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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 11/25/2025 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ submission, filed on 11/25/2025, in response to claims 1-5 and 7-21 rejection from the final office action (08/27/2025), by amending claims 1, 3, 7, 9, 13, and 16-17 and cancelling claims 10-12 is entered and will be addressed below.
The examiner notices Applicants did not cite support for the amendment.
Claim Interpretations
The “a system” of claims 1, 7, and 13 is considered an apparatus claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities: “vaporizier“ should be “vaporizer“.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-5, 7-9 and 13-21 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 claim(s) contains 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(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
The newly added limitations “a second heater configured to heat a portion of a line connecting the vaporizer vessel to a deposition chamber” of claim 1, and “a second heater to heat a portion of a delivery line connecting the vaporizer vessel to a deposition chamber“ of claims 7 and 13 do not have support in Applicants’ Specification.
Dependent claims 2-5, 8-9, and 14-21 are also rejected under USC 112(a) at least due to dependency to rejected claims 1, 7, and 13, respectively.
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 1-5, 7-9, 13-16, 18, and 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sandhu (US 20030072875, hereafter ‘875), in view of Oda et al. (US 20080115729, hereafter ‘729) and Winkler (US 20210002767, hereafter ‘767) or as being unpatentable over ‘729, in view of ‘875 and ‘767.
First, ‘875 as primary reference:
‘875 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 1: Systems and methods are provided for delivering solid precursors in deposition processes. A flow monitor is used to measure and regulate the flow of vaporized solid precursor material from a vaporization chamber to a deposition chamber (abstract, includes the claimed “A system, comprising”):
A vaporization chamber 102 includes a housing 104 and a first surface 106 that is coupled to a heating device 108 (Fig. 1, [0026], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “a vaporizer vessel having an interior volume” and “a heater configured to heat the vaporizer vessel”);
The vapor 114 travels out the vaporization chamber 102 and into a delivery line 116. The delivery line 116 comprises any tubing or conduit suitable for routing the vapor 114. A flow monitor 118 is positioned along the delivery line 116 in such a manner as to be able to measure the vapor flow therethrough. As illustrated, the flow monitor 118 is positioned inline with the delivery line 116 such that a first delivery line section 120 routes the vapor 114 from the vaporization chamber 102 to the flow monitor 118, and a second delivery line section 122 routes the vapor 114 from the flow monitor 118 to a deposition chamber 124 ([0030],includes the claimed “an outlet fluidly connected to the vaporizer vessel”);
The flow monitor 118 controls the flow rate of the vapor 114 into the deposition chamber 124 by choking the flow of vapor in the first delivery line section 120 to let the desired amount of flow through ([0034], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “a first external valve configured to regulate a pressure of a vaporized material at the outlet”, see also Fig. 6, valve 182, [0048], has the same symbol as the flow monitor 118);
To maintain the solid precursor material 112 in the vapor phase, a controller 146 is used to adjust the temperature of the heating device 108 to account for detected or expected changes in pressure. The controller 146 has a first input 148 coupled to the flow monitor 118. The first input 148 receives as an input, the vapor flow measured by the flow monitor 118. The controller 146 further includes a first output 150 coupled to the temperature control 110 of the heating device 108. The first output 150 is arranged to adjust the temperature generated by the heating device 108 in such a manner to control the flow of vapor 114 through the vapor delivery system 100. By reducing the flow of vapor 114, the pressure in the first delivery line section 120 is also reduced ([0035], includes the claimed “a control device configured such that, in response to the pressure at the outlet being outside a first set pressure range, the control device causes the heater to increase or decrease heat to the vaporizer vessel”).
Claim 7: Systems and methods are provided for delivering solid precursors in deposition processes. A flow monitor is used to measure and regulate the flow of vaporized solid precursor material from a vaporization chamber to a deposition chamber (abstract, includes the claimed “A system, comprising”):
A vaporization chamber 102 includes a housing 104 and a first surface 106 that is coupled to a heating device 108 (Fig. 1, [0026], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “a vaporizer vessel” and “a first heater to heat the vaporizer vessel”);
The vapor 114 travels out the vaporization chamber 102 and into a delivery line 116. The delivery line 116 comprises any tubing or conduit suitable for routing the vapor 114. A flow monitor 118 is positioned along the delivery line 116 in such a manner as to be able to measure the vapor flow therethrough. As illustrated, the flow monitor 118 is positioned inline with the delivery line 116 such that a first delivery line section 120 routes the vapor 114 from the vaporization chamber 102 to the flow monitor 118, and a second delivery line section 122 routes the vapor 114 from the flow monitor 118 to a deposition chamber 124 ([0030],includes the claimed “an outlet fluidly connected to the vaporizer vessel”);
The flow monitor 118 controls the flow rate of the vapor 114 into the deposition chamber 124 by choking the flow of vapor in the first delivery line section 120 to let the desired amount of flow through ([0034], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “a second valve, external to the vaporizer vessel and located between the vaporizer vessel and a deposition chamber, wherein the second valve is configured to step down pressure from the outlet to a second set pressure range lower than the set pressure range”, see also Fig. 6, valve 182, [0048], has the same symbol as the flow monitor 118).
