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 .
Response to pre-brief Request
This OC is responding to Applicants’ pre-brief request, filed on 10/24/2025.
The examiner provides references to clearly support switching ICP to CCP is well-known in this OC.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 5, 7-8 and 12 remain withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Invention Group II and Species A, C-D, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Interpretations
The “a high frequency power source” of claim 1, a high frequency is 10 kHz to 60 MHz (Applicants’ Specification, [0037]). Note this includes any one of RF, AC, or DC.
The “a gas from which a film is formed” of claim 4 is an intended use of the apparatus.
It has been held that claim language that simply specifies an intended use or field of use for the invention generally will not limit the scope of a claim (Walter, 618 F.2d at 769, 205 USPQ at 409; MPEP 2106). Additionally, in apparatus claims, intended use must result in a structural difference between the claimed invention and the prior art in order to patentably distinguish the claimed invention from the prior art. If the prior art structure is capable of performing the intended use, then it meets the claim (In re Casey, 152 USPQ 235 (CCPA 1967); In re Otto, 136 USPQ 458, 459 (CCPA 1963); MPEP2111.02). When the structure recited in the reference is substantially identical to that of the claims, claimed properties or functions are presumed to be inherent (In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977); MPEP 2112.01).
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 1-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyagawa (US 20050252610, hereafter ‘610), in view of Windgassen et al. (US 20200169184, hereafter ‘184), White et al. (US 11569684, hereafter ‘684), Toshima (US 5900105, hereafter ‘105), and SHINDO et al. (WO 2020121819, hereafter ‘819) or HANAWA (US 20130119863, hereafter ‘863).
‘610 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 1: Plasma Processor (title, includes the claimed “A plasma processing apparatus comprising”):
a plasma process chamber 1 (Fig. 1, [0040], includes the claimed “a processing container”);
A susceptor 2 on which a wafer 3 is placed is put in the process chamber 1 ([0040], 2nd sentence), a lower electrode may be formed in the susceptor in order to apply a high-frequency bias to the wafer ([0052], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “a lower electrode provided inside the processing container” and “wherein the lower electrode is a mounting table configured to allow a substrate to be mounted thereon”);
A high-frequency power is introduced into the balanced transmission line 4 from the high-frequency power supply 7 over the coaxial cable 8 via the balun 9 through the center of the top of the process chamber ([0043], includes the claimed “an upper electrode disposed to face the lower electrode”);
A gas inlet 6 to introduce a gas is formed above the balanced transmission line 4. According to the present invention, an area on a plane occupied by the balanced transmission line 4 is so small that even when a gas is introduced above the balanced transmission line 4, the gas substantially flows into the surface of a wafer. Moreover, since the gas passes through the balanced transmission line 4, plasma is efficiently produced owing to a uniform electromagnetic field ([0048], includes the claimed “a gas supply configured to supply a processing gas between the upper electrode and the lower electrode”);
The apparatus uses a balanced transmission line as a heater, wherein a heater direct current is fed from an ac power supply 31 to the balanced transmission line via a transformer 32, a full-wave rectifier 33, and a smoothing circuit 34. In the apparatus shown in FIG. 8, a high-frequency power supply 9 for use in generating an electromagnetic field feeds a high-frequency current, which is superposed on a heater direct current, via a transformer 35 whose secondary winding is connected in series with a heater power supply. Moreover, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 9, a high-frequency power supply 9 for use in inducing an electromagnetic field is connected in parallel with a heater power supply line via a coupling capacitor 36. The high-frequency power supply 9 feeds a high-frequency current while superposing it on a heater direct current ([0072]-[0073], as the plasma generation power supply 9 is in series with the full-wave rectifier 33, it reads into the claimed “a voltage waveform shaping part including an input that is electrically connected to the output of the high frequency power source and an output that is connected to the upper electrode, the voltage waveform shaping part including a full-wave rectifier that is connected to the upper electrode but not the lower electrode“ and “wherein the shaped voltage waveform is applied to the upper electrode via the output of the voltage waveform shaping part that is connected to the upper electrode”, Note Fig. 8 reads into claim 1 as opposed to Fig. 9).
Note Figs. 5-6 of ’610 are inductively coupled plasma, the other Figures ‘610 does not expressly teach the mode of plasma generation.
‘610 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: (1A) (a voltage waveform shaping part …) and is configured to shape a voltage waveform of the high frequency voltage received at the input of the voltage waveform shaping part by converting a positive voltage component of the high frequency voltage into a negative voltage component,
(1B) (wherein the lower electrode is a mounting table configured to allow a substrate to be mounted thereon) and is an electrically grounded conductor, and
(1C) (wherein the shaped voltage waveform is applied to the upper electrode via the output of the voltage waveform shaping part that is connected to the upper electrode) such that capacitively coupled plasma is generated between the upper electrode and the mounting table.
