Detailed Correspondence
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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12/18/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ amendment, filed on 12/18/2025, in response to claims 1, 3-6, 8, 10-13, and 19 rejection from the final office action (08/27/2025), by adding new claims 20-23 is entered and will be addressed below.
The examiner notices that the new claims 20-21 is an embodiment of Fig. 14, non-elected (see interview summary 09/24/2024), and should also be withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 14-18 and 20-21 remain withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Invention Groups II-V and Species A-E and G-I, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Specification
At bottom of page 18, the “FIG. 11 shows a cross-section of the antenna shown in FIG. 10 taken across plane D-D′;” should be “FIG. 11 shows a cross-section of the antenna shown in FIG. 10 taken across plane E-E′;” and
The “FIG. 12 shows a cross-section of the antenna shown in FIG. 10 taken across plane E-E′;” should be “FIG. 12 shows a cross-section of the antenna shown in FIG. 10 taken across plane F-F′;”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
The “such that the length of the at least one elongated portion of the antenna that is partially surrounded by the focusing member is positioned closer to the plasma generation region than the central longitudinal axis of the housing” of claim 1, although not label in Applicants’ Figure, Fig. 10 is illustrated below as an example:
PNG
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432
896
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Greyscale
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Central longitudinal
Axis of the housing)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (plasma)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Antenna closer to plasma
Than longitudinal axis)]
In other words, the central longitudinal axis of the housing 10 in perpendicular to the page in Fig. 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 3-6, 8, 10-13, and 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over THWAITES et al. (WO 2011131921, from IDS, hereafter ‘921), in view of Godyak (US 10083817, hereafter ‘817), Mai (WO 2005057607, from IDS, hereafter ‘607), and ODAHARA (US 20140070916, hereafter ‘916).
‘921 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 1: A first preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in Figure 1. The apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber 1 and controllable means of vacuum pumping the chamber by a pumping system 2, both well known in the art, fitted with an elongate remote gas plasma generation system 3, a planar rectangular target assembly 4, a DC power supply 5, an electromagnet 6 and associated DC power supply 7 capable of producing an axial magnetic field strength of up to 500 Oersteds, substrate carrier or chuck 8, optional shutter assemblies 9 and a controllable process gas feed system 10 (p14, last complete paragraph, includes the claimed “A plasma reactor comprising: a process chamber”),
The elongate remote plasma generation system 3, as further shown in figure 2, comprises an assembly mounting a RF antenna 11 in external proximity to at least the long sides of an essentially rounded oblong cross section plasma chamber 12, in this embodiment being a quartz tube, typically of wall thickness 2 to 3mm, that is mounted to an electromagnet 13 of comparable shape to and surrounding the quartz tube 12 at the end from which the high density plasma is to emerge. The assembly includes an enclosure 25 constructed to support and appropriately align and position said plasma chamber, electromagnet and RF antenna within the vacuum system chamber, the enclosure and plasma chamber being provided with suitable vacuum seals such that the inner volume of the plasma chamber is open to the vacuum system chamber at one or both ends, whilst the enclosure is or may be isolated from said vacuum system chamber, allowing it to be independently evacuated or pressurised if desired (bridging paragraph between pages 14-15, includes the claimed “a plasma antenna assembly configured to generate a plasma in the process chamber”, and “wherein the plasma antenna assembly comprises: a radio frequency antenna arranged to be driven by a current so as to generate the plasma in a plasma generation region, the antenna having at least one elongated portion having a length that extends in a first direction, a housing arranged to encircle the at least one elongated portion of the antenna and physically separate the at least one elongated portion of the antenna from each of the one or more magnets and from the plasma generated in the plasma generation region, wherein the housing encircling the at least one elongated portion of the antenna is elongated along a central longitudinal axis that extends in the first direction”, see illustrations 2-4 below, which are based on the disclosure of ‘921 to highlight specific details that related to the instant claim. The electromagnet 6 is the claimed “one or more magnets configured to confine the plasma to a location in the process chamber that is spaced apart from the plasma antenna assembly”),
Fig. 1 shows the antenna 11 is offset from the center axis of the enclosure 25 and is closer to the plasma region 22 (includes the claimed “wherein the length of the at least one elongated portion of the antenna is offset from the central longitudinal axis of the housing, such that the length of the at least one elongated portion of the antenna is positioned closer to the plasma generation region than the central longitudinal axis of the housing”).
