DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1, 7, 12, and 17-18 are amended. Claims 5-6, 8, 16 and 19 are as previously presented. Claims 2-4, 9-11, 13-15, and 20 are cancelled. Therefore, claims 1, 5-8, 12, and 16-19 are currently pending and have been considered below.
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed on March 13, 2026 has been entered. Applicant’s amendment overcomes the previously set-forth claim objections to claims 1, 7, 12, and 17-18.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Pages 7-15, filed on 03/13/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of applicant’s amendment regarding the oppositely located terminals regions that protrude from the quadrangular device region and previously found prior art regarding these features.
Applicant argues that the alternating X/Y arrangement is not shown in Goda.
It is the Examiner’s position that this argument is not persuasive but acknowledges that from the modified Figures of Goda, it might have been unclear. The Examiner construes the x-axis sequential positioning as being shown in Fig. 6 with the device regions and terminals lined up. The Examiner construes the y-axis alternate placement of the device regions and terminals as being shown in Fig. 1, where the device regions 120 are located on a higher y-axis location and the terminal regions are located on a lower y-axis location. Therefore, the two regions are arranged alternately; where alternately is construed to be things occurring in succession, where these regions occur in succession of each other.
In the interest of compact prosecution, previously presented prior art has been used to further address the y-axial alternately limitation. The applicant has also not addressed the Mor reference.
Applicant argues that the rotating substrate and center-aligned device region is not present within the references.
It is the Examiner’s position that this argument is not persuasive as Kim does disclose a rotating substrate holder (Kim, Page 7, Para. 3, “The rotation module 330 is coupled to the lower portion of the substrate support plate 310 and rotates the substrate support plate 310. When the substrate support plate 310 is rotated, the semiconductor wafer 20 mounted on the upper surface of the substrate support plate 310 is more uniformly heated.”). It appears that Kim discloses the rotating substate support plate for the same purpose as that of the applicant, in allowing the wafer to be more uniformly heated. Since the wafer is entirely heated by VCSEL and located on the entirety of the substrate holder, there would be irradiation modules located at the center of the flat substrate.
Claim Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
“outer rotating means” in Claims 8 and 19
The generic placeholder is “outer rotating” and the functional language attributed the “outer rotating” includes: “configured to generate a magnetic force”.
Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
This application includes one or more claim limitations that do not use the word “means,” but are nonetheless being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, because the claim limitation(s) uses a generic placeholder that is coupled with functional language without reciting sufficient structure to perform the recited function and the generic placeholder is not preceded by a structural modifier. Such claim limitation(s) is/are:
“substrate rotating module” in Claims 9 and 20
The generic placeholder is “module” and the functional language attributed the “module” includes: “configured to support and rotate the flat substrate”.
Because this/these claim limitation(s) is/are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, it/they is/are being interpreted to cover the corresponding structure described in the specification as performing the claimed function, and equivalents thereof.
Reference is made to the Specification filed on 12/02/2022.
Regarding the outer rotating means, Para. 0075, “The outer rotating means320 may be formed to have the same structure as a stator of a motor. For example, the outer rotating means320 may include an iron core formed in a shape of ring and a conducting wire wound around the iron core.”, where the outer rotating means 320 is assumed to be a stationary magnetic material
Regarding the substrate rotating module, Para. 0073, “The substrate rotating module300 may include an inner rotating means310 and an outer rotating means320. The substrate rotating module300 may rotate the substrate support150 in a horizontal direction in a non-contact manner.”, where the substrate rotating module 300 is construed to be made of a magnetically movable holder for a substrate
If applicant does not intend to have this/these limitation(s) interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitation(s) to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitation(s) recite(s) sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid it/them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 5-6, 12, and 16-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (KR 20180077384 A, hereinafter Kim) in view of Goda (JP 2020009927 A) and Mor (CN 105324631 A).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses a substrate heat-treating apparatus using a VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) device (Abstract, “substrate heat treatment apparatus using VCSEL”), comprising:
