DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-18 in the reply filed on September 22, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 19-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on September 22, 2025.
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 1-8, 11-17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adams (US 5,085,887) in view of Powers (US 5,965,048) and Brors (US 6,352,593).
In regards to claims 1 and 18, Adams teaches thermal reactor comprising:
a wafer reactor chamber (10C, process chamber) (fig. 1; col. 2, lines 64-68);
a radiant heater (10L, heater) which is capable of heating elements within the wafer reactor chamber (fig. 1; col. 3, lines 1-5);
a wafer cover member (12, first structure) that exposed to heat from the radiant heater (fig. 1; col. 2, line 65- col. 3, line 10);
a base plate (14B, second structure) is arranged to face the wafer cover member (fig. 1; col. 2, line 65- col. 3, line 10);
a O-ring-15B (seal structure/sealing material) seals a space between the base plate and the wafer cover member (fig. 1; col. 3, lines 10-20).
Adams does not explicitly teach the O-ring-15B further comprises a metal plate arranged in contact with the first structure; and a sealing material made of a resin material and arranged in contact with the metal plate and the second structure.
However, Powers teaches a workpiece heating chamber comprising: a rigid heat resistant gasket plate-52 (metal plate) made of stainless steel (fig. 3; col. 3, lines 45-50) and heat resistant gaskets (50/51, sealing material) which contacts the quartz transparent member (48) and gasket plate-52 that contacts a lamp housing-58 (fig. 3; col. 3, lines 25-40).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the claimed invention, to incorporate the stainless-steel gasket together with the gasket which contacts quartz member of Powers onto the O-ring of Adams because Powers teaches it will allow for easier removal and replacement (col. 3, lines 60-65).
Adams and Powers do not explicitly teach the O-ring-15B comprises a resin material.
However, Brors teaches use of O-ring-110 made of resin material such as Viton or silicon rubber which is used as gasket between window clamp (106) and a quartz window (fig. 13; col. 10, lines 15-25).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the claimed invention, to incorporate the Viton or silicon rubber as the O-ring material of Brors onto the O-ring-15B of Adams and Powers because Brors teaches it is a suitable O-ring material (col. 10, lines 15-20).
In regards to claim 2, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Powers teaches the gasket plate-52 (metal plate) contacts gasket-50 and is in a position so that the gasket plate-52 is spaced from gasket-50 (fig. 3; col. 3, lines 25-40).
In regards to claim 3, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Adams teaches the base plate comprises a cooling channel (10W) (fig. 1; col. 5, lines 55-60).
In regards to claim 4, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Powers teaches the arrangement between gasket plate-52 (metal plate) and gaskets (50/51) that provides shielding of radiant heat emitted from the radiant heater (fig. 3).
In regards to claims 5-6, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Adams teaches the radiant heater (10L, heater) is a lamp heater (fig. 1; col. 3, lines 1-5).
Adams, Powers and Brors do not explicitly teach the use of a resistance heater.
However, use of a resistance heater to supply radiant heat is well known in the art.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to substitute the resistance heater onto the lamp heater of Adams, Powers and Brors, for the equivalent purpose of heating the elements within the wafer reactor chamber. An express suggestion to substitute one equivalent component or process for another is not necessary to render such substitution obvious (MPEP 2144.06).
In regards to claims 7-8, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Adams teaches the wafer cover member comprises a central window portion-12W (plate) that allows for transmitting of radiant heat, and a peripheral flange portion-12F (contact portion) (fig. 1) which contacts the metal gasket as discussed above in view of Adams, Powers and Brors.
In regards to claim 11, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Adams teaches the wafer cover member and the base plate are space apart from one another (fig. 1).
In regards to claim 12-14, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Adams teaches the wafer cover member comprises a quartz window that is a transparent portion (fig. 1; col. 1, lines 25-35, col. 4, lines 10-20) and it is known in the art to using a clamp made of metal (see 20160284573-para. 58-59, 146).
In regards to claim 15-16, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, where Adams teaches the wafer cover member comprises the quartz window that is the transparent portion and the peripheral flange portion-12F that is opaque to prevent transmission of radiant heat (fig. 1; col. 1, lines 25-35, col. 4, lines 10-20, col. 5, lines 35-45), where the peripheral flange portion-12F which contacts the metal gasket as discussed above in view of Adams, Powers and Brors.
In regards to claim 17, Adams, Powers and Brors as discussed, but do not explicitly teach a thickness of the metal plate is set to be a predetermined value within a range from 0.1 mm to 1.0 mm.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to have sized the metal plate with a thickness within the range 0.1-mm to 1-mm to provide the desired strength, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art (MPEP-2144.05-II-A).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Binu Thomas whose telephone number is (571)270-7684. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday, 8:00AM-5:00PM.
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/Binu Thomas/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1717