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 .
Status
This Office Action is in response to the amendments and Arguments filed 9 December 2025. As directed by applicant, claims 1, 14 and 15 are currently amended. Claims 3, 8 and 16 have been previously cancelled and no new claims are added. This Office Action is Final.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.,
[Examiner’s note: Crossed out limitations are not disclosed by that reference]
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5-7,9-11, 13, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kasahara (Japanese Patent Publication JP2008060148; in applicant’s filed IDS) in view of Hirayama (Wipo Patent Publication WO 2014184824; in applicant’s filed IDS) and Ohmi (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/ 0303361) and Sekizuka (U.S. Patent 5,368,648)
Regarding claim 1, Kasahara discloses a plasma processing apparatus (¶3, “plasma generation”), comprising:
a chamber (fig. 3) including a
first member (elements 41, 43, 44 bottom of the chamber), and
a second member (42, top of the chamber) detachable from the first member;
a conductive member (¶0041 element 48, “forming a conductive member made of an elastic body”)) disposed between the first member and the second member; and
a first high frequency power supply (¶0040 high frequency supply 67) generating plasma in the chamber,
the first member being grounded and facing an interior of the chamber (Kasahara, the lower half the of chamber is grounded through 44, fig. 3),
the second member being not grounded and facing the interior of the chamber (the upper and lower sections both have parts facing the interior of the chamber, fig. 3),
Kasahara does not disclose wherein “the conductive member includes a resin member made of a resin material, and a metal film covering a surface of the resin member, the conductive member solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section, and the conductive member being disposed in a state of being compressed to cause a compression ratio to be in a range of 5 to 25%.
However, Hirayama teaches an elastic conductive member within a plasma generator, wherein “the conductive member includes a resin member made of a resin material, and a metal film covering a surface of the resin member (Hirayama, element 150, figs. 3-5, p. 4 of 5, 6th paragraph, “conductive elastic member”, “a resin O-ring plated with metal can also be used”, which would be the “metal film covering” the resin), the conductive member having a circular cross-sectional shape (the cross-sectional shape of the spirally wound wired that is formed in a large ring shape is, indeed, circular, fig. 5 element 150). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to substitute the conductive member of Kasahara with the conductive member of Hirayama, because the substitution of one known formation of the elastic conductive member (Kasahara, 48, an elastic conductive member, ¶0041) for another would have yielded predictable results of conductively connecting the first member to the second member with the elastic conductive member being pushed upon by the members.
And while Kasahara in view of Hirayama teaches all the limitations of the claims above, it still does not teach the conductive member solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section nor that the conductive member being disposed in a state of being compressed to cause a compression ratio to be in a range of 5 to 25%.
However, it is also noted that Hirayama does teach that the elastic piece may be compressed “with an appropriate elastic force” (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, 7th paragraph) in order to put the appropriate force on the proper piece to create the required contact. As well, Ohmi teaches that a resilient connector in a plasma processing chamber may compress 10%-30% (Ohmi, ¶0042, this overlaps the claimed range). Thus, it would have also been obvious to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama with the teaching of Ohmi, to compress the elastic member to an appropriate degree, as described in Hirayama, even within the claimed range, in order to put the proper force on the indicated member to create good contact, and to also ensure that the piece remains “elastic” and that the proper force may be maintained, which may not be if the elastic member was plastically deformed, because then the indicated pressure may not be entirely accounted for or calculable, and the extent of the elastic deformation may be determined through routine experimentation.
And while Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi teaches all the limitations above, it still does not teach wherein the conductive member solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section. However, Sekizuka teaches a conductive member solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section (Sekizuka, Fig. 2, sealing member 7 is an O-ring with circular cross-section). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi with the teachings of Sekizuka, to have a conventional O-ring sealing element as in Sekizuka, in order to substitute a conventional method of sealing the device, but also to electrically connect and also be able to resist high temperatures (Sekizuka, column 3 lines 55-56, column 4 line 1) so as not to be damaged by the heating in the chamber, and this would be a substitution of a known sealing element for another would yield the predictable result of sealing and connecting the chambers.
Regarding claim 2, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, and further teaches a plasma processing apparatus, wherein a gap is formed between the first member and the second member (Kasahara, gap where the conductive member is inserted, ¶0008).
Regarding claim 5, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, and further teaches a plasma processing apparatus further comprising: a coil fixed to the second member, a high frequency current being supplied from the first high frequency power supply to the coil (Kasahara, fig. 3, element 67 high frequency)
Regarding claim 6, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, but does not further teach a plasma processing apparatus wherein a compression ratio of the conductive member is a compression ratio in a range in which cracks do not occur in the metal film. However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to not have cracks as a result of compression which would negatively impact the conductivity of the conductive member.
