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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-16, in the reply filed on 7/14/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
Claim(s) 1,4-5,9-10,13 and 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yoon et al (US 9,905,754).
Regarding claims 1 and 10, Yoon et al disclose a process of forming a plurality of mask patterns (20a) over a stack of layer (12,14,16,18), wherein plurality of mask pattern having Irregularities in the pattern 20a, shown as a wavy pattern in sidewalls of pattern 20a ( see col 3, lines 42-48; Figure 2); and aforesaid teaching reads on the claimed limitation of “the plurality of mask line includes a first sidewall and a second sidewall, wherein a surface defect is present along the first sidewall or the second sidewall.”
Yoon et al also disclose that performing a first ion beam etching on the mask pattern (20a) to form a second pattern (20b); in the first ion beam etching process, the ion beam may be incident on an upper surface of the substrate 10 at a first incident angle. The first incident angle may be in a range of from about 20 degrees to about 50 degrees and by employing the first ion beam etching process in accordance with principles of inventive concepts, the curved portion of the first preliminary photoresist pattern 20a may be partially etched to form the second preliminary photoresist pattern 20b having a relatively good roughness property (col.4, lines 11-28; and Figure 4).
Yoon et al further teach performing a second ion beam etching process may be performed on a photoresist pattern, this time on the second preliminary photoresist pattern 20b, so that a photoresist pattern 20c may be formed with smooth sidewalls (see Figure 5 and col.4, lines 44-54); and aforesaid teaching easily reads on the claimed limitation of “removing the surface defect by delivering a reactive plasma beam to the plurality of mask line at a non-zero angle relative to a perpendicular to a plane defined by an upper surface of the plurality of mask lines”.
Regarding claims 4-5 and 13, Yoon et al teach the plurality of mask lines is formed from a photoresist (col.3, lines 42-47); and aforesaid “photoresist” is metal oxide resist as of claim 5 because the mask pattern is formed over stack of layers containing oxide layers 18,16 (col.5, lines 22-28).
Regarding claims 9 and 16, the stack of layers comprises an underlayer over a hard mask and the plurality of mask line is directly atop the underlayer (see Figures 4 and 11).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
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.
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.
Claim(s) 2-3,6-8,11-12 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoon et al (US 9,905,754) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Liu et al (US 2023/0369062).
Regarding claims 2-3 and 11-12, Yoon et al disclose above for the claims 1 and 10, and Yoon et al also appears to teach delivering the reactive plasma beam to the plurality of mask lines (Figure 5) and scanning would have bee obvious during the ion beam etching of the mask lines, wherein the first direction of the beam parallel to a length axis of the plurality of mask lines (see also Figure 5, col.4, lines 43-54), wherein the surface defect is removed without increasing a width of a trench (Figures 4-5).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Yoon et al teach above that the plurality of hard mask lines is formed from photoresist (col.3, lines 42-43l Figure 2); but fail to teach the plurality mask lines is formed form a first hard mask layer.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Liu et al disclose a mask layer 20 is a photo resist layer during etching a target layer; and in some embodiments, and can be a hard mask layer made of different material than the target layer [0056],[0057].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ Liu et al's teaching of using either photoresist or a hard mask layer during an etching target layer into the teaching of Yoon et al because they are functionally equivalent and such would have been simple substitution of known materials for predictable result.
Regarding claims 7-8 and 15, Yoon et al disclose that the mask layers may include at least two stacked layers. For example, the mask layers may have a stacked structure including a spin-on hard mask (SOH) layer 14 and a silicon oxynitride layer 16. (see at least Figure 7), wherein hard mask pattern 14a and 16a sequentially stacked may be formed on the etch target layer 12 and a recess is formed between two adjacent mask lines; and therefore, a second hard mask is beneath the first hard mask.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record, listed in the PTO-892 and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAMIM AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-1457. The examiner can normally be reached M-TH (8-5:30pm).
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SHAMIM AHMED
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1713
/SHAMIM AHMED/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1713
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