Claim 13: Systems and methods are provided for delivering solid precursors in deposition processes. A flow monitor is used to measure and regulate the flow of vaporized solid precursor material from a vaporization chamber to a deposition chamber (abstract, includes the claimed “A system, comprising”):
A vaporization chamber 102 includes a housing 104 and a first surface 106 that is coupled to a heating device 108 (Fig. 1, [0026], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “a vaporizer vessel” and “a first heater configured to heat the vaporizer vessel”);
The vapor 114 travels out the vaporization chamber 102 and into a delivery line 116. The delivery line 116 comprises any tubing or conduit suitable for routing the vapor 114. A flow monitor 118 is positioned along the delivery line 116 in such a manner as to be able to measure the vapor flow therethrough. As illustrated, the flow monitor 118 is positioned inline with the delivery line 116 such that a first delivery line section 120 routes the vapor 114 from the vaporization chamber 102 to the flow monitor 118, and a second delivery line section 122 routes the vapor 114 from the flow monitor 118 to a deposition chamber 124 ([0030],includes the claimed “an outlet fluidly connected to the vaporizer vessel”);
The flow monitor 118 controls the flow rate of the vapor 114 into the deposition chamber 124 by choking the flow of vapor in the first delivery line section 120 to let the desired amount of flow through ([0034], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “a second valve configured to regulate the pressure of the vaporized material at the outlet”, see also Fig. 6, valve 182. [0048] has the same symbol as the flow monitor 118);
To maintain the solid precursor material 112 in the vapor phase, a controller 146 is used to adjust the temperature of the heating device 108 to account for detected or expected changes in pressure. The controller 146 has a first input 148 coupled to the flow monitor 118. The first input 148 receives as an input, the vapor flow measured by the flow monitor 118. The controller 146 further includes a first output 150 coupled to the temperature control 110 of the heating device 108. The first output 150 is arranged to adjust the temperature generated by the heating device 108 in such a manner to control the flow of vapor 114 through the vapor delivery system 100. By reducing the flow of vapor 114, the pressure in the first delivery line section 120 is also reduced ([0035], includes the claimed “such that the vaporized material exits the system within a second set pressure range”).
‘875 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: (1A) a second heater configured to heat a portion of a line connecting the vaporizer vessel to a deposition chamber;
(1B) a second internal vapor valve disposed in the interior volume of the vaporizer vessel;
(a control device …) and in response to a pressure of the vaporized material within the vaporizer vessel being below a second set pressure range, the control device causes the second internal vapor valve to increase the pressure of the vaporized material, and wherein, in response to the pressure of the vaporized material within the vaporizer vessel being above the second set pressure range, the control device causes the second internal vapor valve to decrease the pressure of the vaporized material.
Claim 7: (7A) a valve internal to the vaporizer vessel which is configured to regulate a pressure of a vaporized material exiting the vaporizer vessel such that the vaporized material is supplied to the outlet within a set pressure range;
(7B) a second heater to heat a portion of a delivery line connecting the vaporizer vessel to a deposition chamber.
Claim 13: (13A) a second heater configured to heat a portion of a delivery line between the vaporizier vessel and a deposition chamber;
(13B) a first valve configured to regulate a pressure of a vaporized material exiting the vaporizer vessel such that the vaporized material is supplied to the outlet within a first set pressure range.
