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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
(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.
Claims 1, 4, 6-13 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dobashi et al. [US 2021/0335568 A1].
Regarding claim 1, Dobashi et al. discloses a method for processing a substrate (Figs. 4, 9 and 11), the method comprising:
receiving the substrate (Fig. 12, item 1240) on a substrate holder (1220) disposed in a processing chamber (410, 910, 1110), the substrate comprising a patterned hardmask (paragraphs [0042] and [0057]) disposed over an underlying layer (as shown in Fig. 5), the patterned hardmask comprising features;
forming a first angle (paragraphs [0038] teaches a minimum tilt angle of 10° and a maximum tilt angle of 85°) between a processing beam emitted from a processing nozzle and a normal direction of the substrate holder (as shown in Fig. 14A θ=0º), the first angle selected such that the processing beam is shadowed from implanting into the underlying layer by adjacent features in the patterned hardmask (as shown in Figs. 5 and 14A-14C, see also paragraphs [0091]-[0093] teaches the angles);
emitting the processing beam at the first angle to modify a material of the patterned hardmask along a top surface of the patterned hardmask and along a sidewall of features in the patterned hardmask to form a modified hardmask (as shown in Figs. 2A-2B, 3C-3D and 5, see also (paragraphs [0038] teaches a minimum tilt angle of 10° and a maximum tilt angle of 85°), the modified hardmask comprising a first region (sidewall) and a second region (top surface), the first region being a same material as the patterned hardmask (paragraph [0057] teaches the hard mask layers), the second region being modified by the emitting of the processing beam to form a modified material (as indicated with the arrows); and etching the underlying layer according to the modified hardmask, the second region being more etch resistant than the first region during the etching (as show in Figs. 2A-2B, 3C-3D and 5, see also paragraphs [0039]-[0046] and [0053]-[0064] teaches the process being performed in any desired direction in the pattern by rotating the substrate, or equivalently, rotating the x-y axes about the z-axis by an angle, ϕ, referred to as the twist angle).
Regarding claims 4, 12 and 13, Dobashi et al. discloses wherein wherein the first angle is between 20° and 70° (paragraphs [0038] teaches a minimum tilt angle of 10° and a maximum tilt angle of 85°/65° and paragraph [0072] teaches 55°).
Regarding claims 6 and 8, Dobashi et al. discloses wherein the modified hardmask comprises a first material implanted by the processing beam and a second material of the patterned hardmask, wherein the top surface and the sidewall meet at the second region and the modified hardmask resists etching or sputtering in the second region compared to the first region (paragraph [0057] teaches the hard mask layers, see also Fig. 5).
Regarding claims 9 and 10, Dobashi et al. discloses wherein the processing beam comprises an interaction depth between 2 nm and 20 nm, wherein the interaction depth is determined by a beam energy of the processing beam, and the beam energy is between 30 keV and 60 keV (paragraph [0028]).
Regarding claims 11, Dobashi et al. discloses a method for processing a substrate (Figs. 4, 9 and 11), the method comprising:
receiving the substrate (Fig. 12, item 1240) on a substrate holder (1220) disposed in a processing chamber (1220), the substrate comprising a patterned mask disposed over a layer to be processed (as shown in Fi. 5);
aligning a beam to be at a first angle (paragraphs [0038] teaches a minimum tilt angle of 10° and a maximum tilt angle of 85°) between a normal direction of a top surface of the substrate holder (as shown in Fig. 14A θ=0º) and a beam direction of a processing tool disposed in the processing chamber (as shown in Figs. 14A-14C, see also paragraphs [0091]-[0093] teaches the angles); exposing the substrate to the beam from the processing tool to inject atoms into a first sidewall of the patterned mask to form a first region in the patterned mask (as indicated by the arrows in Figs. 2A-2B, 3C-3D and 5); aligning the beam to be at a second angle between the normal direction of the top surface of the substrate holder and the beam direction of the processing tool (as shown in Figs. 14A-14C); exposing the substrate to the beam from the processing tool to inject atoms into a second sidewall of the patterned mask to form a second region in the patterned mask (paragraph [0057] teaches the hard mask layers); and etching the substrate using an etch mask comprising the first region, the second region, and remaining regions of the patterned mask to form features in the layer to be processed (as show in Figs. 2A-2B, 3C-3D and 5, see also paragraphs [0039]-[0046] and [0053]-[0064] teaches the process being performed in any desired direction in the pattern by rotating the substrate, or equivalently, rotating the x-y axes about the z-axis by an angle, ϕ, referred to as the twist angle).
