Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 3/25/26 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 8-12, 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US Patent 10,347,511 to Verhaverbeke.
In Reference to Claim 1
Verhaverbeke discloses a method of processing a substrate, the method comprising: disposing the substrate in a drying chamber (Fig. 6, 890); and supplying a fluid into the drying chamber in which the substrate is disposed, wherein the supplying of the fluid into the drying chamber comprises: supplying, after the disposing of the substrate in the drying chamber (Col. 23, Line 20-25, supply a purge gas to the chamber, also listed as Step 860 in Fig. 8), a gas into the drying chamber; and supplying, after the supplying of the gas into the drying chamber, a supercritical fluid of the gas into the drying chamber (Fig. 8, Step 870, Col. 23, Line 26-30, the supercritical fluid comprising the same type of chemicals).
In Reference to Claim 8
Verhaverbeke discloses a method of processing a substrate, the method comprising: wet-processing the substrate (Fig. 8, 810); and dry-processing the substrate wet-processed, wherein the dry-processing of the substrate comprises: disposing the substrate in a drying chamber (Fig. 8, 850); supplying, after the disposing of the substrate in the drying chamber, a gas into the drying chamber to increase a pressure in the drying chamber to a first pressure (Fig. 8, Step 860, Col. 23, Line 20-25, supply a purge gas to the chamber ; and supplying, after the supplying of the gas into the drying chamber, a supercritical fluid of the gas into the drying chamber after the pressure in the drying chamber reaches the first pressure (Fig. 8, Step 870, Col. 23, Line 26-30, the supercritical fluid comprising the same type of chemicals).
In Reference to Claim 9
Verhaverbeke discloses the supplying of the gas into the drying chamber comprises: supplying the gas, supplied from a gas tank of a gas supply unit (Fig. 7, 720), into the drying chamber.
In Reference to Claim 10
Verhaverbeke discloses the gas includes a CO2 gas (Col. 23, Line 45)
In Reference to Claim 11
Verhaverbeke discloses the supplying of the supercritical fluid into the drying chamber comprises: supplying the supercritical fluid, supplied from a supercritical fluid supply unit, into the drying chamber. (Fig. 8, Step 860)
In Reference to Claim 12
Verhaverbeke discloses the supplying of the supercritical fluid includes: receiving the gas from the gas tank; and converting the gas into the supercritical fluid. (Col. 23, Line 45-46)
In Reference to Claim 14
Verhaverbeke discloses heating (Fig. 5, 550) the gas supplied from the gas tank into the drying chamber.
In Reference to Claim 15
Verhaverbeke discloses the first pressure is selected from a range of from about 20 bar to about 80 bar. (Col. 23, Line 25, 1100 psi equal to 75 bar)
In Reference to Claim 16
Verhaverbeke discloses the wet-processing of the substrate comprises: disposing the substrate in a wet chamber (Fig. 8, 810); and supplying a wetting solution (Fig. 8, 820) onto the substrate disposed in the wet chamber.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Verhaverbeke in view of US Patent Publication 2011//0214694 to Toshima.
In Reference to Claim 13
Verhaverbeke discloses the purge gas will be exhausted as the supercritical fluid is provided.
Verhaverbeke does not teach converting the gas into the supercritical fluid.
Toshima teaches the supercritical fluid can be obtained by converting the gas into the supercritical fluid (Fig. 4, Step S106 and S107)
It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to adopt the method of Toshima into the method of Verhaverbeke. Doing so, would result in the supercritical fluid is directly converted from the purge gas as being taught by Toshima. Both inventions of Verhaverbeke and Toshima are in the same field of endeavor, Toshima teaches a simplified method with a predictable result of success.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 17-20 are allowed.
Claims 2-7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/26/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The argument to Claim 1 and Claim 8 is true. However, they are based on the amended claims. The argument is moot in terms of the new ground of rejection.
The Argument to Claim 17 is persuasive. The rejection to Claim 17 has bene withdrawn.
Conclusion
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DEMING . WAN
Examiner
Art Unit 3762
/DEMING WAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 4/21/26
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