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: textbox (Sealed Enclosure
Between the green
and blue boxes)][AltContent: textbox (Quartz tube 12 occupied space between the green
and blue boxes, blue box is smaller than green box
In x and z direction and the same length in y direction.
Space inner of the blue box is open to the chamber space)]Illustration 2:
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: connector][AltContent: textbox (Fig. 1 view point in y direction)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Fig. 3 view point in z direction)][AltContent: textbox (Antenna (in red) is surrounding the blue box in X and Z directions,
Based on Figs. 1 and 3)]Illustrations 3-4:
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212
216
media_image3.png
Greyscale
[AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Central longitudinal
Axis of the housing)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (plasma)][AltContent: arrow][AltContent: textbox (Antenna closer to plasma
Than longitudinal axis)]
‘921 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: (1A) a ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic focussing member is arranged to partially surround the length of the at least one elongated portion of the antenna,
(1B) wherein the focussing member is shielded from the magnetic field generated by the one or more magnets,
(1C) (wherein the length of the at least one elongated portion of the antenna) that is partially surrounded by the focussing member (is offset from the central longitudinal axis of the housing, such that the length of the at least one elongated portion of the antenna) that is partially surrounded by the focusing member (is positioned closer to the plasma generation region than the central longitudinal axis of the housing).
Claim 3: wherein the focussing member is coated with a shielding material comprising nickel.
Claim 4: wherein the focussing member is a ferrite focussing member.
Claim 5: wherein both the antenna and the focussing member are provided within the housing.
In regarding to the limitation of 1A:
‘817 is an analogous art in the field of Linear Remote Plasma Source (title), apparatus for improved inductively coupled plasma sources (abstract), for remote plasma cleaning, surface treatment, resist ashing, etching, chemical vapor deposition (col. 1, lines 55-56). ‘817 teaches that each of the antenna segments can comprise an elongated U-shaped focusing element 320 having permeable ferromagnetic material. Each focusing element can cover a number of generally parallel conductors 310 collectively referenced as a “coil segment. A coil segment is disposed within the transverse cross section of an inverted U-shaped magnetic focusing element The parallel coil conductors in the coil segment within an antenna segment, such as shown with respect to FIGS. 3A-3C, can be electrically connected in series with corresponding conductors in other coil segments thereby forming an entire coil (Figs. 3A-3C, col. 8, lines 13-24), for the purpose of high throughput and high energy efficiency (col. 3, lines 49-50). Note Fig. 3A shows two focusing element 320 as two tubes side by side and sharing segments of the same antenna 310, same as Applicants’ focusing member 540 sharing the same antenna 509.
Before the effective filing dates of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have added a ferromagnetic elongated U-shaped focusing element 320 of ‘817 that partially surrounds each of the RF antenna 11 of ‘921 (the limitations of 1A and 5), for the purpose of high throughput and high energy efficiency (col. 3, lines 49-50).
