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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments are persuasive. The Examiner misread the prior art and assumed the RF/heating rod was also made of molybdenum. A new reference has been added to cure the deficiency which was not necessitated by Applicant’s amendment and thus the action is Non-Final.
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.
Claim(s) 8-11 and 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious in view of JP 3156031 to Kondo in view of US 2009/0236214 to Janakiraman et al..
Regarding claims 8 and 18
Kondo teaches: A substrate processing system comprising : a chamber providing a process space (vacuum chamber for 10, described in ¶ [0020], but “not shown”); and a substrate supporting apparatus (10) placed in the chamber to support a substrate (see support of wafer “w”), wherein the substrate supporting apparatus comprises: a heating plate (12, 16, 14); a radio frequency (RF) electrode (16a) in the heating plate (Fig. 2); a heater in the heating plate (14); an RF delivery (60,52) structure in contact with a bottom surface of the RF electrode (Fig. 2); and a heater power delivery structure (56,48), which is in contact with the heater and is spaced apart from the RF delivery structure in a horizontal direction (Figg. 2), the heating plate comprises: a first insertion hole (see hole in which 60 is placed), which is recessed into the heating plate from a bottom surface of the heating plate to expose the bottom surface of the RF electrode (note how 60 is in contact with 16a in Fig. 2); and a second insertion hole, which is recessed into the heating plate from the bottom surface of the heating plate to expose the heater (see hole in which 56 is placed) and is spaced apart from the first insertion hole in the horizontal direction (Fig. 2), the RF delivery structure comprises an RF rod (60), which is vertically extended and includes a portion that is inserted in the first insertion hole (Fig. 2), the heater power delivery structure comprises a heater power rod (56), which is vertically extended and includes a portion that is inserted in the second insertion hole, and the electrode is made of molybdenum (¶ [0016-0017]).
Kondo fails to teach that the RF rod and heater rod are made of molybdenum but as discussed in Janakiraman conductive rods made of molybdenum are known in the art (see ¶ [0034] “the conductive member may be a rod….made of a conductive material, such as molybdenum).
It therefore would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to make the RF and heater rods out of molybdenum as this is a known material suitable for making conductive rods in substrate processing environments and the use of this material would have amounted to nothing more than using a material for its intended purpose (see MPEP §2144.07).
Regarding claim 9
Wherein the heater is placed vertically below the RF electrode (at least portions of such as shown by 16a, being higher than 14a in Fig. 2) and the heater includes two or more heating lines (14a,14b), which are provided to enclose a portion of the RF delivery structure in plan view (Fig. 3 shows that the heater structure encircles, thus “encloses” all structures of the heating place).
Regarding claim 10
Wherein a length of the RF rod is longer than a length of the heater power rod (Fig. 2)
Regarding claim 11
Kondo teaches all of the limitations as discussed above, but fails to teach wherein a diameter of the second insertion hole is larger than a diameter of the first insertion hole.
However, Applicant teaches no synergistic or unexpected or altered function from this arrangement. In fact Applicant explicitly states in paragraph 40 that such an arrangement is not critical – “However, the embodiments are not limited.” As such it would have been an obvious matter of changing the relative dimensions of the components to one of ordinary skill in the art to arrive at the claimed invention. In support of this conclusion it is noted that it has been held that when the difference between the prior art and claimed invention is nothing more than a recitation of relative dimensions that do not provide any unexpected or synergistic results or a change in function a finding of prima facie obviousness is appropriate (see MPEP §2144.04).
Regarding claim 17
Kondo teaches all of the limitations as discussed above, but fails to teach wherein the heater power delivery structure is provided in plural and the plurality of heater power delivery structures are spaced apart from each other in the horizontal direction.
As Kondo already discloses a heater power delivery structure which is spaced apart from other delivery structures (see mapping above), and since Applicant does not assert that having a plurality of spaced apart heater supply structures provides any synergistic or unexpected result beyond the providing additional heat power, it would have been nothing more than an obvious duplication of parts to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date to arrive at the claimed invention. Note that it has been held that when the difference between the prior art and the claimed invention is merely the duplication of structures while retaining their function a finding of prima facie obviousness is appropriate.
Regarding claim 19
further comprising: an RF power supplying device configured to supply an RF power to the RF delivery structure; and a heater power supplying device configured to supply a heating power to the heater power delivery structure. While neither of these structures are explicitly shown they are described as providing RF and heat in operation (¶s [0014-0017] and [0021]) as such there must necessarily be a source of power for the electric heater and RF for the RF rod.
Regarding claim 20
Wherein the substrate supporting apparatus further comprises a protection shaft (24) which encloses the RF rod and the heater power rod (Fig. 2).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 12-16 are allowed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WOODY A LEE JR whose telephone number is (571)272-1051. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 0800-1630.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Edward "Ned" Landrum can be reached at 571-272-5567. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WOODY A LEE JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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