Regarding claim 7, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, but does not further teach a plasma processing apparatus wherein a compression ratio of the conductive member is determined by repeatedly compressing the conductive member while changing the compression ratio and by measuring an electrical resistance value of the conductive member each compression and release. This limitation does not define the structure or functionality of the apparatus, but rather a process by which the compression ratio is determined. As such, it is considered a 'product-by-process' claim. As stated in MPEP 2113, “The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process.” Accordingly, since the structure of the apparatus is obvious from the prior art, the process by which the compression ratio is determined is not given patentable weight.
Regarding claim 9, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, but does not further teach a plasma processing apparatus wherein the resin material is elastic rubber. However, Hirayama teaches an O-ring made of rubber (Hirayama, p. 1 of 5, 3rd paragraph), and by the elastic conductive member, it teaches it could be made out of a plated “resin O-ring”, (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, 6th paragraph). Thus, if would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to look to the teachings of Hirayama, wherein the O-rings are made of the same material, resin as this would be substituting in a known conventional technology in a known way to yield the predictable result of elasticity for this particular conductive member (see MPEP 2143A).
Regarding claim 10, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, but does not further teach a plasma processing apparatus wherein the resin material is fluororubber. Hirayama teaches that a ring may be made of fluororubber (Hirayama, p. 3 of 5, 3rd paragraph, “fluorocarbon resin”). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing of the invention, to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka with a further teaching of Hirayama, to have the resin material be fluororubber, as this is a conventional, known resin material to the inventor, already used elsewhere in the invention, so its use here would seem almost expected, and this substitution would result in conventional and predictable effects of an elastic resin member squeezed into the wall.
Regarding claim 11, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, and further teaches a plasma processing apparatus wherein the metal film includes at least one type of metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, chrome, titanium, tungsten, cobalt, gold, silver, copper, tin, and zinc (in the combination above, since Hirayama mentions those types of metal conductor (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, 6th paragraph, these metals are considered good conductors for the conductive member, so it would be obvious to consider them for the plating and this would have been obvious in the combination above).
Regarding claim 13, Kasahara in view of Hirayama, Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, and further teaches a plasma processing apparatus, wherein the plasma processing apparatus is a plasma etching apparatus (Kasahara, ¶0002, etching).
Regarding claim 14, Kasahara discloses a method, comprising: placing a work in a chamber (Kasahara, fig. 1, element 1) including a first member (42) and a second member (41, 43, 44), disposing a conductive member (48) between the first member and the second member, and compressing the conductive member,
the first member being grounded and facing an interior of the chamber (Kasahara, fig. 1, the lower half the of chamber is grounded, fig. 3),
the second member being not grounded and facing the interior of the chamber (the upper and lower sections both have parts facing the interior of the chamber, fig. 3),
(¶0041).
Kasahara does not disclose wherein “the conductive member including a metal film on a surface of a resin member, the resin member being made of a resin material, the conductive member being solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section, and the conductive member being disposed in the plasma processing apparatus in a state of being compressed to cause a compression ratio to be in a range of 5-25%”. However, Hirayama teaches wherein “the conductive member including a metal film on a surface of a resin member, the resin member being made of a resin material (Hirayama, element 150, figs. 3-5, p. 4 of 5, 6th paragraph, “conductive elastic member”, “a resin O-ring plated with metal can also be used”, which would be the “metal film covering” the resin), the conductive member having a circular cross-sectional shape (the cross-sectional shape of the spirally wound wired that is formed in a large ring shape is, indeed, circular, fig. 5 element 150). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to substitute the conductive member of Kasahara with the conductive member of Hirayama, because the substitution of one known formation of the elastic conductive member for another would have yielded predictable results of conductively connecting the first member to the second member with the elastic conductive member being pushed upon by the members.
And while Kasahara in view of Hirayama teaches all the limitations of the claims above, it still does not teach the conductive member being solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section, nor that the conductive member being disposed in a state of being compressed to cause a compression ratio to be in a range of 5 to 25%.
However, it is also noted that Hirayama does teach that the elastic piece may be compressed “with an appropriate elastic force” (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, 7th paragraph) in order to put the appropriate force on the proper piece to create the required contact. As well, Ohmi teaches that a resilient connector in a plasma processing chamber may compress 10%-30% (Ohmi, ¶0042, this overlaps the claimed range). Thus, it would have also been obvious to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama with the teaching of Ohmi, to compress the elastic member to an appropriate degree, as described in Hirayama, even within the claimed range, in order to put the proper force on the indicated member to create good contact, and to also ensure that the piece remains “elastic” and that the proper force may be maintained, which may not be if the elastic member was plastically deformed, because then the indicated pressure may not be entirely accounted for or calculable, and the extent of the elastic deformation may be determined through routine experimentation.
