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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on October 1, 2025 and April 7, 2026 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 12 and 19 are objected to because of the following informalities:
“plasma effluents” should read “the plasma effluents” (claim 1, line 8 and claim 19, line 8);
“that” should be inserted between “substrate” and “is disposed” (claim 12, line 2).
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 4, 7-10 and 12-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2025/0239446 A1 (hereinafter “Gunji”) in view of US 5,840,600 (hereinafter “Yamazaki”), US 2002/0164429 A1 (hereinafter “Gaillard”) and US 2023/0132629 A1 (hereinafter “Sawamura”).
Regarding claim 1, Gunji discloses a semiconductor processing method comprising:
providing a hydrogen-containing precursor (H2; [0041]) and a nitrogen-containing precursor (NH3; [0041]) to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber ([0037]), wherein a substrate is disposed within the processing region ([0024]), and wherein the substrate comprises a layer (33; Fig. 3B; [0026]) of a silicon-containing material (silicon oxide);
forming plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor ([0048]);
contacting the substrate with the plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor (Fig. 3C; [0037], [0045] and [0048]);
providing one or more etchant precursors to the processing region ([0052]-[0057]); and
contacting the substrate with the one or more etchant precursors ([0057]).
Gunji does not explicitly disclose the contacting reduces a carbon concentration, a nitrogen concentration, or both in a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material, and the contacting removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material.
Yamazaki teaches that a silicon oxide film formed by plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as a precursor contains a large amount of carbon (col. 7, lines 60-65). Examiner notes that Gunji’s silicon oxide film may be formed by plasma CVD using a TEOS precursor ([0031] and [0035]).
Gaillard teaches contacting the substrate with plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor reduces a carbon concentration in a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (a carbon-doped silicon oxide film; [0049], [0050] and [0053]).
Sawamura teaches contacting the substrate (4; Fig. 1; [0077]) with the one or more etchant precursors removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (a silicon oxide film; [0022], [0058] and [0078]-[0079]).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji with the specified features of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to contact the substrate with plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor such that the contacting reduces a carbon concentration in a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material, as taught by Gaillard, and to contact the substrate with the one or more etchant precursors such that the contacting removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material, as taught by Sawamura, in order to increase the porosity and decrease the dielectric constant of the silicon oxide film (Gaillard: [0054]), and in order to increase the manufacturing throughput by employing a single step at low temperature to remove the silicon oxide film (Sawamura: [0026], [0030] and [0058]) rather than two separate steps (i.e., chemical oxide removal (COR) and post heat treatment (PHT)) in two different chambers as described by Gunji in [0052]-[0061].
Regarding claim 2, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the hydrogen-containing precursor comprises diatomic hydrogen (H2) (Gunji: [0041]).
Regarding claim 4, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the semiconductor processing method of claim 1.
Gunji does not explicitly disclose the silicon-containing material further comprises carbon, nitrogen, or both.
Yamazaki teaches the silicon-containing material (silicon oxide) further comprises carbon (col. 7, lines 60-65).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura with the specified features of Yamazaki because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to form the silicon-containing material to further comprise carbon, as taught by Yamazaki, because the TEOS precursor employed by Gunji includes carbon (the chemical formula is Si(OC2H5)4 according to [0031] of Gunji) which may be unintentionally incorporated into the silicon oxide film during plasma CVD.
Regarding claim 7, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the processing region is maintained plasma-free while contacting the substrate with the one or more etchant precursors (Gunji: [0052] and [0056]).
Regarding claim 8, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose repeating the operations for a plurality of cycles to remove the layer of the silicon-containing material (Gunji: [0062]).
Regarding claim 9, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose a temperature within the processing region is maintained at less than or about 500 °C (Gunji: [0028], [0039], [0055] and [0058]).
Regarding claim 10, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose a pressure within the processing region is maintained between about 1 Torr and about 10 Torr (Gunji: [0029] and [0040]; note: 133.3 pascal (Pa) = 1 Torr).
Regarding claim 12, Gunji discloses a semiconductor processing method comprising:
treating a layer (33) of a silicon-containing material (silicon oxide) on a substrate that is disposed within a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber (Fig. 3C; [0024] and [0037]);
providing one or more etchant precursors to the processing region ([0052]-[0057]); and
contacting the substrate with the one or more etchant precursors ([0057]).
