the strength, flexibility, purpose of use).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a
person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the thermal release tape of Park with that of
Kitayama such that a thermal release adhesive layer of Park is disposed between two films. Placing the thermal release adhesive layer between two films has a known benefit of protecting the thermal release adhesive layer and allowing modification of the thermal release tape’s mechanical properties as desired (see “Response to Arguments” below) as the thermal adhesive layer undergoes processing steps associated with fabricating chips on a wafer.
Regarding claim 2, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Park teaches wherein the template substrate has a surface pattern in the form of a concave-convex by forming a pattern of a desired size (see Figure 1C on pg. 2) using photolithography, and proceeding to a surface etching with a reactive ion etching (RIE) process (“The 8-inch Si master mold consisting of three line/space widths (250 nm/250 nm, 500 nm/500 nm, and 1 µm/1 µm) with a depth of 250 nm was fabricated by conventional KrF photolithography and reactive ion etching (RIE)”- see pg. 6).
Regarding claim 3, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Park teaches wherein the method proceeds with the replica pattern remaining adhered to the thermal release tape (see replica pattern in Figure 1A) by uniformly adhering the thermal release tape to one surface of the polymer thin film (see attaching step in Figure 1A) and peeling off the polymer thin film from the template substrate (see detaching step in Figure 1A).
Regarding claim 5, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 3/
Further, Park teaches wherein the adhering of the thermal release tape uniformly to one surface of the polymer thin film is carried out through a rolling process or a pressing process (“When manually attaching and detaching the PI film, a defect-punctured PMMA replica pattern was obtained owing to the uneven contact between the PI film and the PMMA film through nonuniform pressure, resulting in many void defects and an abnormal line pattern with numerous microcracks, as shown in Fig. 1 (D and E). On the other hand, when using a laminating or rolling press system, replication of the PMMA surface pattern on the 8-inch wafer was successful with uniform contact at an appropriate amount of pressure on the entire surface, showing excellent pattern formation of well-defined line structures (Fig. 1, F and G, and figs. S3 and S4)”- see pg. 3).
Regarding claim 7, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Park teaches the method further comprising: brush coating the upper portion of the template substrate with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer prior to coating the polymer thin film on the upper portion of the template substrate (“Before the replication process, the 8-inch Si master mold was surface-treated with a hydroxyl terminated polydimethylsiloxane brush to impart hydrophobicity onto the Si surface for easy separation of the replica material from the master mold. After spin-coating poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) dissolved in a mixture of toluene and acetone onto the hydrophobic surface of the Si mold…”- see pg. 2-3).
Regarding claim 8, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Park teaches wherein the coating of the polymer thin film on the upper portion of the template substrate is carried out by a spin coating (“After spin-coating poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) dissolved in a mixture of toluene and acetone onto the hydrophobic surface of the Si mold, the spin-coated PMMA thin film was attached with an adhesive PI film”- see pg. 3).
Regarding claim 9, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Park teaches wherein the functional material is Pt (“After Pt deposition on the 8-inch PMMA replica pattern by the PVD sputtering system, we transfer-printed Pt nanowires onto a transparent and flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate”- see pg. 4) or silicon oxide (“The sample was then etched by CF4 plasma [gas flow rate, 30 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm); working pressure, 15 mtorr; plasma power, 60 W; etching time, 20 s] and O2 plasma (gas flow rate, 30 sccm; working pressure, 15 mtorr; plasma power, 60 W; etching time, 30 s), finally resulting in a self- assembled, highly ordered sub–20-nm SiOx line structure with a line/space width of 18 nm/14 nm”-see pg. 7).
Regarding claim 10, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Park teaches wherein the positioning of the nanostructure deposited on the replica pattern on the substrate and applying heat and pressure to the nanostructure is carried out at 150 °C (“After Pt deposition on the 8-inch PMMA replica pattern by the PVD sputtering system, we transfer-printed Pt nanowires onto a transparent and flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate for 25 s by passing them between two 150°C hot rolls”- see pg. 4).
Regarding claim 11, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Park teaches wherein the positioning of the nanostructure deposited on the replica pattern on the substrate and applying heat and pressure to the nanostructure is carried out for 25 seconds (“Here, it should be emphasized that high-quality patterns on most 8-inch wafer materials with thermal endurance can be obtained for a short printing time of 25 s when reliably providing both uniform pressure and heat transfer at 150°C”- see pg. 4).
Regarding claim 12, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Park teaches wherein after the nanostructure is printed onto the substrate, the replication pattern is washed with an organic solvent so that the polymer thin film is removed and the nanostructure is printed onto the substrate (“Functional nanopatterns on the substrate are ultimately obtained after removing with solvent the residual polymer replica film used as a medium for the pattern transfer process.”- see pg. 2).
Regarding claim 13, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1.