a process chamber in which a flat substrate to be heat-treated is placed (Page 3, Para. 4, “The substrate support plate 110 is formed in a plate shape having an area larger than that of the flat plate substrate 10 which is seated on the upper surface.”, where the flat substrate 10 is heat treated, Page 2, Para. 2 from end, “The substrate heating apparatus 100 selectively irradiates a VCSEL to an activation region, such as a source region or a drain region, on an upper portion or a lower portion of a flat substrate 10 having a thin film transistor formed on a glass substrate or a flexible substrate”);
a substrate rotating module configured to support and rotate the flat substrate (Page 7, Para. 3, “The rotation module 330 is coupled to the lower portion of the substrate support plate 310 and rotates the substrate support plate 310. When the substrate support plate 310 is rotated, the semiconductor wafer 20 mounted on the upper surface of the substrate support plate 310 is more uniformly heated.”); and
an irradiation module configured to irradiate a laser beam to the flat substrate (Page 2, last Para., “The substrate heat treatment apparatus 100 irradiates a predetermined area of the flat substrate 10 with a VCSEL, which is a surface emitting laser, and performs a heat treatment process.”), the irradiation module comprising a device array plate and sub-irradiation modules placed on an upper surface of the device array plate (Page 3, Para. 5, “The heating module 120 includes a heating frame 121 and a laser unit 125. The heating module 120 is located at the upper or lower portion of the substrate support plate 110 and simultaneously irradiates the laser to the entire heat treatment region in the flat substrate 10 mounted on the substrate support plate 110.”, and where the laser units 125 can be multiple, Page 3, Para. 6, “The heating module 120 is formed by arranging a plurality of laser units 125 in the row direction and the column direction.”),
each of the sub-irradiation modules including a device region on which the VCSEL device is mounted (Page 4, Para. 2, “The laser unit 125 is formed to include at least one VCSEL element 126. The laser unit 125 is preferably formed by arranging a plurality of VCSEL elements 126 so as to have a rectangular shape in plan view.”),
wherein a device region of one of the sub-irradiation modules is located at a center of the flat substrate (Fig. 1, where the laser units 125 are shown to hit the substrate 10, where the location of the irradiation can be adjusted depending on the user, Page 3, Para. 5 from end, “The heating module 120 is spaced a predetermined distance from the upper surface or the lower surface of the laser unit 125 and the flat substrate 10. The spacing distance is adjusted so as to appropriately heat only the heat treatment region or the activation region of the flat substrate 10 according to the arrangement interval and the arrangement form of the laser units 125.”).
Kim does not disclose:
a terminal region on which an electrode terminal is mounted, wherein, in the irradiation module, the device regions and the terminal regions are sequentially disposed in an x-axial direction, and the device regions and the terminal regions are alternately disposed in a y-axial direction perpendicular to the x-axial direction,
wherein, in each sub-irradiation module, the device region is formed in a quadrangular shape, and a first terminal region protrudes from a front end of the device region at a first lateral side of the device region, and a second terminal region protrudes from a rear end of the device region at a second lateral side of the device region opposite the first lateral side.
However, Goda discloses, in the similar field of heat treating flat substrates (Abstract, “heating LED lamp that can uniformly and quickly raise a wafer to a required temperature in a short time”), where a terminal region is present (Page 2, Para. 5 from end, “A pair of electrodes 112 are formed on the surface of one end of the substrate 110, and the LEDs 120 mounted on the surface of the substrate 110 are connected in series by a circuit pattern (not shown) between the electrodes 112.”, where the area that the electrodes), where in the irradiation module the device regions and terminal regions are located in an x-axial direction (Modified Fig. 1 and 6, where the terminal region and device regions are shown to be in the x-axial direction and are lined up; and where the y-axial direction includes the terminal and device regions located in succession or alternately). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the VCSEL device array in Kim to include the terminal regions that are lined up as taught by Goda.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of using the terminal regions to allow for laser current to be the same, which can eliminate the variation in current values and therefore minimize the amount of variation in the light emitted, as stated by Goda, Page 2, Para. 5 from end, “A pair of electrodes 112 are formed on the surface of one end of the substrate 110, and the LEDs 120 mounted on the surface of the substrate 110 are connected in series by a circuit pattern (not shown) between the electrodes 112. I have. As a result, the current flowing through each LED 120 becomes the same, and the variation in the current value flowing through each LED 120 is eliminated, so that the variation in the amount of light emitted from each LED 120 can be minimized.”.
