CTNF 18/637,574 CTNF 98898 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. Claim Objections 07-29-01 AIA Claim 1 and dependent claims are objected to because of the following informalities: claim 1 and dependent claims recite the limitation “reducing metal oxides from a substrate surface” however “a substrate surface” already has antecedent basis in “removing carbon residue from a substrate surface”. The second instance should read “the substrate surface” and/or “a second substrate surface” Appropriate correction is required. Similarly, claim 17 and dependent claims are objected to because of the following informalities: claim 17 and dependent claims recite the limitation “reducing metal oxides from a substrate surface” however “a substrate surface” already has antecedent basis in “removing carbon residue from a substrate surface”. The second instance should read “the substrate surface” and/or “a second substrate surface” Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-15 AIA Claim s 1-5, 7-15, 17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102( a)(1 ) as being anticipated by US 20210082724 A1 Xie et al hereafter “Xie” . Claim 1 Xie teaches A semiconductor manufacturing processing methods comprising: removing carbon residue (1308 fig. 21, explicitly disclosed paragraph 0159 “The treatment process can be used to at least partially remove an etch residue layer (e.g., carbon, fluorine, nitrogen, oxygen, etc.)” and paragraph 0424 “The method of any preceding clause, wherein exposing the workpiece to the species to treat the workpiece at least partially removes an etch residue layer on the workpiece”) from a substrate surface (“workpiece” fig. 21, 114 top surface fig. 2 disclosed as “substrate” paragraph 0048) by exposing the substrate surface located adjacent to a first side (bottom side of 220 and/or 210 fig. 2) of a permeable barrier (220 and/or 210 fig. 2) to a microwave plasma (502, fig. 2, embodiment sufficiently disclosed Paragraph 0003 “microwave”) generated by a microwave source (135 fig. 2 embodiment sufficiently disclosed Paragraph 0003 “Plasma sources (e.g., microwave, ECR, inductive coupling, etc.”)) located adjacent to a second side (top side 210 and/or 220 fig. 2) of the permeable barrier; and reducing metal oxides (1314 fig. 21, sufficiently disclosed “Surface cleaning may also be required for films containing cobalt, germanium, or silicon in order to reduce undesired surface oxidation or nitridation of these metal films or layers”) from a substrate surface by exposing the substrate surface to microwave radiation (met in view of microwave as shown above and 1314 fig. 21) from the microwave source through the permeable barrier without generating a plasma [Sufficiently illustrated fig. 2 and paragraph 0049 as “remote plasma” in “As used herein, a “remote plasma” refers to a plasma generated remotely from a workpiece, such as in a plasma chamber separated from a workpiece by a separation grid. As used herein, a “direct plasma” refers to a plasma that is directly exposed to a workpiece, such as a plasma generated in a processing chamber having a workpiece support operable to support the workpiece” in conjunction with paragraph 0160 “In some embodiments, the systems and methods are operable to process workpieces to adjust properties of metal film layers using a H.sub.2/O.sub.2 remote plasma or direct plasma to generate one or more radicals” the examiner is relying on the embodiment of “remote plasma” and not “direct plasma”, and paragraph 0003 “The processing chamber can be “downstream” of the plasma chamber such that there is no direct exposure of the substrate to the plasma”]. Claim 2 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 1, wherein removing carbon residue occurs prior to reducing metal oxides [an embodiment is sufficiently disclosed paragraph 0424 “The method of any preceding clause, wherein exposing the workpiece to the species to treat the workpiece at least partially removes an etch residue layer on the workpiece”, “carbon” paragraph 0159]. Claim 3 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 1, wherein reducing metal oxides occurs prior to removing carbon residue [an embodiment is sufficiently disclosed paragraph 0424 “The method of any preceding clause, wherein exposing the workpiece to the species to treat the workpiece at least partially removes an etch residue layer on the workpiece”, “carbon” paragraph 0159]. Claim 4 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 1, wherein removing carbon residue comprises open gas inlets to allow a process gas to flow across the substrate surface [sufficiently disclosed 158 fig. 2 “A control valve 158 can be used to control a flow rate of each feed gas line to flow a process gas into the plasma chamber 120” paragraph 0057 in addition the different “flow rates” used for oxygen and hydrogen explicitly disclosed throughout disclosure]. Claim 5 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 4, wherein the process gas comprises hydrogen radicals [sufficiently illustrated fig. 2 “Hydrogen containing gas” and/or paragraph 0159 “hydrogen containing gas”]. Claim 7 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 6, wherein the substrate surface is exposed to a process gas with the microwave radiation [sufficiently disclosed paragraph 0003 “Plasma sources (e.g., microwave , ECR, inductive coupling, etc.)” in conjunction with 1304/1310 and “expose workpiece” fig. 21]. Claim 8 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 7, wherein the