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 § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1, 3-7, 10, 18-21, 26, 29, 31, & 36-37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 20120015475) in view of Lee et al. (US 20100210068).
Regarding claim 1, Liu discloses that method comprising:
providing a wafer to a processing chamber, the wafer having a layer of a chalcogenide material 24 (Fig. 2, note: a chamber is inherently exited to deposit or etching);
heating the wafer to a first temperature (para. 0026); and
etching the layer of the chalcogenide material by modifying a surface of the layer of chalcogenide material 46 by flowing a first chemical species comprising a fluoride or a chloride onto the wafer to create a modified layer of chalcogenide material (para. 0020) while the wafer is at the first temperature, and removing the modified layer of chalcogenide material (Fig. 4) by flowing a second chemical species comprising a compound with a center atom that is aluminum, boron, silicon, or germanium, and with at least one chlorine, onto the wafer para. 0020, it can be Cl2 or HBr, CF4).
Liu fail to teach that without using a plasma.
However, Lee, suggests that it can be done by washing and rinsing (0037-0038).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of applicant(s) claimed invention was made to provide Liu with without using a plasma as taught by Lee in order to remove etching residual product (para. 0037) and also, the claim would have been obvious because a particular know technique was recognized as part of the ordinary capabilities of one skilled in the art.
Reclaim 3, Liu & Lee disclose that the chalcogenide material comprises germanium antimony tellurium (Liu, GST).
Reclaim 4, Liu & Lee disclose that the first chemical species comprises a hydrogen fluoride, a nitrogen fluoride, a sulfur fluoride, a xenon fluoride, a hydrogen chloride, a sulfur chloride, or a nitrogen chloride (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 5, Liu & Lee disclose that the compound further comprises one or more of: a plurality of chlorine atoms, a hydrogen, a methyl group, or an ethyl group (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 6, Liu & Lee disclose that the compound comprises one of dimethylaluminum chloride and trimethylaluminum chloride (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 7, Liu & Lee disclose that depositing, after the etching, an encapsulation material onto the etched layer of chalcogenide material (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 10, Liu & Lee disclose that the encapsulation material comprises[[ an]] aluminum or silicon (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 18, Liu & Lee disclose that the modifying includes flowing a first process gas comprising the first chemical species, and the removing includes flowing a second process gas comprising the second chemical species (Liu, Fig. 4-5).
Reclaim 19, Liu & Lee disclose that flowing the first process gas onto the wafer at least partially overlaps with flowing the second process gas onto the wafer (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 20, Liu & Lee disclose that flowing the first process gas does not overlap with flowing the second process gas onto the wafer (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 21, Liu & Lee disclose that the etching further includes: stopping the flow of the first process gas, flowing, after stopping the flow of the first process gas, a purge gas onto the onto the wafer, and starting the flow of the second process gas during or after the flowing of the purge gas (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 26, Liu & Lee disclose that the modifying includes using a plasma (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 29. , Liu & Lee disclose that the modifying does not use a plasma (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 31, Liu & Lee disclose that the modifying occurs while the wafer is maintained at the first temperature, and the removing occurs while the wafer is maintained at a second temperature different than the first temperature (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 36, Liu & Lee disclose that the modifying and the removing occur while the processing chamber is maintained at substantially the same pressure (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Reclaim 37, Liu & Lee disclose that the modifying occurs while the processing chamber is maintained at a first pressure, and the removing occurs while the processing chamber is maintained at a second pressure different than the first pressure (Liu para. 0026-0027in view of Lee para. 0037).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11 & 14-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/SU C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2899
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