DETAILED CORRESPONDENCE
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114 was filed in this application after a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but before the filing of a Notice of Appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or the commencement of a civil action. 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examination under 37 CFR 1.114 and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the appeal has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114 and prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant’s submission filed on 02/13/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ submission, filed on 02/13/2026, in response to the rejection of claims 1 and 3-6 from the final office action (07/05/2024), by amending claims 1 and 4-6 and adding new claims 7-8 is entered. Applicants’ supplemental amendment, filed on 04/27/2026, by further amending claims 1 and 4, cancelling claims 7-8, and adding new claims 9-16 is also entered and will be addressed below.
Election/Restrictions
No claims are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Species 1 and 3-8, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Objections
Claim 13 is objected to because of the following informalities: the “the first and second RE power sources” should be “the first and second RF power sources”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Interpretation
The “wherein the plate functions as a cooling plate to cool the electrode when the electrode is heated by the plasma generated in the plasma processing space” of claim 10 (similarly for claim 14), Applicants’ Specification describes “The plate-like member 41 is formed in a disc shape by a conductive material having relatively high heat conductivity such as, for example, aluminum, the surface of which is anodized, and functions as a cooling plate to cool the electrode part 42 which is heated by the plasma generated in the plasma processing space“ ([0017]). There is no other description such as a coolant circulation in the plate member 41. Therefore, a more conductive material of the plate member 41 than the electrode 42 reads into the limitation of claim 10.
The following are considered an intended use of the apparatus:
“during the plasma processing, the electrode is configured to receive a negative DC voltage from the variable DC power supply“ of claim 1,
“wherein the variable DC power source is turned ON when the first and second RF power sources supply an RF power to the lower electrode” of claim 13,
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, and 9-16 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Lubomirsky et al. (US 20120193456, hereafter ‘456), in view of Honda et al. (US 20070256638, hereafter ‘638). (US 20050189649, hereafter ‘649, is evidenced for the common knowledge that resistance is proportional to the thickness).
‘456 teaches all limitations of (note underline portion only reflects amendment of 04/27/2026):
Claim 1: the gas distribution plate assembly 120 is electrically conductive and can function as an electrode for generating a capacitively coupled plasma 115 in the processing volume 111 between the gas distribution plate assembly 120 and the substrate support assembly 112 (Fig. 1, [0047], includes the claimed “An upper electrode, comprising”):
A plurality of gas delivery holes 126 are formed through the base plate 121 ([0050]), the base plate 121 is formed from an RF conductive material, such as a metallic material, for example, aluminum ([0049], 5th sentence), The top surfaces 204 of the protective elements 122 may have the same or different shapes, but are generally designed to abut in a tiled fashion so that the edges of the top surfaces 204 of adjacent protective elements 122 are aligned and form a gap 203 having a uniform width (Fig. 2, [0055], includes the claimed “a plate made of aluminum and provided with a flow path that distributes a processing gas for a plasma processing, the surface of the plate including an outlet of the flow path”);
The gas distribution plate assembly 120 includes a base plate 121 and a plurality of protective elements 122 ([0048]), the protective element 122 is formed from a conductive non-metallic material, such as silicon carbide base plated material, graphite, or semiconductor material, such as silicon ([0063], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “and an electrode made of silicon and provided on a surface of the plate”),
FIG. 8D is a side view of a gas distribution plate assembly 830 having protective elements 832 with different thicknesses forming a convex profile 834 according to one embodiment of the present invention. A base plate 831 has a planar lower surface 833. The thickness of the protective elements 832 may decrease radially the closer the protective elements 822 are located to the center of the gas distribution plate assembly 830 to form the convex profile 834 ([0087], alternative embodiment of Fig. 1, includes the claimed “the electrode includes a peripheral portion having a first thickness and a central portion having a second thickness greater than the first thickness”),
It is well-known that the resistance of material is proportional to its thickness. ‘649 is evidenced that “the film resistance is proportional to the product of the thickness of the film and the resistivity of the film” [0017], therefore, Fig. 8D intrinsically has the claimed “and a resistance of the peripheral portion is less than a resistance of the central portion”).