Gunji does not explicitly disclose the treating removes carbon, nitrogen, or both from the layer of the silicon-containing material, and the contacting removes a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material.
Yamazaki teaches that a silicon oxide film formed by plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as a precursor contains a large amount of carbon (col. 7, lines 60-65). Examiner notes that Gunji’s silicon oxide film may be formed by plasma CVD using a TEOS precursor ([0031] and [0035]).
Gaillard teaches the treating removes carbon from the layer of the silicon-containing material (a carbon-doped silicon oxide film; [0049], [0050] and [0053]).
Sawamura teaches the contacting removes a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (a silicon oxide film; [0022], [0058] and [0078]-[0079]).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji with the specified features of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to perform the treating such that carbon is removed from the layer of the silicon-containing material, as taught by Gaillard, and to perform the contacting such that a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material is removed, as taught by Sawamura, in order to increase the porosity and decrease the dielectric constant of the silicon oxide film (Gaillard: [0054]), and in order to increase the manufacturing throughput by employing a single step at low temperature to remove the silicon oxide film (Sawamura: [0026], [0030] and [0058]) rather than two separate steps (i.e., chemical oxide removal (COR) and post heat treatment (PHT)) in two different chambers as described by Gunji in [0052]-[0061].
Regarding claim 13, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose treating the layer of the silicon-containing material comprises contacting the layer of the silicon-containing material with plasma effluents of a hydrogen-containing precursor (H2) and a nitrogen-containing precursor (NH3) (Gunji: [0041]).
Regarding claim 14, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor are formed at a plasma power of greater than or about 1,000 W (Gunji: [0046] and [0048]).
Regarding claim 15, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the one or more etchant precursors comprise one or more fluorine-containing precursors (Gunji: [0054]).
Regarding claim 16, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the one or more fluorine-containing precursors comprise hydrogen fluoride (HF), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), or both (Gunji: [0054]).
Regarding claim 17, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the semiconductor processing method of claim 12.
Gunji does not explicitly disclose the layer of the silicon-containing material is treated for a period of time greater than or about 5 seconds.
Gaillard teaches the layer of the silicon-containing material is treated for a period of time greater than or about 5 seconds ([0052]).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura with the specified features of Gaillard because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to treat the layer of the silicon-containing material for a period of time greater than or about 5 seconds, as taught by Gaillard, in order to increase the porosity and decrease the dielectric constant of the silicon oxide film (Gaillard: [0054]).
Regarding claim 18, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the semiconductor processing method of claim 12, wherein the substrate further comprises a second silicon-containing material (Gunji: silicon nitride film 31; Fig. 3A; [0025]).
Gunji does not disclose the contacting of the substrate with the one or more etchant precursors selectively removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material relative to the second silicon-containing material.
Sawamura teaches the contacting of the substrate with the one or more etchant precursors selectively removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (silicon oxide) relative to the second silicon-containing material (silicon nitride) ([0058] and [0064]).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura with the specified features of Sawamura because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to perform the contacting of the substrate with the one or more etchant precursors such that the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material is selectively removed relative to the second silicon-containing material, as taught by Sawamura, in order to form a three-dimensional memory including a plurality of parallel SiN layers with spaces therebetween (Sawamura [0065]).
Regarding claim 19, Gunji discloses a semiconductor processing method comprising:
providing a hydrogen-containing precursor (H2; [0041]) and a nitrogen-containing precursor (NH3; [0041]) to a processing region of a semiconductor processing chamber ([0037]), wherein a substrate is disposed within the processing region ([0024]), and wherein the substrate comprises a layer (33; Fig. 3B; [0026]) of a silicon-containing material (silicon oxide);
forming plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor ([0048]);
contacting the substrate with the plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor (Fig. 3C; [0037], [0045] and [0048]);
halting a flow of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor (in the case that steps S2-S4 of the method depicted in Fig. 2 are repeated, with step S2 using TEOS and O2 but neither H2 nor NH3, as described in [0031]-[0032] and [0062]);
providing one or more fluorine-containing precursors to the processing region ([0052]-[0057]); and
contacting the substrate with the one or more fluorine-containing precursors ([0057]), wherein the processing region is maintained plasma-free while contacting the substrate with the one or more fluorine-containing precursors ([0052] and [0056]).