‘729 is analogous art in the field of EVAPORATION SOURCE AND VACUUM EVAPORATOR USING THE SAME (title), An evaporation source having a nozzle structure that makes the distribution of film thickness uniform in the width direction of a substrate (abstract). ’729 teaches that as shown in FIG. 11, a movable control plate 9 that slides by superposing on the control plate 7 is provided on the top surface of the control plate 7. The relationship between the control plate 7 and movable control plate 9 is shown in FIG. 12A and FIG. 123 12B ([0075]), the movable control plate 9 is formed long like the control plate 7 and has vapor passage holes 9a formed in a pattern similar to that of the vapor passage holes 7a formed in the control plate 7. Then, the movable control plate 9 is constituted in such a way that the movable control plate 9 is slid in the longitudinal direction along the top surface of the control plate 7, that is, in directions of arrow outlines with a blank inside. Therefore, depending on the degree of sliding in the longitudinal direction of the movable control plate 9, an opening area by the vapor passage holes 7a and 9a functions as a control valve that is controlled by similar ratios respectively ([0076]), for the purpose of reducing irregularities of evaporation flow ([0077]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added the movable control plate 9 and the control plate 7 functioning as a control valve of ‘729 internal to the vaporization chamber 102 of ‘875, and operated as the same function as Fig. 2 of ‘875 (the limitations of 1B, 7A, and 13B), for the purpose of reducing irregularities of evaporation flow, as taught by ‘729 ([0077]) and for the purpose of control vapor flow, as required by ‘875 ([0037]).
‘767 is analogous art in the field of LIQUID VAPORIZER (title), vapor deposition ([0003]). ’767 teaches that a first pressure transducer 14 can monitor the pressure within the vaporizer 10 by way of a first transducer line 15. A second pressure transducer 16 can monitor the pressure within the process control chamber 20 by way of a second transducer line 17 ([0028]), As shown in FIG. 1, the device 1 can include a first thermal zone 27 that is maintained at a first temperature and a second thermal zone 28 that is maintained at a second temperature … If the thermal zones 27, 28 are separated, then portions of the supply line 8 between the zones can be provided with heater jackets to maintain the line at or above the temperature of the first thermal zone 27 ([0031]), for the purpose of preventing undesirable condensation ([0004]), 2nd sentence).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added a second heater at a second thermal zone, as taught by ‘767, to the first delivery line section 120 of ‘875 (the limitations of 1A, 7B, and 13A), for the purpose of preventing undesirable condensation, as taught by ‘767 ([0004]), 2nd sentence).
Second, ‘729 as primary reference:
‘729 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 1: FIG. 11, FIG. 12A, and FIG. 12B show a fifth embodiment of the vacuum evaporator, particularly the evaporation source according to the present invention ([0074], includes the claimed “A system, comprising”):
reference numeral 1 shows an evaporation source ([0040], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “a vaporizer vessel having an interior volume”);
reference numeral 2 shows a rectangular nozzle opening formed at a top end of the cabinet part 1A ([0040], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “an outlet fluidly connected to the vaporizer vessel”);
Then, the evaporation source 1 constitutes, with the whole cabinet part 1A including the vaporizing chamber 1B, a so-called hot wall chamber heated by an external heater 5 ([0043], includes the claimed “a heater configured to heat the vaporizer vessel”),
as shown in FIG. 11, a movable control plate 9 that slides by superposing on the control plate 7 is provided on the top surface of the control plate 7. The relationship between the control plate 7 and movable control plate 9 is shown in FIG. 12A and FIG. 123 12B ([0075]), the movable control plate 9 is formed long like the control plate 7 and has vapor passage holes 9a formed in a pattern similar to that of the vapor passage holes 7a formed in the control plate 7. Then, the movable control plate 9 is constituted in such a way that the movable control plate 9 is slid in the longitudinal direction along the top surface of the control plate 7, that is, in directions of arrow outlines with a blank inside. Therefore, depending on the degree of sliding in the longitudinal direction of the movable control plate 9, an opening area by the vapor passage holes 7a and 9a functions as a control valve that is controlled by similar ratios respectively ([0076], includes the claimed “a second internal vapor valve disposed in the interior volume of the vaporizer vessel”).
Claim 7: FIG. 11, FIG. 12A, and FIG. 12B show a fifth embodiment of the vacuum evaporator, particularly the evaporation source according to the present invention ([0074], includes the claimed “A system, comprising”):
reference numeral 1 shows an evaporation source ([0040], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “a vaporizer vessel”);
reference numeral 2 shows a rectangular nozzle opening formed at a top end of the cabinet part 1A ([0040], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “an outlet fluidly connected to the vaporizer vessel”);
as shown in FIG. 11, a movable control plate 9 that slides by superposing on the control plate 7 is provided on the top surface of the control plate 7. The relationship between the control plate 7 and movable control plate 9 is shown in FIG. 12A and FIG.
