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 § 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) 1-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hatakeyama (US 2020/0073237; IDS, 11/21/2023).
Hatakeyama discloses a resist composition and patterning method using the resist composition. Hatakeyama discloses the resist composition comprising a base polymer and a quencher in the form of an ammonium salt consisting of an ammonium cation having an iodized aromatic ring bonded to the nitrogen atom via a divalent hydrocarbon group and a carboxylate, fluorine-free sulfonamide, sulfonamide or halide anion offers a high sensitivity and minimal LWR or improved CDU, independent of whether it is of positive or negative tone. (Para, 0015-0018).
Hatakeyama discloses where the resist composition is of positive tone, the base polymer comprises recurring units containing an acid labile group, preferably recurring units having the formula (a1) or reaming units having the formula (a2). These units are simply referred to as recurring units (a1) and (a2).
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Hatakeyama discloses RA is each independently hydrogen or methyl, R11 and R12 each are an acid labile group, Y1 is a single bond, phenylene or naphthylene group, or C1-C12 linking group containing at least one moiety selected from ester bond and lactone ring, Y2 is a single bond or ester bond. (Para, 0070). Hatakeyama discloses when the base polymer contains both recurring units (a1) and (a2), R11 and R12 may be the same or different. (Para, 0070). These disclosures and illustrations of units (a1) and (a2) teach the limitation of claim 1, ‘ A resist composition which generates an acid upon light exposure and whose solubility in a developing solution is changed due to an action of the acid, the resist composition comprising: a resin component (Al) whose solubility in a developing solution is changed due to the action of the acid; …wherein the resin component (Al) has a constitutional unit (a01a) represented by General Formula (a0-la) and a constitutional unit (a02) represented by General Formula (a0-2)
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wherein R01 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, or a halogenated alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, Yaol represents a single bond or a divalent linking group, Laol represents -0-, -COO-, -CON(R')-, -OCO-, -CONHCO- or -CONHCS-, R' represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group, provided that, when Laol represents -0-, Yaol does not represent -CO-, and Ra01 represents a polycyclic lactone-containing cyclic group]; wherein R02 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, or a halogenated alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and Ra05 to Ra08 each independently represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, where two or more of Ra05 to Ra08 may be bonded to each other to form an aliphatic cyclic structure…’
Hatakeyama discloses Hatakeyama also discloses and illustrates examples of monomer (a1) and monomer unit (a2). (Para, 0071-0072 and 0079). These disclosures and illustrations teach the limitation of claim 2.
Hatakeyama discloses the resist composition may also include an acid generator capable of generating a strong acid. (Para, 0101). Hatakeyama discloses a sulfonium or iodonium salt having an iodized or brominated aromatic ring-containing anion may be used as the PAG. (Para, 0128). Hatakeyama discloses suitable sulfonium and iodonium salts have the formulae (3-1) and (3-2). (Para, 0128).
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These disclosures teach the limitation of claim 1, ‘ A resist composition which generates an acid upon light exposure and whose solubility in a developing solution is changed due to an action of the acid, the resist composition comprising: … an acid generator component (B) which generates an acid upon light exposure … and the acid generator component (B) contains a compound (BO) represented by General Formula (b0):
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Hatakeyama discloses in formulae (3-1) and (3-2), X1 is iodine or bromine, and may be the same or different to when s is 2 or more. (Para, 0129). Hatakeyama discloses L1 is a single bond, ether bond, ester bond, or a C1-C6 alkanediyl group which may contain an ether bond or ester bond and the alkanediyl group may be straight, branched or cyclic. (Para, 0130). Hatakeyama discloses R401 is a hydroxyl group, carboxyl group, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, amino group, or a C1-C20 alkyl, C1-C20 alkoxy, C2-C20 alkoxycarbonyl, C2-C20 acyloxy or C1-C20 alkylsulfonyloxy group, which may contain fluorine, chlorine, bromine, hydroxyl, amino or C1-C10 alkoxy moiety, or —NR140—C(═O)—401B or —NR401A—C(═O)—O—R401B, wherein R401A is hydrogen, or a C1-C6 alkyl group which may contain halogen, hydroxy, C1-C6 alkoxy, C2-C6 acyl or C2-C6 acyloxy moiety, R401B is a C1-C16 alkyl, C2-C16 alkenyl or C6-C12 aryl group, which may contain halogen, hydroxy, C1-C6 alkoxy, C2-C6 acyl or C2-C6 acyloxy moiety. (Para, 0131). Hatakeyama discloses the foregoing alkyl, alkoxy, alkoxycarbonyl, acyloxy, acyl and alkenyl groups may be straight, branched or cyclic. (Para, 0131). Hatakeyama discloses when t is 2 or more, groups R401 may be the same or different and of these, R401 is preferably hydroxyl, —NR401A—C(═O)—R401B, —R401A—C(═O)—O—R401B, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, methyl or methoxy. (Para, 0131).