Gunji does not explicitly disclose the contacting reduces a carbon concentration, a nitrogen concentration, or both in a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material, and the contacting removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material.
Yamazaki teaches that a silicon oxide film formed by plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as a precursor contains a large amount of carbon (col. 7, lines 60-65). Examiner notes that Gunji’s silicon oxide film may be formed by plasma CVD using a TEOS precursor ([0031] and [0035]).
Gaillard teaches contacting the substrate with plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor reduces a carbon concentration in a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (a carbon-doped silicon oxide film; [0049], [0050] and [0053]).
Sawamura teaches contacting the substrate (4; Fig. 1; [0077]) with the one or more fluorine-containing precursors removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (a silicon oxide film; [0022], [0058] and [0078]-[0079]).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji with the specified features of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to contact the substrate with plasma effluents of the hydrogen-containing precursor and the nitrogen-containing precursor such that the contacting reduces a carbon concentration in a portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material, as taught by Gaillard, and to contact the substrate with the one or more fluorine-containing precursors such that the contacting removes the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material, as taught by Sawamura, in order to increase the porosity and decrease the dielectric constant of the silicon oxide film (Gaillard: [0054]), and in order to increase the manufacturing throughput by employing a single step at low temperature to remove the silicon oxide film (Sawamura: [0026], [0030] and [0058]) rather than two separate steps (i.e., chemical oxide removal (COR) and post heat treatment (PHT)) in two different chambers as described by Gunji in [0052]-[0061].
Regarding claim 20, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose repeating the operations for a plurality of cycles to remove the layer of the silicon-containing material (Gunji: [0062]).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 2024/0055270 A1 (hereinafter “Otto”).
Regarding claim 3, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the semiconductor processing method of claim 1.
Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura do not disclose the nitrogen-containing precursor comprises diatomic nitrogen (N2).
Otto teaches the nitrogen-containing precursor comprises diatomic nitrogen (N2) ([0023]).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard, Sawamura and Otto are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura with the specified features of Otto because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide the nitrogen-containing precursor comprising diatomic nitrogen (N2), as taught by Otto, because pure N2 is a non-toxic, non-flammable gas. In contrast, NH3 is highly toxic, corrosive, and can form explosive mixtures with air.
Furthermore, it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 277 F.2d 197, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960). MPEP 2144.07.
Claim(s) 5, 6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US 10,879,111 B1 (hereinafter “Yen”).
Regarding claim 5, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the semiconductor processing method of claim 1.
Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura do not explicitly disclose the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material is characterized by a thickness of greater than or about 5 Å.
Yen teaches the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (e.g., silicon oxide; col. 4, line 51) is characterized by a thickness of greater than or about 5 Å (col. 7, lines 50-53).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard, Sawamura and Yen are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura with the specified features of Yen because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to form the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material to be characterized by a thickness of greater than or about 5 Å, as taught by Yen, in order to enable fine control of the semiconductor processing method.
Regarding claim 6, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the semiconductor processing method of claim 1.
Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura do not explicitly disclose the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material is characterized by a thickness of less than or about 25 Å.
Yen teaches the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material (e.g., silicon oxide; col. 4, line 51) is characterized by a thickness of less than or about 25 Å (col. 7, lines 50-53).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard, Sawamura and Yen are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura with the specified features of Yen because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to form the portion of the layer of the silicon-containing material to be characterized by a thickness of less than or about 25 Å, as taught by Yen, in order to enable fine control of the semiconductor processing method.
Regarding claim 11, Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura disclose the semiconductor processing method of claim 1.
Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura do not disclose the layer of the silicon-containing material comprises an inner spacer of a gate all around (GAA) structure.
Yen teaches the layer of the silicon-containing material comprises an inner spacer of a gate all around (GAA) structure (col. 9, lines 62-67).
Gunji, Yamazaki, Gaillard, Sawamura and Yen are analogous art because they each are directed to semiconductor manufacturing processes and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Gunji in view of Yamazaki, Gaillard and Sawamura with the specified features of Yen because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to form the layer of the silicon-containing material to comprise an inner spacer of a gate all around (GAA) structure, as taught by Yen, because of the performance advantages of GAA field-effect transistors such as improved electrostatic control of the channel and increased drive current.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER M ALBRECHT whose telephone number is (571)272-7813. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM (CT).
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/PETER M ALBRECHT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2811
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