CTNF 18/607,202 CTNF 99592 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Status of the Claims This is a non-final office action in response to the applicant’s arguments and remarks filed on 04/20/2026. Claims 1-20 are pending in the current office action. Claims 6-11 remain withdrawn. Status of the Rejection All 35 U.S.C. § 102 and 103 rejections from the previous office action are substantially maintained. 12-256 AIA New grounds of rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) are presented . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 07-30-02 AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b): (b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph: The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention. 07-34-01 Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 15 recites the limitation " the oxide containing material layer". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. This term had been properly introduced within claim 13, however Claim 15 is only dependent upon claim 12. For the purpose of compact prosecution claim 15 will be examined as if it were dependent upon claim 13. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-103 AIA The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. 07-15 AIA Claim s 1-5, 12-17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by Tomura et al. (US-20230268191-A1) . Regarding Claim 1 , Tomura teaches a method (Paragraph [0002] etching method taught) comprising: providing a wafer, wherein the wafer comprises an oxide containing material layer (Paragraph [0026] substrate is provided that includes a silicon-containing film. Paragraph [0036] silicon-containing film can include silicon oxide film); forming a mask comprising at least a pattern on a surface of the wafer, wherein the mask comprises an at least partially metallic material (Paragraph [0044] a mask is formed and can comprise tungsten, which is a metal. Paragraph [0045] Figure 2 the mask comprises a pattern on the surface of the wafer); and selectively etching the mask and the wafer under the mask by using an etchant gas (Paragraphs [0083-0084] the mask (element MK) and film (element SF) are etched by a process gas), wherein the etchant gas is selected from a group consisting of CF4, CHF3, and NF3 (Paragraphs [0078-0080] the process gas may include NF3, CF4, or CHF3. Paragraph [0078] all of the HF gas may be a gas for generating an HF species. Paragraph [0079] the gas for generating a HF species may be a hydrofluorocarbon gas. Paragraph [0080] CHF3 is a hydrofluorocarbon gas). Regarding Claim 2 , Tomura teaches wherein the oxide containing material layer comprises an oxide layer on a nitride layer (Paragraph [0043] the silicon-containing film can include a stack of alternating silicon oxide and silicon nitride films). Regarding Claim 3 , Tomura teaches wherein the oxide containing material layer comprises a stack of alternate oxide and nitride layers on top of each other (Paragraph [0043] the silicon-containing film can include a stack of alternating silicon oxide and silicon nitride films). Regarding Claim 4 , Tomura teaches wherein the at least partially metallic material comprises a tungsten containing material (Paragraph [0044] the mask may contain tungsten silicide). Regarding Claim 5 , Tomura teaches wherein the tungsten containing material comprises tungsten silicide (WSiX) (Paragraph [0044] the mask may contain tungsten silicide). Regarding Claim 12 , Tomura teaches a method (Paragraph [0002] etching method taught) comprising: forming a mask comprising at least a pattern on a wafer, wherein the mask comprises an at least partially metallic material (Paragraph [0044] a mask is formed and can comprise tungsten, which is a metal. Paragraph [0045] Figure 2 the mask comprises a pattern on the surface of the wafer); and selectively etching the mask and the wafer under the mask by using an etchant gas (Paragraphs [0083-0084] the mask (element MK) and film (element SF) are etched by a process gas), wherein the etchant gas is selected from a group consisting of CF4, CHF3, and NF3 (Paragraphs [0078-0080] the process gas may include NF3, CF4, or CHF3). Regarding Claim 13 , Tomura teaches wherein the wafer comprises an oxide containing material layer (Paragraph [0043] the silicon-containing film can include a stack of alternating silicon oxide and silicon nitride films). Regarding Claim 14 , Tomura teaches wherein the oxide containing material layer comprises an oxide layer on a top of a nitride layer (Paragraph [0043] the silicon-containing film can include a stack of alternating silicon oxide and silicon nitride films). Regarding Claim 15 , Tomura teaches wherein the oxide containing material layer comprises a stack of alternate oxide and nitride layers on top of each other (Paragraph [0043] the silicon-containing film can include a stack of alternating silicon oxide and silicon nitride films). Regarding Claim 16 , Tomura teaches wherein the at least partially metallic material comprises a tungsten containing material (Paragraph [0044] the mask may contain tungsten silicide). Regarding Claim 17 , Tomura teaches wherein the tungsten containing material comprises tungsten silicide (WSiX) (Paragraph [0044] the mask may contain tungsten silicide). Regarding Claim 19 , Tomura teaches wherein the etchant gas consists of CHF3 (Paragraph [0078] all of the HF gas may be a gas for generating an HF species. Paragraph [0079] the gas for generating a HF species may be a hydrofluorocarbon gas. Paragraph [0080] CHF3 is a hydrofluorocarbon gas) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-103 AIA The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. 07-21-aia AIA Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomura in view of Cai et al. (US20150287648-A1) . Regarding Claim 18 , Tomura teaches all the limitations of claim 12 as outlined above. Tomura teaches that the film to be etched can be a silicon-containing film, such as polycrystalline silicon (Paragraph [0043]). Tomura fails to teach that the etchant gas consists of CF4. Cai teaches methods related to forming semiconductor devices (Paragraph [0002]). Cai teaches an etching method that utilizes a pattern in a mask layer to etch a cavity into an underlying layer that can be silicon or other (Paragraph [0044] mask layer (element 108) has openings that expose substrate layer (element 106) and cavities are etching into the substrate layer by the second etching process. Paragraph [0036] the bulk substrate layer (element 106) can be silicon). The etching of the silicon layer can be conducted with a process gas that consists of CF4 (Paragraph [0044] the second etching process consists of CF4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method of Tomura by utilizing an etching gas that consists of CF4 as taught by Cai. It would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the etching gas taught by Tomura with an etching gas