Hatakeyama further discloses R402 is a single bond or a C1-C20 divalent linking group when r=1, or a C1-C20 tri- or tetravalent linking group when r=2 or 3, the linking group optionally containing an oxygen, sulfur or nitrogen atom. (Para, 0132). Hatakeyama discloses Rf1 to Rf4 are each independently hydrogen, fluorine or trifluoromethyl, at least one of Rf1 to Rf4 is fluorine or trifluoromethyl, or Rf1 and Rf2, taken together, may form a carbonyl group. Preferably, both Rf3 and Rf4 are fluorine. (Para, 0133). Hatakeyama discloses R403, R404, R405, R406 and R407 are each independently a C1-C20 monovalent hydrocarbon group which may contain a heteroatom and any two of R403, R404 and R405 may bond together to form a ring with the sulfur atom to which they are attached. (Para, 0134). Hatakeyama discloses the monovalent hydrocarbon group may be straight, branched or cyclic, and examples thereof include C1-C12 alkyl, C2-C12 alkenyl, C2-C12 alkynyl, C6-C20 aryl, and C7-C12 aralkyl groups. (Para, 0134). Hatakeyama explains in these groups, some or all of the hydrogen atoms may be substituted by hydroxyl, carboxyl, halogen, cyano, amide, nitro, mercapto, sultone, sulfone, or sulfonium salt-containing moieties, and some carbon may be replaced by an ether bond, ester bond, carbonyl moiety, carbonate moiety or sulfonic acid ester bond. (Para, 0134). These disclosures teach the limitation of claim 1, ‘ A resist composition which generates an acid upon light exposure and whose solubility in a developing solution is changed due to an action of the acid, the resist composition comprising: … wherein X0 represents a bromine atom or an iodine atom, R' represents a hydroxy group, an alkyl group, a fluorine atom, or a chlorine atom, nbl represents an integer of 1 to 5, and nb2 represents an integer of 0 to 4, provided that 1 < nbl + nb2 < 5 is satisfied, Yb0 represents a divalent linking group or a single bond, Vb0 represents a single bond, an alkylene group, or a fluorinated alkylene group, R° represents a hydrogen atom, a fluorinated alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, or a fluorine atom, M'+ represents an m-valent organic cation, and m represents an integer of 1 or greater.’
Hatakeyama also illustrates examples of each cation of the PAG in Formulae (3-1) and (3-2). (Para, 0136-0137). These disclosures teach the limitation of claim 3. Hatakeyama also discloses when used, the acid generator of addition type is preferably added in an amount of 0.1 to 50 parts, and more preferably 1 to 40 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the base polymer. (Para, 0138). This disclosure teaches the limitation of claim 8.
Hatakeyama discloses the base polymer for formulating the positive resist composition comprises reclining units (a1) or (a2) having an acid labile group as essential component and additional recurring units (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) as optional components. (Para, 0093). Hatakeyama discloses a fraction of units (a1), (a2), (b), (c), (d), (e), and (f) is: preferably 0≤a1<1.0, 0≤a2<1.0, 0<a1+a2<1.0, 0≤b≤0.9, 0≤c≤0.9, 0≤d≤0.8, 0≤e≤0.8, and 0≤f≤0.5; more preferably 0≤a1≤0.9, 0≤a≤0.9, 0.1≤a1+a2≤0.9, 0≤b≤0.8, 0≤c≤0.8, 0≤d≤0.7, 0≤e≤0.7, and 0≤f≤0.4; and even more preferably 0≤a1≤0.8, 0≤a≤0.8, 0.1≤a1+a2≤0.8, 0≤b≤0.75, 0≤c≤0.75, 0≤d≤0.6, 0≤e≤0.6, and 0≤f≤0.3. (Para, 0093). Hatakeyama discloses that notably, f=f1+f2+f3, meaning that unit (f) is at least one of units (f1) to (f3), and a1+a2+b+c+d+e+f=1.0. (Para, 0093). These disclosures teach the limitation of claim 4.
Hatakeyama discloses the base polymer of the resist composition may further comprise recurring units (b) having a phenolic hydroxyl group as an adhesive group. (Para, 0078). Hatakeyama discloses examples of suitable monomers from which recurring units (b) are derived are given below, but not limited thereto. (Para, 0078). Hatakeyama discloses RA is as defined above. (Para, 0078). These disclosures and the disclosures of Hatakeyama as discussed above teach the limitations of claim 5 and the limitation of claim 7.
Hatakeyama also discloses a resist patterning process using the discloses resist composition. Hatakeyama discloses the resist composition may be used in the fabrication of various integrated circuits. (Para, 0164). Hatakeyama discloses pattern formation using the resist composition may be performed by well-known lithography processes which generally involves coating, prebaking, exposure, and development. (Para, 0164). Hatakeyama describes each step in the lithography process in greater detail. (Para, 0165-0172). These disclosures and the disclosures of Hatakeyama discussed above teach the limitations of claim 9, ‘ A of forming a resist pattern, comprising:
Therefore, claims 1-10 are anticipated by the disclosures and illustrations of Hatakeyama.
Conclusion
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/CALEEN O SULLIVAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2899
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