Claim 4: FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an exemplary plasma processing chamber 100 having a gas distribution plate assembly 120 according to one embodiment of the present invention ([0043], includes the claimed “A plasma processing apparatus, comprising”):
The plasma processing chamber 100 includes a chamber body 110 and a lid 125 which enclose a processing volume 111 therein ([0044], includes the claimed “a processing container including a plasma processing space”);
the gas distribution plate assembly 120 is electrically conductive and can function as an electrode for generating a capacitively coupled plasma 115 in the processing volume 111 between the gas distribution plate assembly 120 and the substrate support assembly 112 … During processing, the substrate support assembly 112 is part of an RF return path that returns RF current back to the RF power source 150 ([0047], 2nd last sentence, includes the claimed “a lower electrode provided in the processing container” and “ and “an upper electrode disposed in the processing container to face the lower electrode across the plasma processing space”),
A plurality of gas delivery holes 126 are formed through the base plate 121 ([0050]), the base plate 121 is formed from an RF conductive material, such as a metallic material, for example, aluminum ([0049], 5th sentence), The top surfaces 204 of the protective elements 122 may have the same or different shapes, but are generally designed to abut in a tiled fashion so that the edges of the top surfaces 204 of adjacent protective elements 122 are aligned and form a gap 203 having a uniform width (Fig. 2, [0055], includes the claimed “an upper electrode disposed in the processing container to face the lower electrode across the plasma processing space, the upper electrode including: a plate part made of aluminum and provided with a flow path that distributes a processing gas for a plasma processing, a surface of the plate part including an outlet of the flow path“);
The gas distribution plate assembly 120 includes a base plate 121 and a plurality of protective elements 122 ([0048]), the protective element 122 is formed from a conductive non-metallic material, such as silicon carbide base plated material, graphite, or semiconductor material, such as silicon ([0063], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “and an electrode part made of silicon and provided on a surface of the plate part”),
FIG. 8D is a side view of a gas distribution plate assembly 830 having protective elements 832 with different thicknesses forming a convex profile 834 according to one embodiment of the present invention. A base plate 831 has a planar lower surface 833. The thickness of the protective elements 832 may decrease radially the closer the protective elements 822 are located to the center of the gas distribution plate assembly 830 to form the convex profile 834 ([0087], alternative embodiment of Fig. 1, includes the claimed “the electrode part of the upper electrode includes a peripheral portion having a first thickness and a central portion having a second thickness greater than the first thickness”),
It is well-known that the resistance of material depends on its thickness. ‘649 is evidenced that “the film resistance is proportional to the product of the thickness of the film and the resistivity of the film” [0017], therefore, Fig. 8D intrinsically has the claimed “and a resistance of the peripheral portion of the electrode part is less than a resistance of the central portion”).
‘456 further teaches that the gas distribution plate assembly 120 may be coupled to an RF power source 150 through an RF matching network 151 to generate the plasma 115 ([0047], 2nd sentence).
‘456 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: the electrode being electrically connected to a variable direct current (DC) power supply,
wherein during the plasma processing, the electrode is configured to receive a negative DC voltage from the variable DC power supply.
Claim 4: a first radio frequency (RF) power source connected to the lower electrode to generate plasma in the plasma processing space;
a variable direct current (DC) power supply connected to the upper electrode and configured to provide a negative DC voltage to the upper electrode, and
a controller configured to control the variable DC power supply, wherein
during the plasma processing, the controller controls the variable DC power supply to supply the negative DC voltage to the upper electrode.
‘638 is an analogous art in the field of Electrode Plate For Use In Plasma Processing And Plasma Processing System (title) a semiconductor production system ([0002]), The upper electrode 4 is composed of a body 41 and a top plate 42 serving as an electrode plate ... The body 41 is made of an electrically conductive material, such as anodized aluminum (Fig. 1, [0034]), The top plate 42 is made of a conductor or a semiconductor, such as Si, ([0037]). ‘638 teaches that A variable DC power supply 52 is electrically connected to the upper electrode 4 via a low-pass filter (LPF) 51. This variable DC power supply 52 can be switched on or off by an on-off switch 53. A controller 54 controls the electric current and voltage of the variable DC power supply 52 and on/off of the on-off switch 53 ([0040]), when creating plasma in the processing space by applying radio-frequency power, generated by first and second RF generators 62, 64, to the lower electrode 24, the controller 54 turns the switch 53 on to apply predetermined DC minus voltage to the upper electrode 4 ([0041]), The first RF generator 62 serves to create plasma between the upper electrode 4 and the lower electrode 24 by generating radio-frequency power with a frequency of 27 MHz or more, e.g., 40 MHz. The second RF generator 64 serves to let the wafer W, held by the electrostatic chuck, attract the activated ion species by generating radio-frequency power with a frequency of 13.56 MHz or less, e.g., 2 MHz ([0043], 2nd half), for the purpose of minimizing occurrence of drift in electron density of plasma, thereby providing substrate-to-substrate uniformity in processing ([0010], last sentence).