Regarding claim 17, Dobashi et al. discloses a system for processing a substrate (Figs. 12-14), the system comprising: holder
a scanning chamber (1224) coupled to a processing chamber (1210) through a rotatable feedthrough (as shown in Figs. 12-14, see also paragraphs [0085]-[0093] teaches the system for processing a substrate);
a scanner (1200) disposed in the scanning chamber, the scanner comprising a substrate holder (1220) disposed on a scanning arm extending through the rotatable feedthrough into the processing chamber (as shown in Figs. 12-14, see also paragraphs [0085]-[0093] teaches scanning the substrate and the rotatable feedthrough);
a processing tool (1210) coupled to the processing chamber (1224) through a processing nozzle (1400); and
a controller (1260) coupled to the scanner (1200), the processing tool (1210), the rotatable feedthrough (1222), and a memory storing instructions to be executed in the controller (as shown in Figs. 12-14, see also paragraphs [0085]-[0093] teaches the system for processing a substrate), the instructions when executed cause the controller to:
receive the substrate (1240) on the substrate holder (1220), the substrate comprising a patterned hardmask (paragraphs [0042] and [0057]) disposed over an underlying layer (as shown in Fig. 5), the patterned hardmask comprising features;
forming a first angle (paragraphs [0038] teaches a minimum tilt angle of 10° and a maximum tilt angle of 85°) between a processing beam emitted from a processing nozzle and a normal direction of the substrate holder (as shown in Fig. 14A θ=0º), the first angle selected such that the processing beam is shadowed from implanting into the underlying layer by adjacent features in the patterned hardmask (as shown in Figs. 5 and 14A-14C, see also paragraphs [0091]-[0093] teaches the angles);
emitting the processing beam at the first angle to modify a material of the patterned hardmask along a top surface of the patterned hardmask and along a sidewall of features in the patterned hardmask to form a modified hardmask (as shown in Figs. 2A-2B, 3C-3D and 5, see also (paragraphs [0038] teaches a minimum tilt angle of 10° and a maximum tilt angle of 85°), the modified hardmask comprising a first region (sidewall) and a second region (top surface), the first region being a same material as the patterned hardmask (paragraph [0057] teaches the hard mask layers), the second region being modified by the emitting of the processing beam to form a modified material (as indicated with the arrows); and etching the underlying layer according to the modified hardmask, the second region being more etch resistant than the first region during the etching (as show in Figs. 2A-2B, 3C-3D and 5, see also paragraphs [0039]-[0046] and [0053]-[0064] teaches the process being performed in any desired direction in the pattern by rotating the substrate, or equivalently, rotating the x-y axes about the z-axis by an angle, ϕ, referred to as the twist angle).
Regarding claims 7, 18 and 19 Dobashi et al. discloses wherein the processing tool is a gas cluster tool, and the processing beam includes gas clusters, wherein the processing tool is an ion implantation device, and the processing beam is an ion beam (paragraphs [0023] and [0024] teaches gas cluster ion beam processing system).
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 2, 3, 5, 15, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dobashi et al. in view of Ventzek et al. [US 2022/0068607 A1].
Regarding claims 2, 3, 5, 15, 16 and 20 Dobashi et al. discloses wherein the patterned hardmask (paragraphs [0042] and [0057]) is patterned photoresist, the underlying layer is SiO2, the processing beam includes gas clusters tool (paragraphs [0053]-[0064]).
Dobashi et al. does not teach wherein gas clusters comprising hydrogen, B2H6, HBr or wherein the processing beam is a plasma jet for shallow modification of the underlying layer.
However, Ventzek et al. discloses a gas cluster assisted plasma processing apparatus for modifying a hardmask comprising gas clusters of various gasses including hydrogen and boron (paragraph [0029]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a plasma gas clusters process comprising of various gasses, as taught by Ventzek et al. in the system of Dobashi et al. because such a modification provides a suitable alternative etch processes using relatively simple plasma processing conditions, thereby lowering the processing cost and raising the process yield (paragraph [0071] of Ventzek et al.).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dobashi et al. in view of Mignot et al. [US 2020/0144061 A1].
Regarding claim 14 Dobashi et al. discloses the method, as applied above.
Dobashi et al. does not teach wherein exposing the substrate to the beam strengthens corners of the patterned mask.
However, Mignot et al. discloses an implantation post extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography to prevent defectivity transfer caused by resist scumming and resist line breaks wherein boron ions are representative of a class of ions that retard etching of implanted hardmask (paragraph [0041]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide boron implantation, as taught by Mignot et al. in the system of Dobashi et al. because such a modification retard etching of implanted hardmask and as such can allow for eliminating any negative impact of resist scumming onto the production yield of advanced integrated circuits and to improving economics of EUV-based lithography and related pattern definition processes (paragraph [0003] of Mignot et al.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEORAM PERSAUD whose telephone number is (571)270-5476. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM-5PM.
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/DEORAM PERSAUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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