And while Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi teaches all the limitations above, it still does not teach wherein the conductive member solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section. However, Sekizuka teaches a conductive member solid torus having a disk-shaped cross section (Sekizuka, Fig. 2, sealing member 7 is an O-ring with circular cross-section). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi with the teachings of Sekizuka, to have a conventional O-ring sealing element as in Sekizuka, in order to substitute a conventional method of sealing the device, but also to electrically connect and also be able to resist high temperatures (Sekizuka, column 3 lines 55-56, column 4 line 1) so as not to be damaged by the heating in the chamber, and this would be a substitution of a known sealing element for another would yield the predictable result of sealing and connecting the chambers.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kasahara (Japanese Patent Publication 2008060148; in applicant’s filed IDS) in view of Hirayama (Wipo Patent Publication WO 2014184824; in applicant’s filed) Ohmi (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/ 0303361) and Sekizuka (U.S. Patent 5,368,648) and further in view of Marikawa (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0133235).
Regarding claim 4, Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, and further teaches a plasma processing apparatus, further comprising: a holder located in the chamber, the holder (Kasahara, mounting table 44) holding a work. But it does not teach “a second high frequency power supply supplying a high frequency current to the holder”. However, Marikawa teaches “a second high frequency power supply supplying a high frequency current to the holder” (Marikawa, element 23, fig. 1). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi with the teaching of Marikawa, in order to well bias the holder/electrode in a conventional way, in order to generate the plasma more efficiently and steadily by creating a negative bias potential (Marikawa, ¶0015).
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kasahara (Japanese Patent Publication JP2008060148; in applicant’s filed IDS) in view of Hirayama (Wipo Patent Publication WO 2014184824; in applicant’s filed), Ohmi (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0303361) and Sekizuka (U.S. Patent 5,368,648) and further in view of Hirayama (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/0146910, herein “Hirayama ‘910”).
Regarding claim 12, Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi teaches all the limitations of claim 1, as above, but does not further teach a plasma processing apparatus wherein a film thickness of the metal film is not less than 200 nm. Now, Obviously, the thickness of the film/plating has to be thick enough to serve its function of conductively connecting the members, as well as to maintain the desired elasticity of the resin member (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, paragraph 7). However, Hirayama ‘910 teaches a conductive film a film thickness of the metal film is not less than 200 nm (Hirayama ‘910, ¶0244). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama Ohmi and Sekizuka, with a teachings of Hirayama ‘910, to have the thickness of the plating as claimed, as Hirayama ‘910 demonstrates that at least a thickness may be required for electrical conductivity (and it does not interfere with the resin) and thus it would be obvious that the thickness of the film meet the claimed limitations, but it is also noted that the thickness also must be appropriate to the elastic nature of the conductive member, and thus with limited routine experimentation, an appropriate thickness of the film may be implemented, even meeting this limitation.
Claim(s) 15, 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hirayama (Wipo Patent Publication WO 2014184824; in applicant’s filed IDS) in view of Ohmi (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/ 0303361) and Sekizuka (U.S. Patent 5,368,648).
Regarding claim 15, Hirayama discloses a conductive member (Hirayama, fig. 3, element 150) conducting between parts of a plasma processing apparatus, the parts (Hirayama, 21b & 21a) being electrically isolated, the conductive member comprising: (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5 6th paragraph; resin O-ring is plated with metal), and
Hirayama does not explicitly disclose that the conductive member “being a solid torus” and comprises: “a rubber elastic base”, nor that the conductive member “being a solid torus and wherein the disk shaped cross-section of the conductive member is disk-shaped, and the conductive member is disposed in the plasma processing apparatus in a state of being compressed to cause a compression ratio to be in a range of 5-25%. Hirayama does disclose that this can be made of “resin” (Hirayama, , p. 4 of 5 6th paragraph; resin O-ring is plated with metal). Elsewhere in the specification, however, Hirayama teaches an O-ring made of rubber (Hirayama, p. 1 of 5, 3rd paragraph), and by the elastic conductive member, it teaches it could be made out of a plated “resin O-ring”, (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, 6th paragraph).
As well, it is also noted that Hirayama does teach that the elastic piece may be compressed “with an appropriate elastic force” (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, 7th paragraph) in order to put the appropriate force on the proper piece to create the required contact. As well, Ohmi teaches that a resilient connector in a plasma processing chamber may compress 10%-30% (Ohmi, ¶0042, this overlaps the claimed range). Thus, it would have also been obvious to modify Hirayama with the teaching of Ohmi, to compress the elastic member to an appropriate degree, as described in Hirayama, even within the claimed range, in order to put the proper force on the indicated member to create good contact, and to also ensure that the piece remains “elastic” and that the proper force may be maintained, which may not be if the elastic member was plastically deformed, because then the indicated pressure may not be entirely accounted for or calculable, and the extent of the elastic deformation may be determined through routine experimentation.