In regarding to the limitations of 1B-1C:
‘607 is an analogous art in the field of PLASMA SOURCE FOR PRODUCING AN INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA (title), at least one exciting coil (1) for generating a fluctuating magnetic flux and comprising a magnetic pole shoe arrangement (2) in which the exciting coil (1) is placed in slots in the pole shoe arrangement (2) in such a manner that the inductively coupled plasma is produced in front of the magnetic pole shoe arrangement (2) and inside a vacuum chamber. The plasma source comprises at least one multipole magnet arrangement (8, 9) such that the magnetic field of the multipole magnet arrangement (8, 9) is superimposed by the inductively coupled plasma (abstract). ‘607 teaches that FIG. 6a shows a section perpendicular to the linear extent and FIG. 6b shows an isometric representation ... The magnetic pole shoe arrangement 2 consists of a number of individual ferrite plates ([31]), The pole shoe arrangement 2 is surrounded by a housing 30, except for the side of the pole shoes 61, 62 and 63 ([33]), the plasma is enclosed and concentrated in the intermediate region of the multipole magnet arrangements 17, 18, 22 and 23 (Fig. 4, [25]), for the purpose of creation of plasma sources for generating large-area and / or large-volume plasmas ([7]). Note also both magnets 36 and 37 are remote from the plasma antenna as shown in Fig. 6a. Further note that the excitation coil 1 is closer to the plasma generation region than the longitudinal axis of the housing 30 as shown in Fig. 6a.
‘916 is an analogous art in the field of a body containing the metal powder, and an inductor provided in/on the body ([0008]), including focused ion beam ([0039]), an electronic component incorporating an inductor, such as a coil ([0044]), or solving similar problem of insulation properties of inductive coil made of ferrite ([0047]). ‘916 teaches that the Zn-based ferrite films 3 may be covered by Ni--Zn ferrite layers. Although it is difficult to form a Ni--Zn ferrite layer on the surface of a permalloy particle 2a at high coating ability, it is relatively easy to form a Ni--Zn ferrite layer on Zn-based ferrite. With the Ni--Zn ferrite layers, the metal powder according to the second embodiment has higher insulation properties ([0047]), a Zn-based ferrite film that is "essentially free of Ni" relates to a Zn-based ferrite film ([0022], 4th sentence).
Before the effective filing dates of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have added the ferromagnetic material of the elongated U-shaped focusing element 320 of ‘817 with ferrite (the limitation of claim 4), as taught by ‘607, and then combined with ‘921, for the purpose of creation of plasma sources for generating large-area and / or large-volume plasmas, as taught by ‘607 ([7]) and/or for its suitability with predictable results. The selection of something based on its known suitability for its intended use has been held to support a prima facie case of obviousness. MPEP 2144.07. Furthermore, to have added Ni—Zn ferrite layers to cover the ferrite of ‘607, as taught by ‘916, and then combined with ‘921 and ‘817 (the limitations of 1B and 3), for the purpose of higher insulation properties ([0047]), as taught by ‘916. Still furthermore, to have re-arranged the antenna 11 of ‘519 to be closer to the plasma generation region than the longitudinal axis of the housing (the limitation of 1C), as shown in Fig. 6a of ‘607. It has been held that rearranging parts of an invention only involves routine skill in the art. MPEP 2144.04 VI C.
Note Fig. 3C of ‘817 also teaches the limitation of 1C (less dramatic than Fig. 6a of ‘607).
‘921 further teaches the limitations of:
Claims 6 and 22-23: the enclosure may comprise one or more quartz tubes (p8, 2nd paragraph, includes the claimed “wherein the housing is a quartz tube” of claim 6, “wherein the housing comprises a plurality of tubes placed side by side” of claim 22, and “wherein the housing acts to physically separate the at least one elongated portion of the antenna from each of the one or more magnets and from the plasma generated in the plasma generation region by acting as a physical barrier between the at least one elongated portion of the antenna and each of the one or more magnets and the plasma” of claim 23).
Claim 8: an enclosure is provided within the plasma chamber fully or partially to enclose said antenna (claim 6 of ‘921, includes the claimed “wherein the plasma antenna assembly comprises a shielded antenna section in which a ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic shielding member fully surrounds a length of the antenna”).
Claim 13: An elongate gas plasma source (3) particularly configured for use within a sputter coating apparatus, comprising a sputter target assembly (4) positioned and supported within a suitably furnished vacuum chamber (1 ) … Negative electrical bias applied to the target material causes sputtering, thereby coating surfaces and substrates (21) within the system with a film of the target material (abstract, includes the claimed “A sputter coating apparatus for sputtering a sputter material from a sputter target onto a substrate, the sputter coating apparatus comprising a plasma reactor according to claim 1, wherein the process chamber is arranged to receive the sputter target and the substrate, and wherein the one or more magnets are configured to confine the plasma onto the sputter target”).