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Modified Figure 1 and 6, Goda
Mor discloses, in the similar field of VCSEL devices (Page 3, Para. 4, “In the disclosed example, the luminous element comprises a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).”), where in each sub-irradiation module the device region is formed in a quadrangular shape (Page 7, Para. 1, “a separate set of columns of sixteen VCSEL24”, and modified Fig. 5A, where the device region includes the VSCEL elements 24 and where that device region is in a quadrangular shape), where the sub-irradiation modules have terminal regions that include an electrode terminal and where those terminal regions and device regions are sequentially alternately arranged in the x-axial direction (Page 7, Para. 1, “the conductor is formed for each row has a single common contact 92 on the substrate. controller 96 selects column by the corresponding contact 92 using a suitable drive signal to actuate.”; modified Fig. 5A, where the alternating terminal ends are shown for all the modules along the x-axis, where the contact 92 is construed to be an electrode terminal, Abstract, “limit for driving the light emitting element of each row of the corresponding common contact (92) of the conductor is formed on the die.”), a region where only the modules are arranged (Page 7, Para. 3, “monolithic array 94 schematic top view according to another embodiment of the invention. monolithic VCSEL array type as shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B has the advantage of high power scalability so that it can number line scaling of both power and in the array.”), where the terminal and device regions are alternately disposed in a y-axial direction perpendicular to the x-axial direction (Modified Fig. 5A, where the device region includes the VCSEL elements 24 and the terminal region is the area that contains the contacts 92, where the terminal region alternates along the y-axial direction with respect to the device region as the terminal region flips between being at the top and bottom of the device region), where in each sub-irradiation module there a first terminal region protruding from a front end of the device region at a first lateral side of the device region and a second terminal region protruding from the rear end of the device region at a second lateral side of the device region opposite the first lateral side (Modified Fig. 5A, where the first sub-irradiation module shown includes a terminal region protruding from the front end of the device region at a first lateral side of the device region, meaning that the terminal region that includes contact 92 protrudes from the bottom of the device region; where the second sub-irradiation module shown includes a terminal region protruding from a rear end of the device region at a second lateral side of the device region, meaning that the terminal region that includes contact 92 protrudes from the top of the device region, which is opposite the positioning of the first terminal region). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the terminal and device regions in modified Kim to include the alternating arrangement and top and bottom protruding terminal regions as taught by Mor.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to use the alternating arrangement of light emitting elements in order to drive different groups so that fringe pattern can be created, where this can be beneficial for a user in creating different light patterns through the array, as stated by Mor, Claim 11, “comprising a controller, the controller is configured for driving the light emitting element by alternately driving different groups of the row to generate a fringe pattern of the time sequence.”.
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Modified Figure 5A, Mor
Regarding claim 5, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses where the sub-irradiation modules have separate power control (Kim, Page 4, Para. 2, “Also, the laser unit 125 may be configured to apply different power to each laser unit. In this case, the laser unit 125 may include a control element for controlling the power applied to the VCSEL element 126.”)
Modified Kim does not disclose:
wherein the sub-irradiation modules are formed to be independently supplied with power.
However, Mor discloses where each sub-irradiation module is independently supplied with power (Page 7, Para. 1, “the conductor is formed for each row has a single common contact 92 on the substrate. controller 96 selects column by the corresponding contact 92 using a suitable drive signal to actuate.”, and Page 7, Para. 2, “However, in an alternative embodiment, also can drive comprises an optical projection module of the emitter grid array of other kinds of addressing scheme, to generate such a sequence of patterns.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the sub-irradiation modules in modified Kim to all be independently powered as taught by Mor.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to create different patterns of light emission through the independent control over each sub-irradiation module, as stated by Mor, Page 7, Para. 2, “However, in an alternative embodiment, also can drive comprises an optical projection module of the emitter grid array of other kinds of addressing scheme, to generate such a sequence of patterns.”.
Regarding claim 6, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above, discloses wherein the sub-irradiation module comprises a device substrate on which the VCSEL device and an electrode terminal are mounted (Kim, Modified Fig. 3, where the device substrate with the VCSEL elements mounted on is shown; teaching from Goda, where the terminals 112 are also located with the led elements on the substrate 110), and a cooling block coupled to a lower portion of the device substrate to cool the device substrate and the VCSEL device (Kim, Page 3, Para. 5, “The heating module 120 includes a heating frame 121 and a laser unit 125”, and Page 3, Para. 2 from end, “The heating frame 121 may have a cooling channel through which cooling water flows, though not specifically shown. The heating frame 121 can cool the laser unit 125”), wherein the cooling block has a cooling passage, through which cooling water flows, formed therein (Kim, Page 3, Para. 2 from end, “The heating frame 121 may have a cooling channel through which cooling water flows, though not specifically shown. The heating frame 121 can cool the laser unit 125 using cooling water supplied from the outside while contacting the laser unit 125 accommodated in the receiving groove 122. In this case, the heating frame 121 cools the entire laser unit 125.”).