And while Hirayama in view of Ohmi teaches all the limitations above, it still does not teach wherein the conductive member being a solid torus and wherein the disk shaped cross-section of the conductive member is disk-shaped. However, Sekizuka teaches the conductive member being a solid torus and wherein the disk shaped cross-section of the conductive member is disk-shaped (Sekizuka, Fig. 2, sealing member 7 is an O-ring with circular cross section). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Kasahara in view of Hirayama and Ohmi with the teachings of Sekizuka, to have a conventional O-ring sealing element as in Sekizuka, in order to substitute a conventional method of sealing the device, but also to electrically connect and also be able to resist high temperatures (Sekizuka, column 3 lines 55-56, column 4 line 1) so as not to be damaged by the heating in the chamber, and this would be a substitution of a known sealing element for another would yield the predictable result of sealing and connecting the chambers.
Regarding claim 19, Hirayama in view of Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 15, but does not further teach a conductive member wherein a material of the metal film is at least one type of metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, chrome, titanium, tungsten, cobalt, gold, silver, copper, tin, and zinc. However, Hirayama does teach using claimed plated materials as the conductive member (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5 paragraph 6, “gold, silver plated materials” ). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the conventionally indicated plating metals to plate the resin, which is described as being plated but not by a specific metal, in order to use conventional means to achieve predictable results of conductivity in the member, even though it is now only covering the resin part of the member.
Claim(s) 17,18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hirayama (Wipo Patent Publication WO 2014184824; in applicant’s filed) in view of Ohmi (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/ 0303361) and Sekizuka and further in view of Amir (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20170213705).
Regarding claim 17, Hirayama in view of Ohmi and Sekizuka teaches all the limitations of claim 15, but he does not teach a conductive member wherein a film thickness of the metal film is 100 to 2000 nm. Now, Obviously, the thickness of the film/plating has to be thick enough to serve its function of conductively connecting the members, as well as to maintain the desired elasticity of the resin member (Hirayama, p. 4 of 5, paragraph 7). However, Amir teaches a conductive film a film thickness of the metal film is 100-2000 nm (see Amir, ¶0016, for a conductive coating that meets the limitation). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Hirayama in view of Ohmi, with a teachings of Hirayama ‘910, to have the thickness of the plating as claimed, as Amir demonstrates that at least a thickness may be required for electrical conductivity (and it does not interfere with the resin) and thus it would be obvious that the thickness of the film meet the claimed limitations, but it is also noted that the thickness also must be appropriate to the elastic nature of the conductive member, and thus with limited routine experimentation, an appropriate thickness of the film may be implemented, even meeting this limitation.
Regarding claim 18, Hirayama in view of Ohmi, Sekizuka and Amir teaches all the limitations of claim 17, and further teaches a conductive member wherein the film thickness of the metal film is 100 to 1000 nm (see Amir, ¶0016, for a conductive coating that meets the limitation, and the ranges overlap and the rationale above still applies).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hirayama (Wipo Patent Publication WO 2014184824; in applicant’s filed) in view of Sekizuka (U.S. Patent 5368648), and Ohmi (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2011/ 0303361) and further in view of and Simpson (U.S. Patent Application Publication 20050134959)
Regarding claim 20, Hirayama in view of Ohmi and Sekizuka, teaches all the limitations of claim 15, as above, but does not further teach a conductive member, wherein the metal film is a stacked film in which not less than two layers of metal layers made of mutually-different materials are stacked. Now, while it is required to have this member be conductive, Sekizuka teaches that it would be beneficial to also have these layers be resistant to corrosion in helping to seal the area (Sekizuka, column 4 line 3-5). And it is well known to have layer of metal, or even a stack of metals to create conductive and/or anti-corrosive stack (Simpson, ¶0060, “metal stack”, copper and nickel). Thus, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention, to modify Hirayama in view of Ohmi with the teachings of Sekizuka and Simpson, to have the film covering the resin piece, to be made up of at least two metal coverings or platings, in order to achieve both anti-corrosiveness and conductiveness in the covering in a conventional way (having multiple layers) in order to achieve the predictable results of conductively connecting the members and to be resistant to corrosion with use.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1, 14 and 15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Please contact Examiner regarding any questions or concerns.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Please see attached PTO-892.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAWRENCE H SAMUELS whose telephone number is (571)272-2683. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-5PM M-F.
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/LAWRENCE H SAMUELS/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761