The combination of ‘921, ‘186, ‘817, ‘607, and ‘916 further teaches the limitations of:
Claim 10: The gas plasma source could comprise two or more antennae. The antennae could each be arranged proximate to a respective side of the plasma chamber. A shaped antenna or a series of antennae proximate to two or more sides of the plasma chamber are also possible (‘921, bridging paragraph between pages 6-70, by importing a ferromagnetic elongated U-shaped focusing element 320 of ‘817 between each of the enclosure 25 and the RF antenna 11 would have had the claimed “wherein the plasma antenna assembly comprises a first section comprising a first length of the antenna that is partially surrounded by a first focussing member, and a second section comprising a second length of the antenna that is partially surrounded by a second focussing member, the first section being spaced apart from the second section, the plasma generation region being between the first section and second section, and wherein the first focussing member is arranged substantially symmetrical with the second focussing member”).
Claim 11: The antenna preferably has a plan form which is generally elongated, linear, rectangular, rounded rectangular, polygonal, elliptical, and/or U-shaped (‘921, p9, 5th complete paragraph, see also Fig. 2 of ‘921, same as Applicant’ U-shaped antenna with a linear portion, includes the claimed “wherein the first length of the antenna and second length of the antenna are linear”).
Claim 12: Figs. 3A-3B of ‘817 shows the claimed “wherein the antenna has a looped arrangement such that each focusing member partially surrounds a plurality of lengths of the antenna”.
Claims 19, and alternatively claims 1, 3-6, 8, 10-13, and 22-23, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘921, ‘817, ‘607, and ‘916, as being applied to claim 1 rejection above, further in view of Tonotani et al. (US 6181069, from IDS, hereafter ‘069).
The combination of ‘921, ‘817, ‘607, and ‘916 does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 19: wherein the at least one elongated portion of the antenna is directly spaced apart from the central longitudinal axis in a vertical direction that is perpendicular to the first direction.
First of all, Applicants’ Specification clearly state that “The antenna may be arranged eccentrically in its housing, such that the longitudinal axis of the antenna is spaced apart from the longitudinal axis of the housing” ([0025]) and “The antenna may be mounted eccentrically in its housing, such that the axis of the antenna is spaced apart from the axis of the housing” ([0184]). Although Fig. 2 shows the antenna 9 (or its section 14, 15) is off the longitudinal axis of the housing, a larger diameter antenna can be overlapping the longitudinal axis of the housing. In ‘921, a reduction of the size of the antenna 11 would have read the limitation of claim 19.
Furthermore, ‘069 is an analogous art in the field of High Frequency Discharging Method And Apparatus, And High Frequency Processing Apparatus (title), an inductively coupled type of high frequency plasma apparatus (col. 1, lines 35-36). ‘069 teaches that the internal linear antenna 62 is eccentrically arranged in a hollow portion 64 existing in the interior of the quartz pipe 63. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 23, the internal linear antenna 62 is in the interior of a hollow portion 64 having a diameter much larger than that of the internal linear antenna 62. The internal linear antenna 62 having a much smaller diameter compared to that of 63 touches the inner wall surface of the quartz pipe 63 (col. 15, lines 26-34), an electric field can be generated, which is more intense than that in the case where it is not eccentrically arranged (col. 16, lines 8-9, Fig. 23 clearly shows “the at least one elongated portion of the antenna is directly spaced apart from the central longitudinal axis in a vertical direction that is perpendicular to the first direction”).
Before the effective filing dates of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have re-arranged the antenna 11 eccentrically to the quartz tube 12, as taught by ‘069, for the purpose of more intense electric field, as taught by ‘069 (col. 16, lines 8-9).
‘069 also rebuts Applicants various arguments discussed previously, for the alternative rejection of claim 1 and dependent claims.