‘184 is an analogous art in the field of AC Power Transfer Over Self-Passivating Connectors (title) or solving similar problem of wave rectifier. ‘184 teaches that The AC to DC deconstruction circuit 116 may include, for example, a full wave bridge rectifier (see, e.g., FIGS. 2 & 3 at 200), a full wave rectifier, or an AC-DC power supply (Fig. 1, [0016], 3rd last sentence), to transform an alternating current into constant-polarity constant or pulsed voltages (abstract).
‘684 is an analogous art in the field of a full wave rectifier (abstract) or solving similar problem of wave rectifier. ‘684 teaches that he polarity directions of the diodes depicted in FIGS. 5, 6 & 7 are established for a negative ground system. If a positive ground system were used instead then polarity directions of each of the depicted diodes would be reversed compared to that is shown in those figures (col. 6, lines 43-47).
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 replaced the full-wave rectifier 33 of ‘610 with the full wave bridge rectifier as shown in Fig. 3 of ‘184, and reversing the diode directions, as taught by ‘684, for generating constant negative polarity pulses, therefore turn the output from full wave bridge rectifier in Fig. 5 of ‘184 to constant negative polarity pulses (the limitation of 1A). A person of ordinary skill in the art would have known by inverting the positive pulses to negative is most effective and efficient use of plasma energy.
‘105 is an analogous art in the field of chemical vapor deposition system (col. 1, line 26), The plurality of plasma sources are arranged in a plurality of pairs of plasma sources. Each plasma source in a pair of plasma sources share the other plasma source's induction coils (Fig. 2B, abstract). ‘105 teaches that a chemical vapor deposition process may be performed under the present invention but the plasma source is capacitively coupled instead of inductively coupled (col. 12, lines 37-39), There are six wafer processing stages 86a-86f (only 86c is shown in FIG. 2B) which are arranged with wafer transfer blade 60 in a concentric manner in transfer chamber 22 (Fig. 4, col. 5, lines 41-44), All six stages are connected to ground in one embodiment (col. 11, lines 17-18).
‘819 is an analogous art in the field of SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS (abstract) a capacitively coupled parallel plate substrate processing apparatus (middle of page 2). ‘819 teaches that The susceptor 12 also functions as a lower electrode (Fig. 1, embodiment 1), The voltage limiter 82 is realized by using, for example, a Zener diode (Fig. 8, third embodiment) or a waveform shaping device 83 (Fig. 15, fifth embodiment]). Fig. 8 or 15 shows the susceptor 12 is grounded. Fig. 15 shows the waveform shaping device 83 connects only to the shower head, similar to ‘610.
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 replaced ICP of ‘610, as taught by ‘105, and to have applied a ground potential to the susceptor 2 of ‘610 (the limitations of 1B and 1C), as taught by ‘105 and ‘819, for its suitability for capacitive plasma 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.
‘863 is an analogous art in the field of SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS (title). ‘863 teaches that A substrate processing apparatus includes a high frequency power supply configured to generate a high frequency power; a plasma generation electrode configured to generate the plasma by the high frequency power supplied from the high frequency power supply; a single matching unit provided between the high frequency power supply and the plasma generation electrode, and configured to match an impedance of a transmission path and an impedance of a load (Fig. 1), A cathode electrode 2 and an anode electrode 3 serving as parallel plate electrodes are disposed in the chamber 1 … The anode electrode 3 is electrically grounded ([0029], i.e. capacitive coupled 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 replaced ICP of ‘610, as taught by ‘105, and to have applied a ground potential to the susceptor 2 of ‘610 (the limitations of 1B and 1C), as taught by ‘105 and ‘863, for its suitability for capacitive plasma 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.
Note more references for replacing ICP with CCP of a plasma chamber are cited in the conclusion below. US 20160011526 is also cited for full-wave rectifier ([0036]) to CCP or ICP remoter plasma source (Fig. 1, [0032]).
‘610 further teaches the limitations of:
Claim 2: Two conductors 4a and 4b constituting the balanced transmission line are disposed vertically above the wafer 3 ([0040], last sentence), An embodiment shown in FIG. 7 (which shows a process chamber alone) has conductors 4a and 4b, which constitute a balanced transmission line 4, embedded in a dielectric plate 20. The pair of upper and lower conductors constitutes the balanced transmission line 4. A gas passageway 23 is formed between the conductors in the dielectric plate 20. A gas is allowed to flow out to a wafer through gas outlets 24 formed in the bottom of the dielectric plate ([0067], includes the claimed “further comprising a shower head that introduces the processing gas into the processing container, wherein the shower head is the upper electrode”, also taught by ‘819).