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Modified Figure 3, Kim
Regarding claim 12, Kim discloses a substrate heat-treating apparatus using a VCSEL (Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser) device (Abstract, “substrate heat treatment apparatus using VCSEL”), comprising:
a process chamber in which a flat substrate is placed (Page 3, Para. 4, “The substrate support plate 110 is formed in a plate shape having an area larger than that of the flat plate substrate 10 which is seated on the upper surface.”, where the flat substrate 10 is heat treated, Page 2, Para. 2 from end, “The substrate heating apparatus 100 selectively irradiates a VCSEL to an activation region, such as a source region or a drain region, on an upper portion or a lower portion of a flat substrate 10 having a thin film transistor formed on a glass substrate or a flexible substrate”);
a substrate rotating module configured to support and rotate the flat substrate (Page 7, Para. 3, “The rotation module 330 is coupled to the lower portion of the substrate support plate 310 and rotates the substrate support plate 310. When the substrate support plate 310 is rotated, the semiconductor wafer 20 mounted on the upper surface of the substrate support plate 310 is more uniformly heated.”); and
an irradiation module comprising a device array plate and sub-irradiation modules placed on an upper surface of the device array plate (Page 3, Para. 5, “The heating module 120 includes a heating frame 121 and a laser unit 125. The heating module 120 is located at the upper or lower portion of the substrate support plate 110 and simultaneously irradiates the laser to the entire heat treatment region in the flat substrate 10 mounted on the substrate support plate 110.”, and where the laser units 125 can be multiple, Page 3, Para. 6, “The heating module 120 is formed by arranging a plurality of laser units 125 in the row direction and the column direction.”),
each of the sub-irradiation modules including a device region on which the VCSEL device is mounted (Page 4, Para. 2, “The laser unit 125 is formed to include at least one VCSEL element 126. The laser unit 125 is preferably formed by arranging a plurality of VCSEL elements 126 so as to have a rectangular shape in plan view.”),
wherein a device region of one of the sub-irradiation modules is located at a center of the flat substrate (Fig. 1, where the laser units 125 are shown to hit the substrate 10, where the location of the irradiation can be adjusted depending on the user, Page 3, Para. 5 from end, “The heating module 120 is spaced a predetermined distance from the upper surface or the lower surface of the laser unit 125 and the flat substrate 10. The spacing distance is adjusted so as to appropriately heat only the heat treatment region or the activation region of the flat substrate 10 according to the arrangement interval and the arrangement form of the laser units 125.”).
Kim does not disclose:
a terminal region on which an electrode terminal is mounted, wherein, in the irradiation module, the device regions and the terminal regions are sequentially disposed in an x-axial direction, and the device regions and the terminal regions are alternately disposed in a y-axial direction perpendicular to the x-axial direction,
wherein, in each sub-irradiation module, the device region is formed in a quadrangular shape, and a first terminal region protrudes from a front end of the device region at a first lateral side of the device region, and a second terminal region protrudes from a rear end of the device region at a second lateral side of the device region opposite the first lateral side.