process gas comprises molecular hydrogen [sufficiently illustrated fig. 2 “Hydrogen containing gas” and/or paragraph 0159 “hydrogen containing gas”]. Claim 9 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 6, wherein reducing metal oxides removes substantially no carbon from the substrate surface [necessarily met in view of the carbon residue being removed in a preceding step, in this case 1308 and substantially no carbon residue being generated thereafter paragraph 0424 “The method of any preceding clause, wherein exposing the workpiece to the species to treat the workpiece at least partially removes an etch residue layer on the workpiece”]. Claim 10 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 1, wherein the permeable barrier comprises a plurality of plates with openings therethrough [sufficiently illustrated fig. 2]. Claim 11 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 10, wherein the permeable barrier comprises one or more of quartz, ceramic or metal [“metal” or “quarts” or “ceramic” disclosed paragraph 0056]. Claim 12 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 10, wherein the openings through the plurality of plates are staggered slits configured so that openings in one plate are not aligned with openings in an adjacent plate [sufficiently illustrated fig. 2]. Claim 13 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 10, wherein the permeable barrier filters ions from the microwave plasma while removing carbon residue from the substrate surface [sufficiently disclosed paragraph 0337 “the plasma chamber and the processing chamber are separated by a plurality of separation grids, the separation grids operable to filter ions generated in the plasma chamber, and the processing chamber having a workpiece support operable to support a workpiece” in conjunction with process as shown above]. Claim 14 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 1, wherein the substrate surface comprises a metal surface and a low-k dielectric surface [sufficiently discloses an embodiment that comprising low-k dielectric surfaces paragraph 0222 “metal” and “insulator layers that contain low-k materials” in “high temperature processes may be undesirable as they can increase the possibility of diffusion of the metal to the adjacent layers on the workpiece and can degrade insulator layers that contain low-k materials”]. Claim 15 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 14, wherein reducing metal oxides results in an acceptable amount of damage to a low-k dielectric on the substrate surface [sufficient disclosed paragraph 0154 “For instance, the surface treatments can be implemented to modify properties that include but are not limited to the repairment of the surface damage, passivation of the surface from further degradation, surface cleaning, crystallization, and so forth”]. Claim 17 Xie teaches a semiconductor manufacturing processing methods comprising: removing carbon residue (1308 fig. 21, explicitly disclosed paragraph 0159 “The treatment process can be used to at least partially remove an etch residue layer (e.g., carbon, fluorine, nitrogen, oxygen, etc.)” and paragraph 0424 “The method of any preceding clause, wherein exposing the workpiece to the species to treat the workpiece at least partially removes an etch residue layer on the workpiece”) from a substrate surface (“workpiece” fig. 21, 114 top surface fig. 2 disclosed as “substrate” paragraph 0048) comprising a metal surface and a low-k dielectric surface [sufficiently discloses an embodiment that comprising low-k dielectric surfaces paragraph 0222 “metal” and “insulator layers that contain low-k materials” in “high temperature processes may be undesirable as they can increase the possibility of diffusion of the metal to the adjacent layers on the workpiece and can degrade insulator layers that contain low-k materials”] by exposing (1308 fig. 21) the substrate surface located adjacent to a first side (bottom side 210 and/or 220 fig. 2) of a permeable barrier (210 and/or 220 fig. 2) to hydrogen radicals ( “hydrogen containing gas” paragraph 0159, “hydrogen radicals” paragraph 0158) from a microwave plasma (502 fig. 2, sufficiently disclosed paragraph 0003 “Plasma sources (e.g., microwave, ECR, inductive coupling, etc.)”) generated by a microwave source (135 fig. 2 sufficiently disclosed paragraph 0003 “Plasma sources (e.g., microwave, ECR, inductive coupling, etc.)”), the microwave plasma generated on a second side (top side fig. 2) of the permeable barrier; and reducing metal oxides (1312 fig. 21) from a substrate surface by exposing the substrate surface to microwave radiation from the microwave source through the permeable barrier without generating a plasma [sufficiently disclosed Paragraph 0160 “the systems and methods are operable to process workpieces to adjust properties of metal film layers using a H.sub.2/O.sub.2 remote plasma or direct plasma to generate one or more radicals” the examiner is relying on the of “remote plasma” and not “direct plasma” in such case no plasma is generated and/or directly exposed at the substrate surface]. Claim 19 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 17, wherein the permeable barrier comprises a plurality of plates with openings therethrough [sufficiently illustrated fig. 2]. Claim 20 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 17, wherein the permeable barrier comprises one or more of quartz, ceramic or metal[“metal” or “quarts” or “ceramic” disclosed paragraph 0056] . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xie as applied to claims above . Claim 16 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 1, Wherein “Those of ordinary skill in the art, using the disclosures provided herein, will understand that various steps of any of the methods described herein can be omitted, expanded, performed simultaneously, rearranged, and/or modified in various ways without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure” Paragraph 0254, and “In certain embodiments, (1006) and (1007) may be alternated cyclically until desired results on the workpiece have been obtained. Thus, in certain embodiments, the methods disclosed herein may use certain pulse and purge cycles in order to control exposure of the workpiece to the one or more radicals generated herein” paragraph 0196. Xie does not explicitly teach wherein removing the carbon residue and reducing the metal oxides are repeated in an alternating manner. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to Cycle steps 1302-1314 fig. 21 of Xie in view of the broader disclosure of Xie such that “removing the carbon residue and reducing the metal oxides are repeated in an alternating manner”. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to control exposure of the workpiece to the one or more radicals generated and/or to achieve the desired results of the process [Xie 0196]. In addition, duplication of parts is prima facie type obviousness [See MPEP 2144.04 VI. B.]. In this case its duplication of steps 1302-1314 fig. 21 . 07-22-aia AIA Claim s 6 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xie as applied to claim s above, and further in view of US 5599404 A Alger et al hereafter “Alger” . Claim 6 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 1, Xie teaches wherein reducing metal oxides comprises a flowing gas environment at the substrate surface [sufficiently disclosed 158 fig. 2 “A control valve 158 can be used to control a flow rate of each feed gas line to flow a process gas into the plasma chamber 120” paragraph 0057 in addition the different “flow rates” used for oxygen and hydrogen explicitly disclosed throughout disclosure] Xie does not explicitly teach wherein reducing metal oxides comprises closed gas inlets to create a static gas environment at the substrate surface. Alger teaches a metal oxide reducing process [sufficiently illustrated Fig. 11] and that a static hydrogen gas environment is an art recognized alternative and/or equivalent to a flowing hydrogen gas environment [Paragraph 20 “a substrate material surface and contiguous regions of the substrate material are placed in contact with a static or flowing hydrogen/ammonia atmosphere”]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xie in view of Alger such that “reducing metal oxides comprises closed gas inlets to create a static gas environment at the substrate surface”. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to as substituting equivalents known for the same purpose is prima facie type obviousness [See MPEP 2144.06]. In this case it is “a flowing hydrogen environment” for “a static hydrogen environment”. Claim 18 Xie teaches as shown above the method of claim 17, wherein reducing metal oxides comprises a flowing hydrogen gas environment at the substrate surface [sufficiently disclosed 158 fig. 2 “A control valve 158 can be used to control a flow rate of each feed gas line to flow a process gas into the plasma chamber 120” paragraph 0057 in addition the different “flow rates” used for oxygen and hydrogen explicitly disclosed throughout disclosure] Xie does not explicitly teach wherein reducing metal oxides comprises a static gas environment comprising molecular hydrogen at the substrate surface. Alger teaches a metal oxide reducing process [sufficiently illustrated Fig. 11] and that a static hydrogen gas environment is an art recognized alternative and/or equivalent to a flowing hydrogen gas environment [Paragraph 20 “a substrate material surface and contiguous regions of the substrate material are placed in contact with a static or flowing hydrogen/ammonia atmosphere”]. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Xie in view of Alger such that “reducing metal oxides comprises a static gas environment comprising molecular hydrogen at the substrate surface.”. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification to as substituting equivalents known for the same purpose is prima facie type obviousness [See MPEP 2144.06]. In this case it is “a flowing hydrogen environment” for “a static hydrogen environment”. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to William C Trice whose telephone number is (703)756-1875. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30am-5:00pm. 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, Britt Hanley can be reached at (571) 270-3042. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /WCT/Examiner, Art Unit 2893 /Britt Hanley/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 2 Art Unit: 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 3 Art Unit: 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 4 Art Unit: 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 5 Art Unit: 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 6 Art Unit: 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 7 Art Unit: 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 8 Art Unit: 2893 Application/Control Number: 18/637,574 Page 9 Art Unit: 2893
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