Further, Kitayama teaches wherein one of the two films is silicon coated release film ([0104] As such a separator, well-known or usual release paper etc. can be used. Specifically, as a separator, For example, Substrate which has peeling agent layers, such as a plastic film and paper surface-treated with peeling agents, such as a silicone type) and another of the two films is PET base film ([0035] Especially as a base material, plastic base materials, such as a plastic film and a sheet, can be used preferably. Although not particularly limited, generally polyester films such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET)).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a
person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the thermal release tape of Park with that of
Kitayama such that a thermal release adhesive layer of Park is disposed between a silicon coated release film and a PET base film. Placing the thermal release adhesive layer between the two films has a known benefit of protecting the thermal release adhesive layer and allowing modification of the thermal release tape’s mechanical properties as desired (see “Response to Arguments” below) as the thermal adhesive layer undergoes processing steps associated with fabricating chips on a wafer.
Claim(s) 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park et al.
(“Thermally assisted nanotransfer printing with sub–20-nm resolution and 8-inch wafer
scalability”, Sci. Adv. 2020; 6: eabb6462) and Kitayama et al. (KR101492371B1- Machine translation provided herein), and further in view of Jung et al. (US20160202123).
Regarding claim 6, Park modified with Kitayama teaches the method of claim 1. While Park teaches the deposition of the functional material is carried out only on a raised portion on the surface of the replica pattern (see deposition of gold pattern only on raised portion of the replica pattern in Figure 3A on pg. 5), Park fails to teach wherein the forming a nanostructure by depositing a functional material is carried out by tilting the replica pattern so that a surface of the replica pattern on which the deposition is carried out and a direction of the deposition form a predetermined angle.
In the same field of endeavor pertaining to imprint lithography, Jung teaches wherein
the forming a nanostructure by depositing a functional material is carried out by tilting the
replica pattern so that a surface of the replica pattern on which the deposition is carried out
and a direction of the deposition form a predetermined angle ([0013]-[0014] and see angled
deposition step in Figure 1). Angled deposition allows for deposition to occur only on protruded parts of the surface ([0014] which is slanted to have a specific angle with a surface prepared for
the deposition of the thin-film replica mold in a direction of the deposition, to deposit the
functional material only on protruded parts of the surface prepared for the deposition of the
thin-film replica mold).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a
person having ordinary skill in the art to form the nanostructure of Park modified with Kitayama by tilting the replica pattern so that a surface of the replica pattern on which the deposition is carried out and a direction of the deposition form a predetermined, as taught by Jung, to achieve the predictable result of depositing the functional material only on a raised portion on the surface of the replica pattern. There would have been a reasonable expectation of success for the functional material of Park to be deposited at an angle, since Park and Jung teach the deposition of similar materials (Jung teaches the deposition of platinum nanostructures in [0083]) having a sub–20- nm resolution (see [0084] of Jung and “we demonstrate how to obtain ultrahigh-resolution patterns of sub–20-nm lines and hierarchical 3D stacked nanostructures” on pg. 2 of Park) on PMMA films deposited on silicon substrates (see [0092] of Jung).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 01/12/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding Applicant’s argument that there is no suggestion or motivation to modify or combine Kitayama with Park, because the use of thermal release tape disclosed by Kitayama for the method of printing a nanostructure of Park would defeat the purpose of Park or render unsatisfactory for its intended purpose(see pg. 7 of Remarks), Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Examiner does not pose that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the adhesive PI film or Park with the adhesive film of Kitayama. Rather, Examiner argues that it would have been obvious to modify the thermal release adhesive layer of Park such that the thermal release adhesive layer is disposed between two films (see pg. 9 of Office Action mailed 10/24/2025).
The two films of Kitayama are used to protect a thermal release adhesive layer ([0103] the separator 3 may be used as surface (adhesive surface) protective materials and [0032] The substrate can be used as a support matrix of the heat-peelable pressure-sensitive adhesive tape in the present invention) and can tune the thermal release tape’s mechanical properties ([0036] when a plastic base material is used as a base material, strain, such as elongation rate, can also be controlled by an extending | stretching process) as electronic components with the thermal release adhesive layer, particularly chips on wafers, are being processed ([0001]).
Park teaches a thermal release adhesive layer is applied to nanopatterns forming chips on wafers (“Figure 1 shows the replication results of surface nanopatterns on an 8-inch wafer. The pattern geometry (e.g., aspect ratio) of the mold affects the yield of T-nTP during both polymer replication and pattern transfer printing. First, we prepared an 8-inch Si wafer consisting of approximately 50 chips with three line/space structures with different widths of 250 nm/250 nm, 500 nm/500 nm, and 1 m/1 m, fabricated by a conventional photolithography process, as shown in Fig. 1 (B and C) and fig. S2”- see pg. 2), and that the thermal release adhesive layer adhered on an upper portion of a polymer thin film undergoes multiple processing steps during the formation of a replica pattern and a nanostructure on the replica pattern.
Therefore, one of ordinary skill would be motivated to dispose the thermal release adhesive layer of Park between two films, as taught by Kitayama, to protect the thermal release adhesive layer and prevent premature weakening of the adhesive force as it undergoes the processing steps during the forming of a replica pattern and a nanostructure on the replica pattern.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ARIELLA MACHNESS whose telephone number is (408)918-7587. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 6:30-2:30 PT.
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/ARIELLA MACHNESS/Examiner, Art Unit 1743
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