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 .
Response to Amendment
The amendment filed 24 June 2026 is objected to under 35 U.S.C. 132(a) because it introduces new matter into the disclosure. 35 U.S.C. 132(a) states that no amendment shall introduce new matter into the disclosure of the invention. The added material which is not supported by the original disclosure is as follows: “a bellow or a coil configured to produce an upward force on the source vessel” in claim 8 and “the plurality of force sensors are positioned to support the full weight of the vessel” in claim 21.
Applicant is required to cancel the new matter in the reply to this Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 24 June 2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Verghese et al. (US-20180094350-A1).
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 8-9 and 22 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. Specifically, the newly added limitation claiming, “a bellow or a coil configured to produce an upward force on the source vessel” in claim 8 is not supported by the written description. The originally filed specification describes that the lines apply the lifting or upward supporting force to the vessel, and that the bellows or coils reduce the magnitude of that force. The specification does not reasonably convey possession of a bellows or coil configured to produce an upward force on the source vessel, as now claimed. Claim 9 does not comply with the written description requirement by virtue of its dependence on claim 8.
Regarding Claim 22, the originally filed specification does not reasonably convey to one of ordinary skill in the art that the inventors had possession of “a plurality of force sensors that are positioned to support the full weight of the vessel”, as now claimed. Although paragraphs [0034] and [0043] state that “the force sensors… are positioned so as to support the full weight of the vessel”, the specification immediately qualifies this statement by explaining that the supported weight is “reduced by lift or vertical upward forces applied to the vessel lid by the lid-attached hardware”. Further, [0043] also states “all of the weight of the vessel is supported by the load sensors… except for that borne by the lid attached hardware”. Thus, the originally filed disclosure describes embodiments in which at least a portion of the vessel weight is supported by the lid-attached hardware, rather than solely by the force sensors.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-3, 5-7, 10, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR-101313877-B1) in view of Verghese et al. (US-20180094350-A1), hereinafter “Verghese”.
Regarding Claim 1, Lee discloses a reactor system (source container… and a reactor; see [0001]), comprising: a reaction chamber (reactor; see [0029]); a source enclosure (source container 100; see [0022]) comprising an inner space (enclosures comprise an inner space by definition), wherein the source enclosure is configured to maintain a pressure of the inner space below atmospheric pressure; a source vessel positioned in the inner space of the source enclosure (container 100 may include a container 10; see [0022] and Fig. 1), the source vessel comprising an interior space adapted for receiving a volume of a source material (the upper surface of the vessel member defines a source receiving space; see [0027] and Fig. 1), wherein the interior space is coupled to the reaction chamber (diffused into the gas dispersion space V1 and is transferred to the reactor through the gas discharge flow path 13; see [0029]); and a vessel weight monitoring assembly (the control unit 60 derives the weight loss of the source material SM; see [0048]) comprising a sensor assembly (“from the change in vapor pressure or the load of the container 10 sensed by the source amount sensing unit 50”; see [0048]; and “sensing portion 50 may include a load cell 51”; see [0044])) positioned between a bottom wall of the source vessel (lower surface of the vessel member 20; see [0044]) and a support element of the source enclosure (support plate 52; see [0044] and Figs. 1-2, parts 51, 52, and 20), wherein the source assembly comprises a plurality of force sensors (sensing portion 50 may include a load cell 51 for sensing the load of the vessel member 20 that receives the source material… the load cell 51 may be one or two or more; see [0044]) configured to sense a combined weight of the source vessel and the source material (a load cell 51 for sensing the load of the vessel member 20 that receives the source material SM; see [0044]).
Lee does not explicitly teach wherein the source enclosure is configure to maintain a pressure of the inner space below atmospheric pressure. However, Verghese discloses wherein the source enclosure is configure to maintain a pressure of the inner space (maintaining low pressures (e.g., 0.1 Torr to 20 Torr) within the solid source assembly during operation; see [0104]) below atmospheric pressure (The cabinet of the solid source assembly may be gas tight to allow pumping down to low pressures, such as between about 0.1 Torr and 20 Torr; see [0099]).
