Appeal No. 96-0472
Application 07/871,032
sustain the grounds of rejection advanced on appeal by the examiner under 35 U.S.C. ' 103 wherein
claims 1 through 3, 5, 6, 8 through 14, 16 and 18 through 20 are rejected as being unpatentable over
Ueno et al. (>582 or >813) in view of Ueno et al. (article) (answer, pages 3-6); claim 7 is rejected as
being unpatentable over the combination of Ueno et al. references, further in view of the instant
disclosure (answer, page 6); and claim 21 is rejected as being unpatentable over the combination of
Ueno et al. references, further in view of Celeste (answer, pages 6-7).3
The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the Ueno et al. (article) would have motivated
one of ordinary skill in this art to interchange the di-, tri- and tetra-(lower alkyl sulfonyloxy)benzene
esters employed as the acid precursor in the negative-acting compositions of Ueno et al. (e.g., >582,
col. 3, lines 24-48) with a 1,2,3-tri(C -C arylsulfonyloxy)benzene. We find that Ueno et al. (article)
6 10
disclose the order of sensitivity of 1,2,3-tri(C -C alkylsulfonyloxy)benzenes and 1,2,3-tri(C -C1 4 6 10
arylsulfonyloxy)benzenes in a positive resist system, based on Aexposure characteristic curves@ in
AFig. 2,@ and conclude that A[i]t is interesting to note that smaller sulfonic acid is effective for
deprotection reaction of tBOC-BA@ (pages 66-67).
The examiner alleges that A[w]hether the resist is positive or negative and whether the sulfonic
acid ester is an arylsulfonic acid ester or an alkanesulfonic acid ester, the sulfonic acid is functionally
equivalent in all cases@ (answer, page 8). Thus, the examiner contends that A[a]lthough, [sic] Ueno et
al. (article) teach alkylsulfonic acid esters are more sensitive than arylsulfonic acid esters in the
compositions of the teaching [sic], this reference still teaches that arylsulfonic acid esters can be used as
acid generators@ (answer, page 9). Appellants submit that the teachings of Ueno et al. (article) that we
set forth above would not have reasonably suggested to one of ordinary skill in this art that
alkanesulfonic acid esters can be used in place of arylsulfonic acid esters (principal brief, filed June 30,
1995, Paper No. 25; pages 16-18). Based on the record in this appeal, we agree with appellants.
We find that the statement that Asmaller sulfonic acid is effective for deprotection reaction@ in a
positive resist system and the results shown in AFig. 2@ with both the alkyl and aryl ester derivatives in
3The references relied on by the examiner with respect to the grounds of rejection are listed at page 2
of the answer. We refer to these references in our opinion by the name associated therewith by the
examiner.
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