DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Amendment filed November 17, 2025.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 5-11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor, at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Regarding claim 1, Applicant originally disclosed in paragraph [0025] of current application that “A method which is characterized in that the substrate temperature in the first process step or in the intermediate step is higher than 1000° C., and that the substrate temperature in the second process step is lower than 1000° C.” However, Applicant did not originally disclose that “the surface of the substrate (4) is lower than 1000 oC” as recited on lines 12-13, because (a) as discussed below under 35 USC 112(b) rejection, the limitation “the surface of the substrate (4)” lacks the antecedent basis, (b) Applicant did not originally disclose how the substrate temperature is measured, (c) in other words, Applicant did not originally disclose whether “the substrate temperature” mentioned in paragraph [0025] of current application is measured inside the substate, on a sidewall surface of the substrate, at a bottom surface of the substrate, or at a top surface of the substrate, (d) also, the temperature of the bulk of the substrate is not necessarily the same with the temperature of the top or bottom surface of the substrate during a deposition process unless a complete thermal equilibrium is established throughout the substrate, which Applicant did not originally disclose, either, and which may not be possible since (i) Applicant claims in the amended claim 1 that the temperature of the surface of the substrate is above 1000 oC on lines 15-16, but the temperature of the ceiling of the process chamber is around 100 oC on lines 19-20, and (ii) therefore, there should be a steep temperature gradient inside the process chamber, (e) for example, as disclosed in paragraph [0015] of Lee et al. (US 2015/0204665) that “For example, when light, which passes through a reticle to impinge on a die region 202, initially strikes the die to form a lithographic pattern thereon, the wafer may initially exhibit one temperature gradient pattern due to the light causing un-even heating over the wafer's surface”, even on the top surface of the substrate/wafer, there is a variation of a temperature, depending on how the substrate is heated, (f) Applicant’s heating device 8 is disposed underneath the substrate 4 as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of current application, and if the temperature Applicant originally disclosed in paragraph [0025] of current application is measured, for example, by a thermocouple probe attached on the susceptor 3, which has been a common arrangement of a thermocouple probe in semiconductor research, the temperature of the bottom surface of the substrate, the temperature of the bulk of the substrate and the temperature of the top surface of the substrate may be different from each other, and (g) therefore, Applicant did not originally disclose that “the surface of the substrate (4) is lower than 1000 oC” as recited on lines 12-13 since Applicant did not originally disclose where the substrate temperature is measured and how the substrate temperature is measured. Claims 3, 7-11 and 14 depend on claim 1, and therefore, claims 3, 7-11 and 14 also fail to comply with the written description requirement.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1, 3, 7-11 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Regarding claim 1, it is not clear what “the surface of the substrate (4)” recited on lines 12-13 refers to, because (a) Applicant does not claim “a surface of the substrate (4)” before claiming “the surface of the substrate (4)”, (b) there are numerous surfaces for the claimed substrate, and (c) therefore, the limitation “the surface of the substrate (4)” lacks the antecedent basis. Claims 3, 7-11 and 14 depend on claim 1, and therefore, claims 3, 7-11 and 14 are also indefinite.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 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.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new grounds 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 JAY C KIM whose telephone number is (571) 270-1620. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM EST.
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/JAY C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815
/J. K./Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815 January 12, 2026
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