DETAILED ACTION
The Applicant’s amendment filed on August 5, 2025 was received. Claims 1-8, 15-16 and 22 are now canceled. Claim 14 was amended. Claims 23-24 were added.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action issued August 29, 2024.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger and Kurita on claims 14, 16-20 and 22 are withdrawn because independent claim 14 has been amended.
Please consider the following.
Claims 14, 17-20 and 23-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eum (US 2016/0035601) in view of Kyees (US 5,484,015), Scheidegger (US 2010/0012308), Kurita (US 2011/0182699), Endo (US 2019/0214281) and Herbst (US 6,145,818).
In regards to claim 14 and 24, Eum teaches substrate treating apparatus (1) with a bake unit (500) (fig. 1); comprising:
a housing (510) (fig. 4-6, 8-16; para. 65-68);
a heating unit (550) located in the housing and having a heating plate (551) which heats a substrate (fig. 4-6; para. 74-77);
a transfer unit (530) located in the housing and having a transfer plate (531) which transfers the substrate, where a guide hole (535, notch) starts at an outer surface of the transfer plate (fig. 4-6, 8-16; para. 68-69)
a coating part robot (432, transfer robot) on a guide rail (433) moves the substrate to the transfer unit (fig. 1; para. 62); and
a cooling unit (570) that cools the heating plate or the heated substrate (fig. 4-6; para. 80),
the cooling unit includes a cooling fluid path (passage) provided in an interior of the transfer plate (fig. 6, 8-16; para. 80), and
where the transfer plate is depicted to have a cooling pipes that formed by the cooling fluid paths, that provides the cooling passage within the transfer plate (fig. 6, 8-16).
It is the position of the examiner that the transfer plate with the cooling pipes disclosed by Eum is capable of being made by a process where the coolant pipes are provided in the transfer plate through casting. The courts have held 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." (MPEP2113).
Alternatively, Kyees teaches a cold plate comprising made by aluminum casting (A), where a plurality of heat transfer tubes (20) are within the body of the cold plate with inlet tubes-21 and outlet tubes-22 (fig 1-3; col. 1, lines 35-50, col. 5, lines 20-25, 40-50).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the cold plate made by aluminum casting and has heat transfer tubes running through the body of Kyees onto the transfer plate of Eum because Kyees teaches it is less costly to make and is lighter (col. 11, lines 35-45).
Eum and Kyees as discussed, but do not explicitly teach an outer peripheral surface of the coolant pipe is surface-treated to improve thermal conductivity by forming an intermetallic compound between interfaces of the coolant pipe and the base plate.
However, Scheidegger heat exchanger tube comprising steel is provided a surface coating by plating of a material such as copper, nickel, cobalt, chromium, a nickel alloy, a chromium alloy, a copper alloy or stainless steel (fig. 1-2; para. 15-16, 19, 34, 36-38).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the surface coating of the tubing of Scheidegger onto the cooling pipes of Eum and Kyees because Scheidegger teaches it will improve wear and aging (para. 16).
Eum, Kyees and Scheidegger as discussed, but do not explicitly teach the transfer plate is coated with an insulation layer with hard anodizing.
However, Kurita teaches a cooling plate (126) which is coated by anodized (claimed insulation layer with hard anodizing) to provide a high emissivity surface (para. 26-27).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the coated by anodized to provide high of Kurita onto the transfer plate of Eum, Kyees and Scheidegger because Kurita teaches it will provide improved cooling of the substrate (para. 27).
With regards to improve thermal conductivity, represents a function recitation which the prior art combination of Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger and Kurita is capable achieving as the coating is applied to the cooling pipes and the cooling pipes contact the plate. Functional recitations merely require the ability to so perform. While features of an apparatus may be recited either structurally or functionally, claims directed to an apparatus must be distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than function (MPEP 2114).
Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger and Kurita as discussed, but do not explicitly teach the transfer plate includes a notch formed at an edge of the transfer plate, and a transfer robot including a support boss, wherein the transfer robot is configured to move the transfer plate, and wherein the support boss corresponds to the notch of the transfer plate.
However, Endo teaches a heat treating unit comprising a cooling plate (121) is provided with two slits-125 and a plurality of notches-126 at the edges of the cooling plate (fig. 5, 9-; para. 62, 64).
Endo teaches a transfer arm (transfer robot) including a supporting protrusions-Am3 (support boss), where the transfer arm moves to the transfer plate, and where the supporting protrusions-Am3 corresponds to the notches-126 of the cooling plate (fig. 3-5; para. 54, 64, 77).
Endo teaches a heat plate (113) comprises support pins (PN) to support the wafer above the heat plate (fig. 5; para. 58).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the plate with a plurality of notches which corresponds to the supporting protrusions on the transfer arm of Endo onto the coating part robot of Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger because Endo teaches it will provide supporting of the wafer and transfer of the wafer from the arm (para. 54, 64).
Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita and Endo as discussed, but do not explicitly teach the outer peripheral surface of the coolant pipe is surface treated with Zn plating.
However, Herbst teaches the use of zinc coated steel tubes are used as an alternative to stainless steel tubes for reduction in cost in heat exchanger tubes (col. 1, lines 10-25).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the zinc coated steel heat exchanger tubes of Herbst onto the heat transfer tubes of Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita and Endo because Herbst teaches it may provide cost reduction.
In regards to claims 17-18, Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita, Endo and Herbst as discussed, where Kyees teaches the heat transfer tubes are made of stainless steel and the body is made of aluminum (col. 5, lines 63-67, col. 6, lines 15-20).
In regards to claim 19, Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita, Endo and Herbst as discussed, where Eum teaches the heating unit further includes:
lift pins (553) that move in a pin holes (554) formed in the heating plate (551) upwards and downwards and feed the substrate to the transfer unit (fig. 4-6, 8-16; para. 74-77),
wherein the transfer unit further includes:
a driving member (537) that moves the transfer plate (531) between a first location that is adjacent to a first side wall having a substrate entrance (512) of the housing and a second location corresponding to an upper side of the heating plate (fig. 4-6, 8-16; para. 66, 68, 73), and
wherein the transfer plate includes:
a guide hole (535) into which the lift pins are inserted such that an interference or a collision with the lift pins is prevented when the transfer plate moves from the first location to the second location (fig. 4-6, 8-16; para. 69).
In regards to claim 20, Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita, Endo and Herbst as discussed, where Eum teaches the guide hole (535) extends from an outer surface of the transfer plate to an inner side (fig. 4-6, 8-16; para. 69).
In regards to claim 23, Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita, Endo and Herbst as discussed, where Endo teaches the heat plate (113) comprises support pins (PN) to support the wafer above the heat plate (fig. 5; para. 58).
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger and Kurita as applied to claims 14, 17-20 and 23-24 above, and further in view of Lee (US 2019/0333759).
In regards to claim 21, Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita, Endo and Herbst as discussed, where Eum teaches the heating unit (550) comprises a cover (555) which abuts the heating plate (551) to define a heating space that is separate from the interior of the housing (510) (fig. 4, 6; para. 74, 78-79, 84).
Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita, Endo and Herbst do not explicitly teach the heating unit comprises a seal.
However, Lee teaches a sealing member (414) defines a processing space (412) by contacting a first body (430) and a second body (420) and separates the processing space from an a upper space (408a) of a housing (402) (fig. 4, 10-17; para. 53-55, 74).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the sealing member of Lee onto the heating unit of Eum, Kyees, Scheidegger, Kurita, Endo and Herbst because Lee teaches it will prevent particles from entering into the processing space (para. 11).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on the combination of references applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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 Binu Thomas whose telephone number is (571)270-7684. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday, 8:00AM-5:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dah-Wei Yuan can be reached at 571-272-1295. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Binu Thomas/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1717
Prosecution Insights