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 .
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I in the reply filed on 05/19/26 is acknowledged.
Claims 19-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group II, and group III, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 05/19/26.
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 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Pao-Hwa Chou et al (U. S. Patent Application: 2008/0213479, here after Chou), further in view of Kyoung Cheun Seo et al (KR 20220004359, here after Seo).
Claims 1-4, 6 and 9-11 are rejected. Chou teaches a method of processing a substrate comprising:
forming a film, which contains a first element (Si), a second element(C) and a third element(N), on the substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times [abstract, lines 1-2], the cycle including performing:
(a) supplying a first gas, which contains the first element and a halogen element (DCS, dichlorosilane, SiHCl2), to the substrate(T1);
(b) supplying a second gas(C2H4), which contains hydrogen and the second element (C) that is different from the first element, to the substrate(T3); and
(d) supplying a third gas (NH3), which contains the third element(N) that is different from the first element and the second element, to the substrate(T5) [fig. 6A, 0090-0091]. Chou does not teach step of (c) supplying a plasma-excited hydrogen-containing gas, which is different from the second gas, to the substrate. Seo teaches a method of forming a SiCN film and teaches after carbonizing the silicon film, a hydrogen plasma treatment preformed in middle of purge step to effectively control carbon content of the film [page 12 paragraph 2-3]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of forming SiCN of Chou and have hydrogen plasma treatment after carbonization film (after step b and before d), because it helps controlling carbon content in the film.
Claim 5 is rejected as Chou teaches in (d), the third gas is supplied to the substrate in a non-plasma state [fig. 4].
Claim 7 is rejected as Seo teaches the first gas is supplied to the substrate via a first nozzle, and wherein in, the hydrogen-containing gas(purge gas, Ar and H2) is supplied to the substrate via a second nozzle, which is different from the first nozzle (gas lines 211, and 214 are different and leads to different nozzles, when injection device is nozzles) [fig. 1, page 3 paragraph 4, paragraph 6], while the hydrogen-containing gas is also supplied to the first nozzle( this is when injection device is a shower head).
Claim 8 is rejected as Seo teaches the supply of the hydrogen-containing gas to the substrate starts before plasma excitation of the hydrogen-containing gas starts (hydrogen gas is argon gas as purge gas and flow during entire process) [fig. 13a, page 4 paragraph 4].
Claim 12 is rejected as Chou teaches step of purging(T4) which is
(e) between (c) and (d), exhausting a space where the substrate is present without supplying the hydrogen-containing gas and the third gas [fig. 4, 0016 first sentence].
Claim 13 is rejected as Chou teaches purging (T2);
(f) between (a) and (b), exhausting a space where the substrate is present without supplying the first gas and the second gas [fig. 4, 0016 first sentence].
Claim 14 is rejected. The halogen element bonded (Cl) to the first element (Si) inherently desorbs from a layer, which contains the first element and the second element and is formed in (b), thus forming a dangling bond on the first element.
Claim 15 is rejected. Once claim 1 is met, claim 15 inherently will happened and hydrogen bonded to the second element desorbs from a layer, which contains the first element and the second element and is formed in (b), thus forming a dangling bond on the second element.
Claim 16 is rejected as Seo teaches the hydrogen plasma control the carbon amount in the film which in fact results in stable bonds of silicon and carbon, therefore desorption of carbon from the carbide layer prevented, and a ratio of the second element(C) contained in the film containing the first element, the second element, and the third element is greater than a ratio of the second element contained in a film formed by performing a cycle that includes (a), (b) and (d) but excludes (c).
Claim 17 is rejected. Seo teaches hydrogen plasma treatment after carbonizing control carbon content of the film, which in fact results in stable bonds of silicon and carbon, therefore desorption of carbon from the carbide layer prevented, and a ratio of carbon(the second element contained) in the film containing the first element, the second element, and the third element is greater than a ratio of the second element contained in a film formed by performing a cycle in which (a), (b), (d) and (c) are included and (c) is performed after (d), where the hydrogen plasma acts on nitride layer.
Claim 18 is rejected as Chou teaches the limitation of claim 1, and teaches manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising SiCN [0107].
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TABASSOM TADAYYON ESLAMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1885. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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/TABASSOM TADAYYON ESLAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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