However, Goda discloses, in the similar field of heat treating flat substrates (Abstract, “heating LED lamp that can uniformly and quickly raise a wafer to a required temperature in a short time”), where a terminal region is present (Page 2, Para. 5 from end, “A pair of electrodes 112 are formed on the surface of one end of the substrate 110, and the LEDs 120 mounted on the surface of the substrate 110 are connected in series by a circuit pattern (not shown) between the electrodes 112.”, where the area that the electrodes), where in the irradiation module the device regions and terminal regions are located in an x-axial direction (Modified Fig. 1 and 6, where the terminal region and device regions are shown to be in the x-axial direction and are lined up; and where the y-axial direction includes the terminal and device regions located in succession or alternately). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the VCSEL device array in Kim to include the terminal regions that are lined up as taught by Goda.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of using the terminal regions to allow for laser current to be the same, which can eliminate the variation in current values and therefore minimize the amount of variation in the light emitted, as stated by Goda, Page 2, Para. 5 from end, “A pair of electrodes 112 are formed on the surface of one end of the substrate 110, and the LEDs 120 mounted on the surface of the substrate 110 are connected in series by a circuit pattern (not shown) between the electrodes 112. I have. As a result, the current flowing through each LED 120 becomes the same, and the variation in the current value flowing through each LED 120 is eliminated, so that the variation in the amount of light emitted from each LED 120 can be minimized.”.\
Mor discloses, in the similar field of VCSEL devices (Page 3, Para. 4, “In the disclosed example, the luminous element comprises a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL).”), where in each sub-irradiation module the device region is formed in a quadrangular shape (Page 7, Para. 1, “a separate set of columns of sixteen VCSEL24”, and modified Fig. 5A, where the device region includes the VSCEL elements 24 and where that device region is in a quadrangular shape), where the sub-irradiation modules have terminal regions that include an electrode terminal and where those terminal regions and device regions are sequentially alternately arranged in the x-axial direction (Page 7, Para. 1, “the conductor is formed for each row has a single common contact 92 on the substrate. controller 96 selects column by the corresponding contact 92 using a suitable drive signal to actuate.”; modified Fig. 5A, where the alternating terminal ends are shown for all the modules along the x-axis, where the contact 92 is construed to be an electrode terminal, Abstract, “limit for driving the light emitting element of each row of the corresponding common contact (92) of the conductor is formed on the die.”), a region where only the modules are arranged (Page 7, Para. 3, “monolithic array 94 schematic top view according to another embodiment of the invention. monolithic VCSEL array type as shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B has the advantage of high power scalability so that it can number line scaling of both power and in the array.”), where the terminal and device regions are alternately disposed in a y-axial direction perpendicular to the x-axial direction (Modified Fig. 5A, where the device region includes the VCSEL elements 24 and the terminal region is the area that contains the contacts 92, where the terminal region alternates along the y-axial direction with respect to the device region as the terminal region flips between being at the top and bottom of the device region), where in each sub-irradiation module there a first terminal region protruding from a front end of the device region at a first lateral side of the device region and a second terminal region protruding from the rear end of the device region at a second lateral side of the device region opposite the first lateral side (Modified Fig. 5A, where the first sub-irradiation module shown includes a terminal region protruding from the front end of the device region at a first lateral side of the device region, meaning that the terminal region that includes contact 92 protrudes from the bottom of the device region; where the second sub-irradiation module shown includes a terminal region protruding from a rear end of the device region at a second lateral side of the device region, meaning that the terminal region that includes contact 92 protrudes from the top of the device region, which is opposite the positioning of the first terminal region). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the terminal and device regions in modified Kim to include the alternating arrangement and top and bottom protruding terminal regions as taught by Mor.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to use the alternating arrangement of light emitting elements in order to drive different groups so that fringe pattern can be created, where this can be beneficial for a user in creating different light patterns through the array, as stated by Mor, Claim 11, “comprising a controller, the controller is configured for driving the light emitting element by alternately driving different groups of the row to generate a fringe pattern of the time sequence.”.
Regarding claim 16, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above, discloses where the sub-irradiation modules have separate power control (Kim, Page 4, Para. 2, “Also, the laser unit 125 may be configured to apply different power to each laser unit. In this case, the laser unit 125 may include a control element for controlling the power applied to the VCSEL element 126.”)
Modified Kim does not disclose:
wherein the sub-irradiation modules are formed to be independently supplied with power.
However, Mor discloses where each sub-irradiation module is independently supplied with power (Page 7, Para. 1, “the conductor is formed for each row has a single common contact 92 on the substrate. controller 96 selects column by the corresponding contact 92 using a suitable drive signal to actuate.”, and Page 7, Para. 2, “However, in an alternative embodiment, also can drive comprises an optical projection module of the emitter grid array of other kinds of addressing scheme, to generate such a sequence of patterns.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the sub-irradiation modules in modified Kim to all be independently powered as taught by Mor.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to create different patterns of light emission through the independent control over each sub-irradiation module, as stated by Mor, Page 7, Para. 2, “However, in an alternative embodiment, also can drive comprises an optical projection module of the emitter grid array of other kinds of addressing scheme, to generate such a sequence of patterns.”.