consisting of CF4 as taught by Cai since CF4 is an etching gas suitable for etching silicon and the selection of a known material, which is based upon its suitability for the intended use, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.07. Additionally, this modification could be considered the simple substitution of one etching gas for another. The simple substitution of one known element for another is likely to be obvious when predictable results are achieved. See MPEP §2143(B) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tomura in view of Thedjoisworo et al. (US20150287648-A1) . Regarding Claim 20 , Tomura teaches all the limitations of claim 12 as outlined above. Tomura teaches that the film to be etched can be a silicon-containing film, such as silicon oxide (Paragraph [0043]). Tomura fails to teach that the etchant gas consists of CF4. Thedjoisworo teaches methods that include etching silicon oxide and silicon layers (Paragraph [0002]). Teaches that the etching process can include the use of an etchant gas that consists of NF3, where a plasma is used to cause etching (Paragraph [0073]). Thedjoisworo teaches that the use of NF3 as the etching gas for a plasma etching can result in a high etch rate and avoid attacking of sidewalls (Paragraph [0073]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method of Tomura by utilizing an etching gas that consists of NF3 as taught by Thedjoisworo. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification because Thedjoisworo teaches that the use of NF3 as the etching gas can result in a high etch rate and avoid attacking sidewalls during the etch (Paragraph [0073]). Additionally, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the etching gas taught by Tomura with an etching gas consisting of NFs as taught by Thedjoisworo since NF3 is an etching gas suitable for etching silicon oxide and the selection of a known material, which is based upon its suitability for the intended use, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.07 . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Togo et al. (US-20230389317-A1) in view of Lin (US-20230360925-A1) . Regarding Claim 1 , Togo teaches a method (Paragraph [0004] a method is taught) comprising: providing a wafer, wherein the wafer comprises an oxide containing material layer (Paragraphs [0145-0146] Figure 9 a substrate is provided that includes an alternating stack (elements 232 and 242) of layers that can be silicon oxide and silicon nitride); forming a mask comprising at least a pattern on a surface of the wafer (Paragraph [0145] an etch mask is formed on the substrate and patterned. Paragraph [0187] the etch mask can be a hard mask material that is an insulating, semiconductor, or conductive material); and selectively etching the wafer under the mask by using an etchant gas, wherein the etchant gas is selected from a group consisting of CF4, CHF3, and NF3 (Paragraphs [0145-0146] openings are formed by an etching process that selectively etches to make the openings, and the etching process uses CF4, CHF3, or NF3). Togo fails to teach wherein the mask comprises an at least partially metallic material and is etched during the etching process. Lin teaches methods related to etching features (Paragraph [0001]). Lin teaches the use of metal silicides as hard mask layers within a hard mask structure (Paragraph [0012] metal silicides can be used within a hard mask). Lin teaches that silicon containing layers within a hard mask structure can be etched during an etching process, acting as sacrificial layers that can result in improved feature profiles (Paragraph [0013]). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have modified the method of Togo by selecting as a material for the hard mask a metal silicide as taught by Lin, and by making that selection the mask layer would be etched during the etching process. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this selection because the use of a silicon-containing material, such as those taught by Lin, in the hard mask could have allowed for the mask layer to be etched during the etching process as a sacrificial material which would have allowed for improved feature profiles (Lin Paragraph [0013]). Additionally, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to select as the hard mask material in the method of Togo a metal silicide as taught by Lin since metal silicides are known as hard mask materials and the selection of a known material, which is based upon its suitability for the intended use, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art. See MPEP 2144.07. Response to Arguments Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks Pg. 1-4, filed 04/20/2026, with respect to the 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection have been fully considered and are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Tomura fails to teach etching using an etchant gas that is selected from the group consisting of CF4, CHF3, and NF3. Examiner respectfully disagrees. As outlined in the rejection above, Tomura teaches embodiments where the etchant gas supplied can be a gas that is useful for generating an HF species, such as a hydrofluorocarbon like CHF3. Applicant argues that Tomura fails to meet the claimed limitations because Tomura teaches a method that utilizes a plasma during the etching process. Examiner respectfully disagrees. The term “etchant gas” is commonly used is the art plasma etching to describe gases that are supplied and then used in a plasma etching process. In this manner, Tomura teaches the use of a gas, that can be considered an etching gas, in an etching process. Examiner agrees that claim 1 does not require a plasma, however the broadest reasonable interpretation of claim 1 does not exclude the use of a plasma etching process. An interpretation where the claimed “etching” conducted “by using an etchant gas” includes the intermediate step of forming a plasma from the etchant gas, meets the limitations of claim 1. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANDREW KEELAN LAOBAK whose telephone number is (703)756-5447. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:30pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joshua Allen can be reached at 571-270-3176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /A.K.L./Examiner, Art Unit 1713 /DUY VU N DEO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 2 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 3 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 4 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 5 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 6 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 7 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 8 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 9 Art Unit: 1713 Application/Control Number: 18/607,202 Page 10 Art Unit: 1713
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