Alternatively, claims 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘921, ‘817, ‘607, and ‘916 (optionally with ‘069), as being applied to claim 1 rejection above, further in view of Yeom et al. (US 20050199186, previously applied, hereafter ‘186).
In case Applicants argue that “the enclosure may comprise one or more quartz tubes” of ‘921 is not necessarily side by side arrangement.
‘186 is an analogous art in the field of Inductively Coupled Plasma Apparatus Using Magnetic Field (title), Plasma uniformity is improved and superior plasma uniformity is maintained by adjusting a distance between antennas according to a size of the substrate (abstract). ‘186 teaches that the antenna rod 1410 is surrounded by a resin pipe 1420 such that a vacuum space is formed therebetween. As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 11, a vacuum state of the vacuum space may be maintained by installing a connector 1710 and an O-ring 1720 between the antenna rod 1410 and the resin pipe 1420 and between a magnet 1510 and a resin pipe 1520, respectively, from an exterior of the reaction chamber 1100 ([0076], Figs. 9-11 show these pipes are circular, and Fig. 10 shows each of the magnets 1510 is separated from the antenna rod 1410), the antenna rods 410 and 420 are inserted into an antenna protecting pipe 30 in the reaction chamber 10. The antenna protecting pipe 30 includes a quartz pipe having superior endurance against sputtering and the antenna rods 410 and 420 are made from copper, stainless steel, silver, or aluminum ([0051], Fig. 2 also shows the ten tubular quartz pipe 30 side by side and clearly protecting antenna 42 from plasma).
Before the effective filing dates of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have adopted separated the quartz tube 12 of ‘921 into a plurality of circular quartz tubes 30 side by side and spaced apart from each of the magnets, as taught by ‘185, for its suitability with predictable results. The selection of something based on its known suitability for its intended use has been held to support a prima facie case of obviousness. MPEP 2144.07.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/18/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In regarding to 35 USC 103 rejection over ‘921, ‘817, ‘607, and ‘916, Applicants repeatedly argue that the electromagnet 13 is in the enclosure 25 by citing page 15, lines 2-7, see the bottom of page 8 to page 9.
This argument is found not persuasive.
The electromagnet 6 is clearly spaced apart from enclosure 25.
The examiner maintains that the electromagnet 13 is also spaced apart from the enclosure 25, as shown in illustration 2 above. The quartz tube 12 is a cuboid except being punched open a center position in one direction (e.g. Y direction). Illustration 3 above shows the antenna 11 is inside the quartz tube 12. And the electromagnet 13 is outside of the enclosure 25.
To support electromagnet does not have to enclose the electromagnet.
There is no reason for electromagnet 6 being outside the enclosure 25 while the electromagnet 13 is inside the enclosure 25.
Still furthermore, Figs. 2-3 of ‘186 clearly shows magnets 6 spaced apart from the antenna rods 410 and 420, which are enclosed in the quartz tubes 30 in Fig. 2.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20040060662 is cited for antennas 32 in side by side quartz tubes 30 and spaced apart from magnets 42 which is inside separated quartz tube 40 (Fig. 3, [0026]).
US 5650032 is cited for For internal coils, tubes of different diameter can be used (col. 6, lines 2-3).
The examiner notices previously submitted IDS KR 100753868 also teaches ferrite focusing member 150 (Fig. 1). US 20120188046 is cited for Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite coving coil ([0004]).
WO 2007117122, applicants’ IDS, is cited for The body 20 may be also made of a coated metal, for example, anodized aluminum or aluminum coated with nickel ([41]) surrounding ferrite core 31 (Fig. 1). US 20100136262 is cited for focus localized plasma volume 585 (Fig. 5), The magnetic flux concentrator material can be a low loss ferromagnetic material such as Q1, Q2, or Q3 Ni--Zn ferrite material which are commercially available ([0059]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEATH T CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1870. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am-5:00 pm.
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/KEATH T CHEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1716