Then, the evaporation source 1 constitutes, with the whole cabinet part 1A including the vaporizing chamber 1B, a so-called hot wall chamber heated by an external heater 5 ([0043], includes the claimed “a first heater to heat the vaporizer vessel”).
Claim 13: FIG. 11, FIG. 12A, and FIG. 12B show a fifth embodiment of the vacuum evaporator, particularly the evaporation source according to the present invention ([0074], includes the claimed “A system, comprising”):
reference numeral 1 shows an evaporation source ([0040], 2nd sentence, includes the claimed “a vaporizer vessel”);
reference numeral 2 shows a rectangular nozzle opening formed at a top end of the cabinet part 1A ([0040], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “an outlet fluidly connected to the vaporizer vessel”);
Then, the evaporation source 1 constitutes, with the whole cabinet part 1A including the vaporizing chamber 1B, a so-called hot wall chamber heated by an external heater 5 ([0043], includes the claimed “a first heater configured to heat the vaporizer vessel”),
as shown in FIG. 11, a movable control plate 9 that slides by superposing on the control plate 7 is provided on the top surface of the control plate 7. The relationship between the control plate 7 and movable control plate 9 is shown in FIG. 12A and FIG. 123 12B ([0075]), the movable control plate 9 is formed long like the control plate 7 and has vapor passage holes 9a formed in a pattern similar to that of the vapor passage holes 7a formed in the control plate 7. Then, the movable control plate 9 is constituted in such a way that the movable control plate 9 is slid in the longitudinal direction along the top surface of the control plate 7, that is, in directions of arrow outlines with a blank inside. Therefore, depending on the degree of sliding in the longitudinal direction of the movable control plate 9, an opening area by the vapor passage holes 7a and 9a functions as a control valve that is controlled by similar ratios respectively ([0076], includes the claimed “a second valve configured to regulate the pressure of the vaporized material at the outlet such that the vaporized material exits the system within a second set pressure range”).
‘729 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: (1a) a second heater configured to heat a portion of a line connecting the vaporizer vessel to a deposition chamber;
(1b) a first external valve configured to regulate a pressure of a vaporized material at the outlet;
and
a control device configured such that, in response to the pressure at the outlet being outside a first set pressure range, the control device causes the heater to increase or decrease heat to the vaporizer vessel and in response to a pressure of the vaporized material within the vaporizer vessel being below a second set pressure range, the control device causes the second internal vapor valve to increase the pressure of the vaporized material, and wherein, in response to the pressure of the vaporized material within the vaporizer vessel being above the second set pressure range, the control device causes the second internal vapor valve to decrease the pressure of the vaporized material.
Claim 7: (7a) a second valve, external to the vaporizer vessel and located between the vaporizer vessel and a deposition chamber, wherein the second valve is configured to step down pressure from the outlet to a second set pressure range lower than the set pressure range;
(7b) a second heater to heat a portion of a delivery line connecting the vaporizer vessel to a deposition chamber.
Claim 13: (13a) a second heater configured to heat a portion of a delivery line between the vaporizier vessel and a deposition chamber;
(13b) a first valve configured to regulate a pressure of a vaporized material exiting the vaporizer vessel such that the vaporized material is supplied to the outlet within a first set pressure range.
‘875 is analogous art in the field of Systems and methods are provided for delivering solid precursors in deposition processes. A flow monitor is used to measure and regulate the flow of vaporized solid precursor material from a vaporization chamber to a deposition chamber (abstract). ’875 teaches that The flow monitor 118 controls the flow rate of the vapor 114 into the deposition chamber 124 by choking the flow of vapor in the first delivery line section 120 to let the desired amount of flow through ([0034], 3rd sentence), To maintain the solid precursor material 112 in the vapor phase, a controller 146 is used to adjust the temperature of the heating device 108 to account for detected or expected changes in pressure. The controller 146 has a first input 148 coupled to the flow monitor 118. The first input 148 receives as an input, the vapor flow measured by the flow monitor 118. The controller 146 further includes a first output 150 coupled to the temperature control 110 of the heating device 108. The first output 150 is arranged to adjust the temperature generated by the heating device 108 in such a manner to control the flow of vapor 114 through the vapor delivery system 100. By reducing the flow of vapor 114, the pressure in the first delivery line section 120 is also reduced ([0035]), Referring now to FIG. 2, a controller scheme 200 is illustrated. The measured vapor flow is read in block 202. The measured vapor flow is then compared to a desired vapor flow in block 204 ([0037]). Note ‘767 also teaches second valve 12 and third valve 13.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have added an external flow monitor 118 and a controller performing the scheme of Fig. 2 of ‘875, to both the external flow monitor and the internal valve of ‘729 (the limitation of 1b, 7a, and 13b), for the purpose of control vapor flow, as taught ‘875 ([0037]).