Lee and Verghese are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of a source container system for deposition processes. Modifying Lee to incorporate the vacuum pressure maintenance of Verghese would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because Verghese offers the motivation of facilitating efficient radiant heating minimal conductive or convective losses to the atmosphere within the cabinet (see [0099]).
Regarding Claim 2, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 1, wherein each of the force sensors is configured to output a signal indicative of a force applied by the source vessel on the one or more force sensors (The load cell 51 includes a transducer that converts a physical quantity such as a force or a load into an electrical signal and measures a force or a load; see [0044]).
Regarding Claim 3, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 1, wherein each of the force sensors comprises a load cell (sensing portion 50 may include a load cell 51; see [0044]) and the load cells are arranged in a circular pattern (The container 10 may be cylindrical; see [0022] and Fig. 2). Regarding the pattern and 120-degree offsets of the load cells, this is merely optimization within prior art conditions or through routine experimentation. The courts have held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. See In re Williams, 36 F.2d 436, 438, 4 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1929): “It is a settled principle of law that a mere carrying forward of an original patented conception involving only change of form, proportions, or degree, or the substitution of equivalents doing the same thing as the original invention, by substantially the same means, is not such an invention as will sustain a patent, even though the changes of the kind may produce better results than prior inventions.” It would have therefore been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to distribute the load cells with 120-degree offsets as this degree of separation necessarily occurs when disposing the load cells with equal spacing.
Regarding Claim 5, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 2, wherein the vessel weight monitoring assembly further comprises a controller (The control unit; see [0045]) configured to process the signal of each of the plurality of force sensors (connected to the source amount detection unit; see [0045]) and calculate a weight of the source material according to the processed signals (monitors the remaining amount of source material contained in the container based on the amount of change in load detected by the source amount detection unit; see [0045]).
Regarding Claim 6, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 5. Lee does not explicitly teach wherein processing the signal comprises applying a conversion factor to the combined weight to remove a weight of the source vessel and forces applied on a lid of the source vessel by lid-attached hardware. However, Lee does disclose the controller calculating the amount of source material (amount of source material derived by the control unit; see [0049]) through arithmetic operations or a pre stored data table (see [0048]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a correction factor or offset when processing the load signal, because the measured load inevitable includes contributions from the source vessel and any external forces acting on the system. Removing such known contributions (e.g. via a conversion factor, tare, or calibration) represents a routine and well-understood signal processing technique in load-based measurement systems as it is required in order to achieve accurate results of source material weight.
Regarding Claim 7, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 5, wherein the controller generates an indicator indicative of the weight (The display unit can display the remaining amount of source material… derived by the control unit; see [0049]). Lee does not explicitly teach “based on a comparison of the calculated weight of the source material to a minimum threshold”. However, Lee does disclose that the display unit is capable of displaying various messages transmitted from the control unit, including when replacement of the source material is required (see [0049]). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that in order to process and display replacement timing of the source material, the controller must take into account a minimum threshold of source material in the vessel. Therefore, by indicating both the amount of source material in the vessel, and the replacement timing of the source material, the controller is implicitly communicating a comparison of the calculated weight to a minimum threshold.
Regarding Claim 10, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 2. The limitation claiming, “wherein an inner space of the source enclosure has an operating temperature of greater than 150oC”, this is a functional limitation that does not further limit the structure of the apparatus, but merely sets forth a manner of operating the apparatus. The Courts have held that apparatus claims must be structurally distinguishable from the prior art in terms of structure, not function. See In re Danley, 120 USPQ 528, 531 (CCPA 1959); and Hewlett-Packard Co. V. Bausch and Lomb, Inc., 15 USPQ2d 1525, 1528 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (see MPEP §§ 2114 and 2173.05(g)). The manner of operating an apparatus does not differentiate an apparatus claim from the prior art, if the prior art apparatus teaches all of the structural limitations of the claim. See Ex Parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (BPAI 1987). Functional limitations that do not limit the structure need not be given further due consideration in determining patentability of an apparatus. Further, the courts have held that generally, differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical. “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” In reAller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Regarding Claim 21, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 1. Lee further discloses wherein the vessel comprises one or more walls enclosing the interior space (the upper surface of the vessel member 20 defines a source receiving space that receives the source material together with the inner wall of the side wall portion; see [0027]).