Regarding claim 17, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above, discloses wherein the sub-irradiation module comprises a device substrate on which the VCSEL device and an electrode terminal are mounted (Kim, Modified Fig. 3, where the device substrate with the VCSEL elements mounted on is shown; teaching from Goda, where the terminals 112 are also located with the led elements on the substrate 110), and a cooling block coupled to a lower portion of the device substrate to cool the device substrate and the VCSEL device (Kim, Page 3, Para. 5, “The heating module 120 includes a heating frame 121 and a laser unit 125”, and Page 3, Para. 2 from end, “The heating frame 121 may have a cooling channel through which cooling water flows, though not specifically shown. The heating frame 121 can cool the laser unit 125”), wherein the cooling block has a cooling passage, through which cooling water flows, formed therein (Kim, Page 3, Para. 2 from end, “The heating frame 121 may have a cooling channel through which cooling water flows, though not specifically shown. The heating frame 121 can cool the laser unit 125 using cooling water supplied from the outside while contacting the laser unit 125 accommodated in the receiving groove 122. In this case, the heating frame 121 cools the entire laser unit 125.”).
Claims 7-8 and 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. (KR 20180077384 A, hereinafter Kim) in view of Goda (JP 2020009927 A) and Mor (CN 105324631 A) in further view of Suzuki et al. (KR 20110009187 A, hereinafter Suzuki).
Regarding claim 7, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 1, as set forth above.
Modified Kim does not disclose:
wherein the process chamber comprises an outer housing, an inner housing disposed inside the outer housing and formed to have a height smaller than that of the outer housing,
a beam transmitting plate placed above the inner housing, and
a lower plate coupled to lower sides of the outer housing and the inner hosing,
wherein the process chamber has an upper accommodation space formed inside the outer housing and above the inner housing to provide a space in which the flat substrate is placed, and a lower accommodation space formed between an outer surface of the inner housing and an inner surface of the outer housing, wherein the irradiation module is positioned below the beam transmitting plate to irradiate a laser beam to a lower surface of the flat substrate.
However, Suzuki discloses, in the similar field of laser heat treatment of materials (Page 1, Para. 2 from end, “target object such as a semiconductor wafer, and more particularly, to an annealing apparatus that performs annealing treatment by irradiating heating light from a laser element”), where the process chamber includes an outer housing and inner housing within the outer housing (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the outer and inner housings are shown, where the inner housing is located within the outer housing), where the inner housing has a lower height than that of the outer housing (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the inner housing is shown to have a lower height than that of the outer housing), where a beam transmitting plate is place above the inner housing (Modified Fig. 1.1, the beam transmitting plate is shown; Page 4, Para. 4 from end, “a thick light transmissive plate 62 made of, for example, a transparent quartz glass plate”), where a lower plate is coupled to the lower sides of the inner and outer housings (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the lower plate is shown), where the process chamber includes an upper accommodation space to hold the flat substrate (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the upper accommodation space is shown; Page 6, Para. 2 from end, “an annealing process to a to-be-processed object, for example, the semiconductor wafer W”), where there is a lower accommodation space (Modified Fig. 8, where the lower accommodation space is shown), where the irradiation module is positioned below the beam transmitting plate to irradiate the lower surface of the flat substrate (Page 5, last Para., “Moreover, the heating light of monochromatic light is radiate | emitted from each laser element 68 on the back surface (lower surface) of the wafer W. As shown in FIG. By this radiation, as shown in FIG. 6, the elliptical irradiation area 74 is formed on the back surface of the wafer W so that it may become substantially equal to the whole back surface of a wafer.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the processing chamber in modified Kim to include the features as taught by Suzuki.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to irradiate a substrate from both the top and bottom surfaces, which can help prevent warpage of the substrate, as stated by Suzuki, Page 6, Para. 3, “Moreover, since the surface side heating means 32 and the back side heating means 34 were to heat from both sides of the front and back (upper and lower side) of the wafer W, the deflection of the temperature distribution in the thickness direction of the wafer W was carried out. Rarely occurs. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the warpage of the wafer W, etc. resulting from the temperature difference of the front and back surface of the wafer W can be prevented.”.
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Modified Figure 1.1, Suzuki
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Modified Figure 8, Suzuki
Regarding claim 8, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 7, as set forth above, discloses wherein the process chamber further comprises a substrate support supporting an outer side of the flat substrate and formed to extend into the lower accommodation space (Teaching from Suzuki, modified Fig. 8, where the lower accommodation space is shown to have structure 96 that extends within, where that structure 96 and 93 support the substrate/wafer W on the outer side through 14).