‘767 is analogous art as discussed above.
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have moved the evaporation source 1 outside of the vacuum chamber in ‘729 and to have added a second heater to the supply line between evaporation source and the vacuum chamber (the limitation of 1a, 7b, and 13a), as taught by ‘767, for the purpose of preventing undesirable condensation, as taught by ‘767 ([0004]), 2nd sentence).
‘875 further teaches the limitations of:
Claims 2, 8, and 14: The flow monitor 118 may also optionally include therein, a flow restrictor 138, a pressure sensor 142, a temperature sensor 144, or both ([0032], 5th sentence, includes the claimed “further comprising at least one of a temperature sensor or a pressure sensor in electronic communication with the first external valve” of claim 2 and “further comprising at least one of a temperature sensor or a pressure sensor in electronic communication with the valve” of claim 8, and “further comprising at least one of a temperature sensor or a pressure sensor in electronic communication with the second valve” of claim 14).
Claims 3, 9, 15, and 18: Referring back to FIG. 1 with reference to FIG. 2, for a given solid precursor material 112, the controller 146 (such as a general purpose computer) has preprogrammed therein, a desired flow rate or range of acceptable flow rates to achieve a desired deposition layer ([0038], includes the claimed “wherein the control device is configured such that: when a pressure of the vaporized material at the outlet is below the first set pressure range, the control device causes the first external valve to increase the pressure of the vaporized material; and when the pressure of the vaporized material at the outlet is above the first set pressure range, the control device causes the first external valve to decrease a pressure of the vaporized material” of claim 3 and “further comprising a control device configured such that: when a pressure of the vaporized material exiting the vaporizer vessel is below the set pressure range, the control device causes the valve to increase the pressure of the vaporized material exiting the vaporizer vessel; and when the pressure of the vaporized material exiting the vaporizer vessel is above the set pressure range, the control device causes the valve to decrease a pressure of the vaporized material exiting the vaporizer vessel” of claim 9, and “wherein, in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being below the first set pressure range, the first valve is configured to increase the pressure of the vaporized material; wherein, in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being above the first set pressure range, the first valve is configured to decrease the pressure of the vaporized material” of claim 15).
Claims 4 and 16: the controller 146 contains predetermined data that provides the temperature and pressure conditions required to maintain a particular solid precursor in the vapor phase … The controller 146 can now monitor both the flow rate to ensure proper deposition processing, and make sure the pressure is maintained within the guard band to avoid condensation from forming in the flow monitor 118 and delivery line 116. ([0043], includes the claimed “wherein the control device is further configured such that: in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being below the first set pressure range, the heater is configured to increase the heat of the vaporizer vessel; and in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being above the first set pressure range, the heater is configured to decrease the heat of the vaporizer vessel” of claim 4 and “wherein, in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being below the first set pressure range or the second set pressure range, the first heater is configured to increase a temperature of the vaporized material;
wherein, in response to the pressure being above the first set pressure range or the second set pressure range, the first heater is configured to decrease the temperature of the vaporized material” of claim 16).
Claim 5: Fig. 8 … further includes a third output 192 that feeds back control from the controller 186 to the temperature control 110 of the heating device 108 ([0052], at a high vapor pressure, feedback control will turn off heater, includes the claimed “wherein in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being above the set pressure range, the heater is disabled”).
‘729 further teaches the limitations of:
Claim 21: depending on the degree of sliding in the longitudinal direction of the movable control plate 9, an opening area by the vapor passage holes 7a and 9a functions as a control valve that is controlled by similar ratios respectively ([0076], includes the claimed “wherein the first valve is an internal vapor valve disposed in an interior volume of the vaporizer vessel and the first valve regulates flow of vapor from the vaporizer vessel”).
The combination of ‘729, ‘875, and ‘767 further reads into the claimed:
Claim 20: as the feedback control of ‘875 is to reduce fluctuation and as the imported feedback metering valve is upstream from the feedback flow monitor/valve 118, the downstream valve is to adjust to a narrower pressure range than the upstream valve (includes the claimed “wherein the second set pressure range is a narrower range of pressures than the first set pressure range”).
