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 .
This is the initial office action for US Patent Application No. 18/620810 by Kubo et al.
Claims 1-8 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ono et al. (US 2023/0194977 A1), herein referred to as Ono, in view of Nonoguchi et al. (JP 2024033288A), herein referred to as Nonoguchi. Ono is provided in Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement filed 6/6/2024.
Regarding claims 1 and 2, Ono teaches a pellicle film (Claim 1 and [0176-0179]) comprising carbon nanotubes wherein the pellicle film is configured to be a porous structure (carbon nanotube film has pores). As seen in Figure 4, the pellicle film has a first pellicle film surface and a second pellicle film surface on a side opposite to the first pellicle film surface.
Ono does not appear to explicitly teach the limitation of claim 1 of “a standard deviation of an orientation angle of the carbon nanotubes is 8.0 degrees or less” or the limitations of claim 2 of the “standard deviation of the orientation angle of the carbon nanotubes is in a range of 0.5 degrees to 8.0 degrees”. Examiner notes that the steps of determining the standard deviation recited in claim 1 do not further limit the structural limitations of the claimed pellicle film. However, from the field of carbon nanotube film preparation, Nonoguchi recites the formation of a carbon nanotube composite film.
In view of claims 1 and 2, Nonoguchi teaches (English translation of Nonoguchi, page 3, third paragraph) the carbon nanotube composite film is configured to have carbon nanotubes positioned such that the standard deviation of the orientation angle of the carbon nanotubes is 30 degrees or less. Nonoguchi explains that such configuration allows for the carbon nanotube composite film to have a highly uniaxial orientation and a relatively large area. In view of MPEP Chapter 2144.05, a prima facie case of obviousness is established because the range of the standard deviation of orientation angle taught by Nonoguchi overlaps the claimed standard deviation range recited in claims 1 and 2.
Therefore, at the time of the filing date of the present application, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the pellicle film taught by Ono to include the teachings of Nonoguchi, directed to producing a carbon nanotube composite film having an orientation angle with a low standard deviation, for the benefit of manufacturing a pellicle film that exhibits improved structural integrity during a photolithographic exposure process.
In view of claim 3, the limitation “wherein the image obtained by imaging the first pellicle film surface or the second pellicle film surface is an image captured with a scanning electron microscope” does not further limit the structural limitations of the pellicle film recited in claim 1. Therefore, based on the discussion of the rejection of claims 1 and 2 above, claim 3 is considered to be obvious in view of the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi because the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi reasonably suggest the structural limitations of the claimed pellicle film.
In view of claim 4, the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi teaches (Ono [0194-0195]) the carbon nanotubes used in the pellicle film may have a length of at least 0.1 µm to 30 µm or less. Therefore, claim 4 is considered to be obvious in view of the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi.
In view of claim 5, the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi teaches (Ono [0187]) the carbon nanotubes used in the pellicle film may have a tube diameter from 0.8 nm to 6 nm. Therefore, claim 5 is considered to be obvious in view of the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi.
In view of claim 6, the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi teaches (Ono [0085]) the pellicle film may be configured as a free-standing film. Therefore, claim 6 is considered to be obvious in view of the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi.
In view of claim 7, the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi teaches (Ono [0103]) a pellicle comprising the pellicle film attached to a supporting frame. Therefore, claim 7 is considered to be obvious in view of the combination of Ono and Nonoguchi.
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claim 8 is considered to be allowable because the prior art does not teach or suggest Applicant’s claimed method for measuring a standard deviation of an orientation angle of carbon nanotubes included in a pellicle film having a porous structure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to STEWART A FRASER whose telephone number is (571)270-5126. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 7am-4pm, EST.
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/STEWART A FRASER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1724
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