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have replaced the RF electrodes of ‘456 with RF electrodes of ‘638, namely, negative variable DC power supply to the upper electrode and RF generators 62, 64 to the lower electrode and a controller 54, for the purpose of minimizing occurrence of drift in electron density of plasma, thereby providing substrate-to-substrate uniformity in processing ([0010], last sentence).
‘638 further teaches the limitations of:
Claims 9 and 11: The etching system 2 of this embodiment is a parallel plate plasma etching system of capacitive coupling type ([0030], last sentence, includes the claimed “wherein the plasma is a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP)”, also taught by ‘456, [0047]).
Claims 10 and 14: The body 41 may have, for example, a pipe, not shown in the figure, in which a cooling liquid circulates ([0036], 3rd sentence, includes the claimed “wherein the plate functions as a cooling plate to cool the electrode when the electrode is heated by the plasma generated in the plasma processing space” of claim 10 and “wherein the plate part functions as a cooling plate to cool the electrode part when the electrode part is heated by the plasma generated in the plasma processing space”, note ‘456’s aluminum base plate 121 also function as a cooling plate, see claim interpretation above).
Claim 12: The second RF generator 64 serves to let the wafer W, held by the electrostatic chuck, attract the activated ion species by generating radio-frequency power with a frequency of 13.56 MHz or less, e.g., 2 MHz ([0043], last sentence, includes the claimed “further comprising a second RF power source connected to the lower electrode and configured to draw ion species from the plasma”).
Claim 13: when creating plasma in the processing space by applying radio-frequency power, generated by first and second RF generators 62, 64, to the lower electrode 24, the controller 54 turns the switch 53 on to apply predetermined DC minus voltage to the upper electrode 4 ([0041], includes the claimed “wherein the variable DC power source is turned ON when the first and second RE power sources supply an RF power to the lower electrode”, note this is also an intended use of the apparatus).
Claim 15: The body 41 has a gas inlet 46 through which a process gas flows into the gas-diffusing chamber 43 ([0039]), There is a gas-diffusing chamber 43 in the body 41. From this gas-diffusing chamber 43, a large number of gas-flow holes 43a, arranged uniformly, extend downwardly ([0035], includes the claimed “wherein the plate part of the upper electrode includes a gas introduction port, a gas diffusion chamber, and a plurality of gas distribution holes”).
Claim 16: The gas-flow holes 43a and the gas-feed holes 42a are arranged so that they meet each other completely ([0035], last sentence, includes the claimed “wherein the electrode part of the upper electrode includes a plurality of gas introduction holes arranged to be overlapped with outlets of the plurality of gas distribution holes of the plate part”).
Claims 5-6 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over ‘456 and ‘638, as being applied to claims 1 and 4 rejection above respectively, further in view of Muraoka et al. (US 20090041568, from IDS, hereafter ‘568).
‘456 teaches that the base plate 121 is formed from an RF conductive material, such as a metallic material, for example, aluminum ([0049], 4th sentence), the protective element 122 is formed from a … semiconductor material, such as silicon ([0063], 3rd sentence), Each of the protective elements may be interference fit, bolted or otherwise fastened to the metallic base plate. The combination of ‘456 and ‘638 does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 5: wherein the electrode is formed of thermally sprayed silicon and is provided at a bottom-most part of the upper electrode.
Claim 6: wherein the upper electrode is formed of thermally sprayed silicon and is provided at a bottom-most part of the upper electrode.
‘568 is an analogous art in the field of substrate processing apparatus, and substrate placing table used for same, and member exposed to plasma (title) including a shower structure ([0075], last sentence). ‘568 criticizes that the wall portion of a reaction chamber is formed of a processed bulk body of mono-crystalline silicon, this part becomes very expensive but cannot have a sufficient strength ([0009]) and teaches that the main body may consist essentially of aluminum. The silicon film is preferably a film formed by thermal spraying ([0023]) the member to be exposed to plasma comprises a metal main body and a silicon film that coats the metal main body at least a portion to be exposed to plasma ([0019], last sentence), for the purpose of prevent the member from causing metal contamination ([0011], last sentence).
Note the material of silicon film thermal spraying on aluminum of ‘568 is the same material as the silicon protective element 122 on the aluminum base plate 121 of ‘456.