Alternatively, claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘729, ‘875, and ‘767, as being applied to claim 4 rejection above, further in view of Wang et al. (WO 2012075824, hereafter ‘824).
In case Applicants argue that feedback control of ‘875 does not necessarily disable the heater.
‘824 is analogous art in the field of VAPORIZATION DEVICE AND VAPORIZATION METHOD (title), Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the vaporization apparatus of the present invention comprises: a heating chamber 10 disposed at the heater 20 that heats the outer wall of the chamber 10 (p4, last paragraph). ’824 teaches that If the vapor pressure in the heating chamber is greater than the target pressure, the heater can be turned off or the heat transferred can be reduced, causing the temperature in the heating chamber to decrease (bridging paragraph between pages 8 and 9).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have turned off the heater when vapor pressure is greater than the target pressure, as taught by ‘824, when operating the controller 146 of ‘875, for the purpose of controlling the pressure within a target range, as taught by ‘824 (bridging paragraph between pages 8 and 9).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘875, ‘729, and ’767, as being applied to claim 15 rejection above, further in view of Seo et al. (US 20130011804, hereafter ‘804).
The combination of ‘875, ‘729, and ‘767 does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 17: wherein, in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being below the first set pressure range or the second set pressure range, the first heater is configured to maintain a temperature of the vaporized material;
wherein, in response to the pressure of the vaporized material being above the first set pressure range or the second set pressure range, the first heater is configured to maintain the temperature of the vaporized material.
‘804 is analogous art in the field of Vaporization Apparatus And Method For Controlling The Same (title). ’804 teaches that The control unit may control the temperature of the vaporization crucible to be constant and control the vaporization quantity of the raw material based on the power variation value of the power measuring unit ([0011]), an advancing speed of the head 121 of the piston unit 120 is increased to increase the supply quantity of the liquid raw material when the vaporization pressure is lower than a target value. On the other hand, the advancing speed of the head 121 is reduced to reduce the supply quantity of the liquid raw material when the vaporization pressure is higher than the target value (Fig. 1, [0055], last two sentences), for the purpose of various raw material supply, large quantity raw material supply, long time raw material supply, and precise raw material supply ([0007]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have operated the vaporization chamber 102 at constant temperature by adding variable feeding head 121 of ‘804, when operating the controller 146 of ‘875, for the purpose of various raw material supply, large quantity raw material supply, long time raw material supply, and precise raw material supply, as taught by ‘804 ([0007]).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘875, ‘729, and ‘767, as being applied to claim 15 rejection above, further in view of Myo et al. (CN 101052745, hereafter ‘745).
‘729 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 19: a movable control plate 9 that slides by superposing on the control plate 7 is provided on the top surface of the control plate 7 ([0075], includes the claimed “wherein the first valve is a mechanical valve”).
The combination of ‘875, ‘729, and ‘767 does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 19: the second valve is an electronically actuated valve.
‘875 further teaches that the flow monitor 118 comprises an inlet 132, an outlet 134, a flow sensor 136, and associated electronics 140 ([0032], 4th sentence). ‘767 further teaches that The control system 34 can comprise processing electronics configured to control the operation of one or more of the first valve 11, the second valve 12, the first pressure transducer 14, the second transducer 16, the third valve 13 ([0028], last sentence). It would have been obvious to have using electronics to actuate the flow monitor 118.
Furthermore, ‘745 is analogous art in the field of Device And Method Of Atomic Layer Deposition (title), precursors are vaporized ([0137], 4th sentence). ’745 teaches that gas manifold 634 includes a plurality of electronic control valve (not shown). The invention adopts electronic control valve means any can be fast and precisely to a process chamber (Fig. 6, [0088]).
Before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have adopted an electronic control valve as the flow monitor/valve 118 of ‘875, for the purpose of fast and precise control, as taught by ‘745 ([0088]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 11/25/2025 have been fully considered but they are not convincing in light of the new grounds of rejection above.
In regarding to 112(b) issue, see the middle of page 7, Applicants’ amendment overcome the rejection.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 5776254 is cited for a heater 11 to the material gas transport piping 10 (Fig. 4).
US 20030150377 is cited for internal valve of crucible (Figs. 2 and 4A-4B, [0044]). US 20100080901 is cited for two valves between evaporator and the chamber (Fig. 5, see also Fig. 1).
US 20100012026 (Fig. 1), and US 5252134 (Fig. 1, manometer 19) and Applicants’ IDS 8931506 (Fig. 1) each reads into independent claims, either in narrow or broad claim interpretations.
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