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR-101313877-B1), in view of Verghese et al. (US-20180094350-A1), hereinafter “Verghese”, and Realpar (What is a Load Cell? |Types of Load Cells).
Regarding Claim 4, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 1.
Lee discloses a heater, but does not explicitly teach a base heater. However, Verghese discloses a vessel base heater (heater can be adapted to heat the housing base; see [0016]) positioned between the bottom wall of the source vessel (heater plate that is disposed below the housing of the SSCV vessel 104; see [0099]) and the support element (When modifying Lee by incorporating the vessel base heater of Verghese, it would naturally follow that they would be disposed in the same relative position, and would therefore result in the heater being disposed between the bottom of the vessel and the support).
Lee and Verghese are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of a source container system for deposition processes. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee by incorporating the teachings of Verghese and providing a vessel base heater. Doing so would enable heating of the vessel housing base (see Verghese [0100]).
Modified Lee does not explicitly teach the load cells being pneumatic. However, pneumatic load cells are one of a few commonly used types of load cells, as exemplified by Realpars (see bottom of Pg. 2). KSR Rationale E (see MPEP 2141) states that it is obvious to choose “from a finite number of identified, predictable solutions, with a reasonable expectation of success”. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the instant invention to select a pneumatic load cell from the list of common load cells taught by Realpar.
Regarding the limitation claiming “the load cell is embedded in an outer surface of the vessel base heater”, this is simply making integral and/or rearranging two parts already disclosed in the prior art and which are disposed in the relatively same positions as that claimed. The courts have held “that the use of a one piece construction instead of the structure disclosed in [the prior art] would be merely a matter of obvious engineering choice” (See In reLarson, 340 F.2d 965, 968, 144 USPQ 347, 349 (CCPA 1965)) and that shifting the position of a part is unpatentable if shifting the position would not have modified the operation of the device (See In reHarza, 274 F.2d 669, 124 USPQ 378 (CCPA 1960)). The specification does not teach any criticality of the claimed positioning, new or unexpected results over the prior art, or a modification to the operation of the device. Therefore, this rearrangement is considered a matter of obvious engineering design choice.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR-101313877-B1), in view of Verghese et al. (US-20180094350-A1), hereinafter “Verghese”, and Takoudis et al. (US-20150104575-A1), hereinafter “Takoudis”.
Regarding Claim 8, Lee and Verghese together disclose the reactor system of claim 5, wherein the lid-attached (lid portion; see [0060]) hardware comprises an output line (gas discharge channel positioned in the center of the lid portion; see [0061]).
Lee does not explicitly teach the lid comprising an input line. However, Verghese discloses valves of the lid attachment include a number of lines, including an input line to flow into one or more of the valves (a first inlet valve mounted on the lid and in fluid communication with the first serpentine path; see Claim 7). This modification would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because it enables control of the gas flow (see Verghese [0074]).
Modified Lee does not explicitly teach a bellow or coil in the claimed context. However, Takoudis discloses each line comprising a bellow (each line has two bellow-sealed pneumatic valves; see [0096]).
Lee and Takoudis are both considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of a system for deposition processes. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Lee by incorporating the teachings of Takoudis and providing a bellow. Doing so would have enabled actuation and control of the flow of gas (see Takoudis [0047]).
Regarding Claim 9, Lee, Verghese, and Takoudis together disclose the reactor system of claim 8. Verghese further discloses wherein the valve is positioned between the lid of the source vessel and an upper wall of the source enclosure (see Fig. 14, Parts 104 (vessel), 420, 424, 428, 432, 436 (lid valves), and 1350 (enclosure)). When modifying with the bellows of Takoudis, because the bellows are associated with the lid valves, it would have naturally followed that the bellows would be placed between the lid and source enclosure upper wall, as disclosed by Verghese. This modification would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention because it would have allowed the valves to be heated by additional heating elements disposed above the housing lid (see Verghese [0016]).
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 ALYSSA LEE KUYKENDALL whose telephone number is (571)270-3806. The examiner can normally be reached Monday- Friday 9:00am-5:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Claire Wang can be reached at 571-270-1051. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/A.L.K./Examiner, Art Unit 1774
/CLAIRE X WANG/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1774
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