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 thermal spraying, as taught by ‘568, as the method to fix the protective element 122 onto the aluminum base plate 121 of ‘456, for the purpose of avoiding expensive and lack of strength of crystalline silicon and preventing the member from causing metal contamination, as taught by ‘568 ([0009] and [0011], last sentence).
Claims 1, 3-4, and 9-16 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Koshiishi et al. (US 20050061445, from IDS, hereafter ‘445), in view of Park (US 20020000196, previously cited, hereafter ‘196) and ‘638. (US 20050189649, hereafter ‘649, is evidenced for the common knowledge that resistance is proportional to the thickness).
‘445 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 1: Plasma processing apparatus (title), an upper electrode 21 (Fig. 1, [0052], is the claimed “An upper electrode comprising”):
the upper electrode 21 is formed as an electrode plate 23 having a number of delivery holes 24. The electrode plate 23 is fixed to an electrode supporting body 22. The body 22 is a water-cooled structure formed from a conductive material such as aluminum ([0054]), to introduce the process gas into the upper electrode 21 from the process gas source 30 through the process gas supplying pipe 27 and the gas inlet 26 ([0070], the body 22 with delivery holes 24 is the claimed “a plate made of aluminum and provided with a flow path that distributes a processing gas for a plasma processing”, same as Applicants’ flow path/delivery hole is 43a. Note the bottom of the delivery holes 24 is the claimed “the surface of the plate including an outlet of the flow path” as shown in Fig. 1);
The electrode 23 of the upper electrode 21 is normally formed of a conductor or semiconductor such as Si ([0091], includes the claimed “an electrode made of silicon and provided on a surface of the plate”),
it is preferable that the high resistance member (central portion) 64 is formed from Si since the resistance can be adjusted merely by adjusting the amount of the dopant such as boron (Fig. 10, [0107], an embodiment of the upper electrode 21 of Fig. 1, includes the claimed “the electrode includes a peripheral portion having a first thickness and a central portion having a second thickness, and a resistance of the peripheral portion is less than a resistance of the central portion “).
Claim 4: The plasma processing apparatus 1 has a chamber 2 formed of aluminum in a cylinder shape (Fig. 1, [0047], includes the claimed “A plasma processing apparatus comprising: a processing container including a plasma processing space”);
a suscepter supporting body 4 … for mounting an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as "wafer") W. There is further provided on the suscepter supporting body 4 a suscepter 5 constituting a lower electrode ([0048], the lower electrode 5 is the claimed “a lower electrode provided in the processing container”);
The suscepter 5 functions as the lower electrode. There is provided an upper electrode 21 above and opposite the suscepter 5 ([0052], includes the claimed “an upper electrode disposed in the processing container to face the lower electrode across the plasma processing space”),
the upper electrode 21 is formed as an electrode plate 23 having a number of delivery holes 24. The electrode plate 23 is fixed to an electrode supporting body 22. The body 22 is a water-cooled structure formed from a conductive material such as aluminum ([0054]), to introduce the process gas into the upper electrode 21 from the process gas source 30 through the process gas supplying pipe 27 and the gas inlet 26 ([0070], the body 22 with delivery holes 24 is the claimed “the upper electrode including: a plate part made of aluminum and provided with a flow path that distributes a processing gas for a plasma processing”, note the bottom of the holes 24 of the electrode supporting body 22 is the claimed “a surface of the plate part including an outlet of the flow path”);
The electrode 23 of the upper electrode 21 is normally formed of a conductor or semiconductor such as Si ([0091], includes the claimed “and an electrode part made of silicon and provided on a surface of the plate part”),
the upper electrode exposed to the plasma ([0014[, last sentence, reads into the claimed “wherein the electrode part is exposed to the plasma processing space“).
it is preferable that the high resistance member (central portion) 64 is formed from Si since the resistance can be adjusted merely by adjusting the amount of the dopant such as boron (Fig. 10, [0107], an embodiment of the upper electrode 21 of Fig. 1, includes the claimed “the electrode part of the upper electrode includes a peripheral portion having a first thickness and a central portion having a second thickness, and a resistance of the peripheral portion of the electrode part is less than a resistance of the central portion “).
‘445 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: (1A) the electrode being electrically connected to a variable direct current (DC) power supply,
wherein during the plasma processing, the electrode is configured to receive a negative DC voltage from the variable DC power supply,
(1B) (the electrode includes a peripheral portion having a first thickness and a central portion) having a second thickness greater than the first thickness.
