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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/06/2025 has been entered.
Claim Status
Claims 1-4 and 6 are pending.
Claim 1 is currently amended.
Claim 7 is cancelled.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2011009299 A using previously attached English machine translation) in view of Juergensen (US 20090178620 A1), Kudoh (US 20110308464 A1), and Wen (JP 2021109997 A, using attached English machine translation).
Regarding claim 1, Toshima teaches a substrate processing apparatus (Fig. 2, [0024], processing apparatus 1) comprising: a process chamber comprising a chamber body which has an opened upper portion (Fig. 2, [0024], lower chamber 21 is open at the top) and in which a through-hole is defined in a bottom surface thereof (Fig. 2, [0025], recess 210 is formed in bottom surface of lower chamber 21); and
a substrate support comprising a substrate support plate which is installed in the process chamber and on which a substrate is seated on a top surface thereof (Fig. 2, [0026], plate 31 upon which wafer W is placed), and a substrate support shaft installed to pass through the through-hole so as to support the substrate support plate (Fig. 2, [0026]-[0027], bar 32 passes through recess 210).
Toshima fails to teach a top lid coupled to the upper portion of the chamber body to define an inner space;
a gas supply part configured to supply a process gas for the substrate processing; and
an exhaust part disposed on a lower portion of the chamber body and configured to exhaust the process gas supplied through the gas supply part to the outside,
wherein the chamber body comprises an exhaust passage disposed between an outer circumferential surface of the substrate support shaft and an inner surface of the through-hole, the exhaust passage being directly communicated with the exhaust part and configured to minimize a volume of a space to be exhausted,
wherein the exhaust part comprises: an exhaust body installed on at least a portion of an inner surface of the through-hole to support the substrate support shaft and having an opened upper portion to define an exhaust space communicating with the exhaust passage; and
at least one or more gas exhaust ports disposed on a side surface of the exhaust body to exhaust the process gas introduced into the exhaust space to the outside.
However, Juergensen teaches a top lid coupled to the upper portion of the chamber body to define an inner space (Juergensen, Fig. 3, [0023], space defined by housing cover 1 and housing wall 2).
Juergensen is considered analogous art to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of semiconductor processing. It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of filing to have modified the drive mechanism of Toshima to incorporate the top lid drive mechanism arrangement of Juergensen as doing so would allow for height of the internal chamber to be varied during processing, or after the reactor housing has been closed (Juergensen, [0024]).
Modified Toshima fails to teach a gas supply part configured to supply a process gas for the substrate processing; and
an exhaust part disposed on a lower portion of the chamber body and configured to exhaust the process gas supplied through the gas supply part to the outside,
wherein the chamber body comprises an exhaust passage disposed between an outer circumferential surface of the substrate support shaft and an inner surface of the through-hole, the exhaust passage being directly communicated with the exhaust part and configured to minimize a volume of a space to be exhausted,
wherein the exhaust part comprises: an exhaust body installed on at least a portion of an inner surface of the through-hole to support the substrate support shaft and having an opened upper portion to define an exhaust space communicating with the exhaust passage; and
at least one or more gas exhaust ports disposed on a side surface of the exhaust body to exhaust the process gas introduced into the exhaust space to the outside.
However, Kudoh teaches a gas supply part configured to supply a process gas for the substrate processing (Kudoh, Fig. 4, [0052]-[0053], gas supply passage 71 is adjacent to mounting board 4, providing gas to spaces L1 and L2).
Kudoh is considered analogous art to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of semiconductor processing. It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of filing to have modified the apparatus of Toshima to incorporate the gas supply assembly of Kudoh as doing so enables for processing of substrates using gas instead of a liquid.
Modified Toshima fails to teach an exhaust part disposed on a lower portion of the chamber body and configured to exhaust the process gas supplied through the gas supply part to the outside,
wherein the chamber body comprises an exhaust passage disposed between an outer circumferential surface of the substrate support shaft and an inner surface of the through-hole, the exhaust passage being directly communicated with the exhaust part and configured to minimize a volume of a space to be exhausted,
wherein the exhaust part comprises: an exhaust body installed on at least a portion of an inner surface of the through-hole to support the substrate support shaft and having an opened upper portion to define an exhaust space communicating with the exhaust passage; and
at least one or more gas exhaust ports disposed on a side surface of the exhaust body to exhaust the process gas introduced into the exhaust space to the outside.