Modified Kim does not disclose:
wherein the substrate heat-treating apparatus further comprises a substrate rotating module having an inner rotating means having a ring shape in which N poles and S poles are alternately arranged in a circumferential direction and being coupled to a lower portion of the substrate support within the lower accommodation space, and
an outer rotating means placed outside the outer housing to face the inner rotating means and configured to generate a magnetic force to rotate the inner rotating means.
However, Suzuki discloses where the a substrate rotating module has an inner rotation means with a ring shape with magnetic poles that is coupled to the lower portion of the substrate support within the lower accommodation space (Page 10, Para. 3, “a plurality of rectangular struts 93 extending in the vertical direction are arranged at the same pitch along the circumferential direction of the virtual cylinder, and their upper ends are connected to the floating side upper ferromagnetic body 94 of the cylindrical shape, The ring-shaped member 92 is further connected to the floating side upper ferromagnetic body 94.”, and modified Fig. 8, where the ferromagnetic body 94 is located within the lower accommodation space and connected to the substrate support 14, where being ferromagnetic would result in there being N and S poles alternately arranged), where an outer rotating means is placed outside the inner housing to face the inner rotating means to generate a magnetic force to rotate the inner rotating means (Page 11, Para. 2, “In addition, a plurality of rotating electromagnet assemblies 108 are arranged at a predetermined pitch along the circumferential direction outside the outer circumferential wall 98A of the floating container 98. In addition, a ferromagnetic body 110 is attached to the inner circumferential wall 98A.”, and Page 11, Para. 3, “As described above, since the wafer W can be rotated in a state in which the wafer W is supported on the rotary floating body 90”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the processing chamber in modified Kim to include the magnetic rotating system as taught by Suzuki.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to rotate the substrate to prevent nonuniformity in the thermal condition within the processing chamber, which can help with inducing more uniform temperatures within the substrate, as stated by Suzuki, Page 11, Para. 4, “Moreover, by rotating the wafer W in this way, the nonuniformity of the thermal condition in the circumferential direction of the inner wall surface of the processing container 4 can also be canceled. Also from this point, the uniformity of the in-plane temperature of the wafer W can be further improved.”.
Regarding the position of the outer rotating means being outside of the outer housing, it has been held that mere rearrangement of parts is an obvious modification to make. In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950). It is the Examiner’s position that the outer rotating and inner rotating means are both magnetic devices that are able to rotate, where the positioning of the outer rotating means to be outside multiple housings would still allow for the rotation to occur. As a result, the mere rearranging of the outer rotating means achieves the same end result and would be a mere matter of user design choice in selecting a desired position.
Regarding claim 18, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 12, as set forth above.
Modified Kim does not disclose:
wherein the process chamber comprises an outer housing, an inner housing disposed inside the outer housing and formed to have a height smaller than that of the outer housing,
a beam transmitting plate placed above the inner housing, and
a lower plate coupled to lower sides of the outer housing and the inner hosing,
wherein the process chamber has an upper accommodation space formed inside the outer housing and above the inner housing to provide a space in which the flat substrate is placed, and a lower accommodation space formed between an outer surface of the inner housing and an inner surface of the outer housing, wherein the irradiation module is positioned below the beam transmitting plate to irradiate a laser beam to a lower surface of the flat substrate.
However, Suzuki discloses, in the similar field of laser heat treatment of materials (Page 1, Para. 2 from end, “target object such as a semiconductor wafer, and more particularly, to an annealing apparatus that performs annealing treatment by irradiating heating light from a laser element”), where the process chamber includes an outer housing and inner housing within the outer housing (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the outer and inner housings are shown, where the inner housing is located within the outer housing), where the inner housing has a lower height than that of the outer housing (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the inner housing is shown to have a lower height than that of the outer housing), where a beam transmitting plate is place above the inner housing (Modified Fig. 1.1, the beam transmitting plate is shown; Page 4, Para. 4 from end, “a thick light transmissive plate 62 made of, for example, a transparent quartz glass plate”), where a lower plate is coupled to the lower sides of the inner and outer housings (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the lower plate is shown), where the process chamber includes an upper accommodation space to hold the flat substrate (Modified Fig. 1.1, where the upper accommodation space is shown; Page 6, Para. 2 from end, “an annealing process to a to-be-processed object, for example, the semiconductor wafer W”), where there is a lower accommodation space (Modified Fig. 8, where the lower accommodation space is shown), where the irradiation module is positioned below the beam transmitting plate to irradiate the lower surface of the flat substrate (Page 5, last Para., “Moreover, the heating light of monochromatic light is radiate | emitted from each laser element 68 on the back surface (lower surface) of the wafer W. As shown in FIG. By this radiation, as shown in FIG. 6, the elliptical irradiation area 74 is formed on the back surface of the wafer W so that it may become substantially equal to the whole back surface of a wafer.”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the processing chamber in modified Kim to include the features as taught by Suzuki.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to irradiate a substrate from both the top and bottom surfaces, which can help prevent warpage of the substrate, as stated by Suzuki, Page 6, Para. 3, “Moreover, since the surface side heating means 32 and the back side heating means 34 were to heat from both sides of the front and back (upper and lower side) of the wafer W, the deflection of the temperature distribution in the thickness direction of the wafer W was carried out. Rarely occurs. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the warpage of the wafer W, etc. resulting from the temperature difference of the front and back surface of the wafer W can be prevented.”.