Claim 3: A high-frequency power is introduced into the balanced transmission line 4 from the high-frequency power supply 7 over the coaxial cable 8 via the balun 9 through the center of the top of the process chamber. A current to be fed from the coaxial cable 8 that is an unbalanced line to the balanced transmission line 4 is converted by the balun 9. The balun 9 is realized with a Sperrtopf balun having a coaxial cable sheathed with a cylindrical tube whose electrical length is a quarter wavelength. A load that presents a load impedance Zl is coupled to a terminal of the balanced transmission line, whereby an impedance match is attained (Fig. 1, [0043], obvious to include the balun 9 to Fig. 9 with limited choice of location, includes the claimed “further comprising a matching device having an input that is connected to the output of the high frequency power source and an output that is connected to the input of the voltage waveform shaping part”, ‘863 expressly teaches matching unit 7).
Claim 4: plasma chemical vapor deposition ([0002]), A gas inlet 6 to introduce a gas is formed above the balanced transmission line 4. According to the present invention, an area on a plane occupied by the balanced transmission line 4 is so small that even when a gas is introduced above the balanced transmission line 4, the gas substantially flows into the surface of a wafer. Moreover, since the gas passes through the balanced transmission line 4, plasma is efficiently produced owing to a uniform electromagnetic field ([0038], includes the claimed “wherein the processing gas contains a gas from which a film is formed and provides a raw material for the film to a substrate disposed in the processing container”, also taught by ‘819).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘610, ‘184, ‘684, ‘105, and ‘819 (or ‘863), as being applied to claim 1 rejection above, further in view of Sainty et al. (US 20070089980, hereafter ‘980).
The combination of ‘610, ‘184, ‘684, ‘819, and ‘863 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 6: Fig. 8 of ‘610 shows the claimed “wherein the full-wave rectifier of the voltage waveform shaping part includes a transformer and a diode bridge circuit,
the transformer has a primary coil and a secondary coil,
the high frequency power source is electrically connected between two terminals of the primary coil”,
Fig. 3 of ‘184 shows the claimed “the diode bridge circuit includes a first rectifier, a second rectifier, a third rectifier, and a fourth rectifier,
a cathode of the first rectifier is electrically connected to an anode of the second rectifier,
an anode of the first rectifier is electrically connected to an anode of the third rectifier,
a cathode of the second rectifier is electrically connected to a cathode of the fourth rectifier,
a cathode of the third rectifier is electrically connected to an anode of the fourth rectifier,
the cathode of the first rectifier is electrically connected to the cathode of the third rectifier via the secondary coil,
the anode of the first rectifier and the anode of the third rectifier are electrically connected to the upper electrode”.
‘684 (each of Figs. 5-7) shows the ground location of the full wave rectifier for the negative pulses.
The combination of ‘610, ‘184, ‘684, ‘819, and ‘863 does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 6: and the cathode of the second rectifier and the cathode of the fourth rectifier are electrically grounded.
‘980 is an analogous art in the field of Ion Source Control System (title, i.e. plasma), including bridge rectifier (abstract). ‘980 teaches that A variable output transformer 210 receives a mains supply at the primary end 211, e.g. 240 V, 50 Hz for Australia or 220V, 60 Hz for USA. A sample signal is shown in FIG. 4A. The transformer outputs a variable voltage signal e.g. 0-300 V which may be determined by a dial producing a continuous output range, or by discrete tappings on the transformer secondary windings which are selected through electronic relays 212. The frequency of the transformer output (FIG. 4B) is the same as the frequency at the input (FIG. 4C). The output 213 is passed through a full wave diode bridge circuit 214 which rectifies the negative portion of the AC cycle, converting it to a positive potential (Fig. 3 or 6, [0038], 4th sentence). Note the ground is at opposite location as Fig. 4C is to generate positive pulses.
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 transformers of ‘980 to the AC input side 102 in Fig. 3 of ‘184, furthermore, to have reversed the diodes as shown in Fig. 3 or 6 of ‘980 for generation of negative pulses, as taught by ‘684, and then combined with ‘610, for the purpose to complete the circuit to generate negative pulses.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20040211519 ([0041]), 20020047540 ([0018]), 20040219737 ([0075]) are some of the references that teaches CCP can be alternative to ICP in a plasma chamber.
US 20160011526 is cited for full-wave rectifier ([0036]) to CCP or ICP remoter plasma source (Fig. 1, [0032]).
US 20130160948 “the energy source 38 can be configured to generate electromagnetic energy for a capacitive coupled plasma arrangement” (Fig. 1, [0016]).
Applicants’ recently submitted IDS, US 6089181, is cited for full bridge rectification 162 to lower electrode (Fig. 4). This reference can replace ‘863 and ‘184 of the rejection above.
US 20130228550 is cited for biasing power supply 123 diverted to antenna/upper electrode 115 through a bias path controller 104 (Fig. 1, shower plate 116 is quartz). US 20160100124 is cited for A full-wave rectifier may convert the whole of the input waveform to one of constant polarity (positive or negative) at its output ([0205]).
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 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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Parviz Hassanzadeh can be reached on 571-272-1435. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KEATH T CHEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1716