However, Wen teaches an exhaust part disposed on a lower portion of the chamber body and configured to exhaust the process gas supplied through the gas supply part to the outside (Wen, Fig. 9, [0071], bottom 215 fixed to cover the opening at the lower end of the main body portion 211, and has gas outlet 216),
wherein the chamber body comprises an exhaust passage disposed between an outer circumferential surface of the substrate support shaft and an inner surface of the through-hole, the exhaust passage being directly communicated with the exhaust part and configured to minimize a volume of a space to be exhausted (Wen, Fig. 9, [0071]-[0074], gas flows from showerhead 214 downward, where wall of bottom 215 and base portion 221 of support 220 define a space that is made more narrow vs the opening defined by the lower end of main body portion 211, and gas outlet 216 is sidewall of bottom 215 is in communication with exhaust unit 240),
wherein the exhaust part comprises: an exhaust body installed on at least a portion of an inner surface of the through-hole to support the substrate support shaft (Wen, Fig. 9, [0071]-[0074], bottom 215 is installed in contact with inner sidewall surface of main body 211, and base portion 221 of support 220 is mounted on bottom 215) and having an opened upper portion to define an exhaust space communicating with the exhaust passage (Wen, Fig. 9, [0071]-[0074], bottom 215 is open at the upper end, creating a space between it and bottom surface of mounting portion 222); and
at least one or more gas exhaust ports disposed on a side surface of the exhaust body to exhaust the process gas introduced into the exhaust space to the outside (Wen, Fig. 9, [0071]-[0074], gas outlet 216 is disposed in sidewall of bottom 215 and is in communication with exhaust unit 240).
Wen is considered analogous art to the claimed invention because it is in the same field of semiconductor processing. It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of filing to have incorporated the bottom wall, exhaust port, and exhaust unit into the recess of Toshima in the manner taught by Wen as doing so would enable control of the pressure in the chamber via a pressure controller and vacuum pump in communication with the gas outlet (Wen, [0071]-[0074]).
Regarding claim 2, Toshima teaches wherein the process chamber comprises an installation groove defined so that the substrate support is installed to be inserted into a bottom surface of the chamber body comprising the through-hole (Fig. 12, [0026], wafer W sits on cooling plate 31, in recess 210 of lower chamber 21).
Regarding claim 3, Toshima teaches an inner lid part which is installed to be movable vertically in the inner space and of which a portion is in close contact with the bottom surface adjacent to the installation groove through descending to define a sealed processing space in which the substrate support is disposed (Fig. 10, [0052], lower chamber 21 is covered by internal chamber 22 by movement of drive mechanism 43 to make sealed process space 20, where wafer W sits on cooling plate 31).
Toshima fails to teach wherein the gas supply part is installed to be adjacent to an edge of the substrate support shaft so as to supply the process gas into the processing space.
However, Kudoh teaches wherein the gas supply part is installed to be adjacent to an edge of the substrate support shaft so as to supply the process gas into the processing space (Kudoh, Fig. 4, [0052]-[0053], gas supply passage 71 is adjacent to mounting board 4, providing gas to spaces L1 and L2).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of filing to have modified the apparatus of Toshima to incorporate the gas supply assembly of Kudoh as doing so enables for processing of substrates using gas instead of a liquid.
Regarding claim 4, Toshima fails to teach an inner lid driving part installed to pass through the top lid so as to drive the vertical movement of the inner lid part.
However, Juergensen teaches an inner lid driving part installed to pass through the top lid so as to drive the vertical movement of the inner lid part (Juergensen, Fig. 3, [0023], threaded spindle 22 is mounted through housing cover 1 and moves pressure ring 23).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of filing to have modified the drive mechanism of Toshima to incorporate the top lid drive mechanism arrangement of Juergensen as doing so would allow for height of the internal chamber to be varied during processing, or after the reactor housing has been closed (Juergensen, [0024]).
Regarding claim 6, Toshima fails to teach an installation groove exhaust passage defined between the substrate support plate and the installation groove to connect the processing space to the exhaust passage.
However, Wen teaches an installation groove exhaust passage defined between the substrate support plate and the installation groove to connect the processing space to the exhaust passage (Wen, Fig. 9, [0071]-[0074], bottom 215 is open at the upper end, creating a space between it and the bottom surface of mounting portion 222, where gas outlet 216 is in communication with the space, and the interior of main body 211 is in communication with the space, which includes area above wafer W).
It would have been obvious to one ordinarily skilled in the art at the time of filing to have incorporated the bottom wall, exhaust port, and exhaust unit into the recess of Toshima in the manner taught by Wen as doing so would enable control of the pressure in the chamber via a pressure controller and vacuum pump in communication with the gas outlet (Wen, [0071]-[0074]).
Response to Arguments
In the Applicant’s response filed 10/07/2025, the Applicant asserts that none of the cited prior art, particularly Akimura, teach the claim limitations “wherein the exhaust part comprises: an exhaust body installed on at least a portion of an inner surface of the through-hole to support the substrate support shaft and having an opened upper portion to define an exhaust space communicating with the exhaust passage; and at least one or more gas exhaust ports disposed on a side surface of the exhaust body to exhaust the process gas introduced into the exhaust space to the outside” of independent claim 1 as newly amended. In response to the amendments, the Examiner has newly rejected the claims in the “Claims Rejections” sections above, thereby rendering the arguments moot.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Asakawa (US 20200203194 A1) teaches O-ring seal between pumping part and outside wall, where pumping part is disposed on top of sidewall
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/TODD M SEOANE/Examiner, Art Unit 1718
/GORDON BALDWIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1718