Regarding claim 19, modified Kim teaches the apparatus according to claim 18, as set forth above, discloses wherein the process chamber further comprises a substrate support supporting an outer side of the flat substrate and formed to extend into the lower accommodation space (Teaching from Suzuki, modified Fig. 8, where the lower accommodation space is shown to have structure 96 that extends within, where that structure 96 and 93 support the substrate/wafer W on the outer side through 14).
Modified Kim does not disclose:
wherein the substrate heat-treating apparatus further comprises a substrate rotating module having an inner rotating means having a ring shape in which N poles and S poles are alternately arranged in a circumferential direction and being coupled to a lower portion of the substrate support within the lower accommodation space, and
an outer rotating means placed outside the outer housing to face the inner rotating means and configured to generate a magnetic force to rotate the inner rotating means.
However, Suzuki discloses where the a substrate rotating module has an inner rotation means with a ring shape with magnetic poles that is coupled to the lower portion of the substrate support within the lower accommodation space (Page 10, Para. 3, “a plurality of rectangular struts 93 extending in the vertical direction are arranged at the same pitch along the circumferential direction of the virtual cylinder, and their upper ends are connected to the floating side upper ferromagnetic body 94 of the cylindrical shape, The ring-shaped member 92 is further connected to the floating side upper ferromagnetic body 94.”, and modified Fig. 8, where the ferromagnetic body 94 is located within the lower accommodation space and connected to the substrate support 14, where being ferromagnetic would result in there being N and S poles alternately arranged), where an outer rotating means is placed outside the inner housing to face the inner rotating means to generate a magnetic force to rotate the inner rotating means (Page 11, Para. 2, “In addition, a plurality of rotating electromagnet assemblies 108 are arranged at a predetermined pitch along the circumferential direction outside the outer circumferential wall 98A of the floating container 98. In addition, a ferromagnetic body 110 is attached to the inner circumferential wall 98A.”, and Page 11, Para. 3, “As described above, since the wafer W can be rotated in a state in which the wafer W is supported on the rotary floating body 90”). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have modified the processing chamber in modified Kim to include the magnetic rotating system as taught by Suzuki.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to gain the advantage of being able to rotate the substrate to prevent nonuniformity in the thermal condition within the processing chamber, which can help with inducing more uniform temperatures within the substrate, as stated by Suzuki, Page 11, Para. 4, “Moreover, by rotating the wafer W in this way, the nonuniformity of the thermal condition in the circumferential direction of the inner wall surface of the processing container 4 can also be canceled. Also from this point, the uniformity of the in-plane temperature of the wafer W can be further improved.”.
Regarding the position of the outer rotating means being outside of the outer housing, it has been held that mere rearrangement of parts is an obvious modification to make. In re Japikse, 181 F.2d 1019, 86 USPQ 70 (CCPA 1950). It is the Examiner’s position that the outer rotating and inner rotating means are both magnetic devices that are able to rotate, where the positioning of the outer rotating means to be outside multiple housings would still allow for the rotation to occur. As a result, the mere rearranging of the outer rotating means achieves the same end result and would be a mere matter of user design choice in selecting a desired position.
Conclusion
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 KEVIN GUANHUA WEN whose telephone number is (571)272-9940 and whose email is kevin.wen@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10:00 am - 6:00 pm.
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/KEVIN GUANHUA WEN/Examiner, Art Unit 3761
05/27/2026
/IBRAHIME A ABRAHAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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