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 .
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-19 in the reply filed on August 5, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 20-21 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 7, the phrase “inert gas” contains a relative term “inert”, which renders the claim indefinite. The term “inert” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. For the purpose of this examination, the examiner interprets the limitation as “a nitrogen (N2) gas or a rare gas such as an argon (Ar) gas, a helium (He) gas, a neon (Ne) gas, and a xenon (Xe) gas”, which has support from paragraph 0053 in the Specification as originally filed.
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 1-14 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Choi et al. (US20180226259).
Regarding claim 1, Choi discloses a processing method (abstract) comprising: etching at least a part of a surface of a concave portion by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times (paragraph 0053 and Figs. 3-4), the cycle including: (a) exciting and supplying a modifying agent to a substrate including the concave portion, the surface of which includes a substance containing oxygen, to change an oxygen concentration on a surface of an upper portion of the concave portion (modification of oxidized region 412a changes an oxygen concentration on a surface of an upper portion of the concave portion, paragraphs 0044 and 0059; Figs. 4B-4C); and (b) supplying an etching agent to the substrate in which the oxygen concentration on the surface of the upper portion of the concave portion is changed (paragraphs 0061-0062, Figs. 4C-4D).
Regarding claim 2, Choi discloses wherein in (a), an excited species generated by exciting the modifying agent is supplied to the substrate (paragraph 0044 and Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 3, Choi discloses wherein in (a), the modifying agent is excited into a plasma state and is supplied to the substrate (paragraph 0044 and Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 4, Choi discloses wherein in (a), an excited species generated by exciting the modifying agent into a plasma state is supplied to the substrate (paragraph 0044 and Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 5, Choi discloses wherein the modifying agent includes a reducing agent (paragraph 0044).
Regarding claim 6, Choi discloses wherein the modifying agent includes a hydrogen-containing gas (paragraph 0044).
Regarding claim 7, Choi discloses wherein in (a), the substrate is subjected to hydrogen-containing plasma processing (paragraph 0044 and Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 8, Choi discloses wherein in (a), the oxygen concentration on the surface of the upper portion of the concave portion is made different from an oxygen concentration on a surface of a portion other than the upper portion of the concave portion (paragraph 0045).
Regarding claim 9, Choi discloses wherein the surface of the concave portion includes an oxide (paragraph 0058).
Regarding claim 10, Choi discloses wherein the surface of the concave portion includes a substance containing silicon and oxygen (paragraph 0058).
Regarding claim 11, Choi discloses wherein the surface of the concave portion includes a silicon oxide (paragraph 0058).
Regarding claim 12, Choi discloses wherein the etching agent contains fluorine (paragraph 0048 and Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 13, Choi discloses wherein the etching agent contains fluorine and hydrogen (paragraph 0048).
Regarding claim 14, Choi discloses wherein the etching agent includes a first substance and a second substance, and at least one selected from the group of the first substance or the second substance contains fluorine (paragraph 0048).
Regarding claim 17, Choi discloses (c) oxidizing the surface of the concave portion after etching at least a part of the concave portion (substrates are exposed to air after the process is completed, paragraph 0025).
Regarding claim 18, Choi discloses (c) uniformizing the oxygen concentration of the surface of the concave portion after etching at least a part of the concave portion (substrates are exposed to air after the process is completed, paragraph 0025).
Regarding claim 19, Choi discloses a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising the method according to claim 1 (abstract and paragraph 0002).
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 of this title, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Choi et al. (US20180226259) as applied to claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 15, Choi discloses wherein in (b), the first substance and the second substance are separately supplied (paragraph 0048). Choi is silent about the first substance and the second substance are alternately supplied. However, selection of any order of mixing ingredients is prima facie obvious. See MPEP 2144.04 IV C.
Regarding claim 16, Choi discloses wherein in a case where a ratio of an etching rate on the surface of the upper portion of the concave portion to an etching rate on a surface of a lower portion of the concave portion by the etching agent in a case where (a) is not performed is set to ERRA, and a ratio of an etching rate on the surface of the upper portion of the concave portion to an etching rate on the surface of the lower portion of the concave portion by the etching agent in a case of performing (a) is set to ERRB, a ratio of ERRB to ERRA (ERRB/ERRA) is set to be smaller than 1 (the modification results in relatively faster etching at the bottom of the concave portion than the upper portion, paragraph 0044 and Figs. 4c-4D; therefore, the ratio is reduced when the surface is modified). Choi is silent about the ratio of ERRB to ERRA (ERRB/ERRA) being 0.01 or larger. However, where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable range by routine experimentation and there is no evidence of the criticality of the claimed range. See MPEP 2144.05II.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIONG-PING LU whose telephone number is (571) 270-1135. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 9:00am – 5:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joshua L Allen, can be reached at telephone number (571)270-3176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JIONG-PING LU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1713
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