Claim 4: (4A) a first radio frequency (RF) power source connected to the lower electrode to generate plasma in the plasma processing space;
a variable direct current (DC) power supply connected to the upper electrode and configured to provide a negative DC voltage to the upper electrode, and
a controller configured to control the variable DC power supply, wherein
during the plasma processing, the controller controls the variable DC power supply to supply the negative DC voltage to the upper electrode,
(4B) (the electrode includes a peripheral portion having a first thickness and a central portion having a second thickness) greater than the first thickness.
‘638 is an analogous art as discussed above.
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have replaced the RF electrodes of ‘456 with RF electrodes of ‘638, namely, negative variable DC power supply to the upper electrode and RF generators 62, 64 to the lower electrode and controller 54 (the limitations of 1A and 4A), for the purpose of minimizing occurrence of drift in electron density of plasma, thereby providing substrate-to-substrate uniformity in processing ([0010], last sentence).
It is well-known that the resistance of material depends on its thickness. ‘649 is evidenced that “the film resistance is proportional to the product of the thickness of the film and the resistivity of the film” [0017].
‘196 is an analogous art in the field of Reactor For Depositing Thin Film On Wafer (title) including a shower head plate 120 and diffusion plate 130 (abstract, Figs. 1-3). ‘196 teaches that FIGS. 8 and 9, a diffusion plate 230 has a concave bottom, and a diffusion plate 330 has a convex bottom ([0042], last sentence). Note the entire diffusion plate is clearly made of the same material.
At the time the invention was made, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have replaced the high resistance member 64 by doping of ‘445 with by a diffusion plate 330 with the thicker central portion of ‘196 (the limitations of 1B and 4B), as an alternative way to adjust the central portion 64 in Fig. 10 of ‘445 to a higher resistance than the peripheral portion, as required by ‘445 ([0101]).
The combination of ‘445, ‘196 and ‘638 also teaches the limitations of:
Claim 3: the electrode plate 23 is constituted by an outer portion 63 formed of conductor or semiconductor having relatively low resistivity of 50 m[Symbol font/0x57]cm for example, and a central portion 64 formed of high resistant member having relatively high resistivity of 1 to 100 [Symbol font/0x57]cm, as shown in FIG. 10 (‘445, [0101]), a dielectric member 65 is provided to the electrode plate 23 to come in contact with the center of the non-opposing face of the electrode plate 23, as shown in FIG. 12. In this example, the electrode plate 23 is formed of conductor or semiconductor having resistivity within 1 to 100 [Symbol font/0x57]cm, such that the skin depth 6 is larger than the thickness of the electrode plate 23 ([0110], obvious to combine with resistivity and thickness variation to have the additive effect of the resistance difference between the center portion and peripheral portion, includes the claimed “wherein a resistivity of the peripheral portion of the electrode part and a resistivity of the central portion of the electrode part are set to different values within a range of 0.01 mΩcm to 100 Ωcm”).
‘638 teaches all limitations of claims 9-16 as discussed above.
‘445 also teaches all limitations of claims 9-12 and 14-16 (see Fig. 1 and [0046]).
Claims 5-6 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over ‘445, ‘196, and ‘638, as being applied to claims 1 and 4 rejection above respectively, further in view of ‘568.
‘445 is silent on how the electrode 23 is fixed to the electrode supporting body 22, therefore. The combination of ‘445, ‘196, and ‘638 does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 5: wherein the electrode is formed of thermally sprayed silicon and is provided at a bottom-most part of the upper electrode.
Claim 6: wherein the upper electrode is formed of thermally sprayed silicon and is provided at a bottom-most part of the upper electrode.
‘568 is an analogous art as discussed above.
Note the material of silicon film thermal spraying on aluminum of ‘568 is the same material as the silicon electrode 23 formed on the aluminum body 22 of ‘445.
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 thermal spraying, as taught by ‘568, as the method to fix the silicon electrode 23 onto the aluminum electrode supporting body 22 of ‘445, for the purpose of avoiding expensive and lack of strength of crystalline silicon and preventing the member from causing metal contamination, as taught by ‘568 ([0009] and [0011], last sentence).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 04/27/2026 have been fully considered but they are not convincing in light of the new grounds of rejection above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20070125335 is cited for Resistance = resistivity x length / area [0024].
US 5812261 is cited for resistance is proportional to film thickness (col. 1, lines 36-37). US 20100224325 is cited for thermal spraying electrode/showerhead 105 ([0071], [0137], Figs. 1 and 20A).
US 4661827 is cited for “a sheet resistivity is independent from the length L, but is defined only by the thickness of a film, and a nature of the same” (col. 2, lines 13-15).
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
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