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
Applicant’s amendments, filed 6/24/2026, have been fully considered and reviewed by the examiner. The examiner notes the cancellation of claims 1-12, 18, 20, 30-31 and the addition of new claims 33-36. Claims 13-17, 19, 21-29 and 32-36 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/24/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive as they are directed to newly added claim requirements that are specifically addressed in the prior art rejection of record.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 13-17, 21-22, 24-25, 27-29, 32, 35-36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application 20240189856 by Kodama et al.
Claim 13: Kodama discloses a method, comprising:
positioning a substrate on a plate (Figure 4 and accompanying text, see e.g. 0024-0026 heating plate with pins);
directing a coating gas through a first gas inlet channel, which will result in coating gas being direct “toward” a top surface of the substrate to coat back side edges of the substrate (0027, see e.g. Figure 4 and accompanying text, discharge port 32, here the claims are broadly drafted and merely require directing towards, without any actual requirement of the coating gas will be at the top surface and Kodama explicitly discloses that the coating gas inlet such that the inlet directs coating gas toward the top surface as instantly claimed);
directing an inert purge gas through a second gas inlet channel to the top surface of the substrate (0029, see e.g. Figure 4 and accompanying text, discharge port 51a, 43a); and
directing the inert purge gas and the coating gas away from the substrate to an exhaust port (0033, see e.g. Figure 4 and accompanying text, exhaust path 6,5).
Claim 14: Kodama discloses directing the coating gas through the first gas inlet channel comprises flowing an organosilicon gas to coat the back side edges of the substrate (see 0027 HDMS).
Claim 15: Kodama discloses directing the coating gas through the first gas inlet channel comprises flowing the coating gas away from the substrate so that the coating gas contacts the substrate solely at the back side edges of the substrate (Figure 4 and accompanying text, 0040 related to only on edges on backside “possible to prevent the infiltration of the HMDS vapor to the frontal surface.”).
Claim 16: Kodama discloses directing the inert purge gas through the second gas inlet channel comprises flowing nitrogen gas (N2) downward across the top surface of the substrate to prevent the coating gas from contacting the top surface of the substrate (Figure 4 and accompanying text, 0029 related to N2, 0040 related to prevent the coating gas from contacting the top surface of the substrate, “possible to prevent the infiltration of the HMDS vapor to the frontal surface.”).
Claim 17: Kodama discloses directing the inert purge gas through the second gas inlet channel comprises flowing N2 to fill an enclosure above the top surface of the substrate (See Figure 4, accompanying text, 0040 related to gas coverage over the top surface of substrate). Additionally, the filling the enclosure will necessarily occur based on the gas phase properties in a volume.
Claim 21: Kodama discloses positioning a substrate on a plate; directing a coating gas towards a front side of the substrate to form a hexamethlydisilazane (HMDS) coating on an edge of the substrate (see discussion above regarding the broadly drafted directing “towards”); and directing an inert gas towards a central region of the substrate (see all the citations above, 0027 related to HMDS, Figure 4 and accompanying text related to N2 at center region and edge coating).
Claim 22: Kodama discloses forming the HMDS coating comprises directing a HMDS vapor at the edge of the backside of the substrate (Figure 4 and accompanying text, 0027).
Claim 24: Kodama discloses forming the HMDS coating comprises reducing a friction at the edge of the substrate. (abstract “friction reducing film” 0027) and discloses pins on the backside which will result in not forming a film “at a central region of the back side of the substrate” as broadly drafted since the scope of central region is not defined except to be some region in the center of the substrate.
Claim 25: Kodama discloses directing the inert gas comprises providing a nitrogen gas in an enclosure above the substrate (Figure 4 and accompanying text).
Claim 27: Kodama discloses positioning a substrate on a plate; providing a coating vapor downwards and towards an edge of the substrate (here the claims require comprising language and merely require providing some downward coating vapor and such will necessarily be present by the gas flow in the channel, i.e. gas will flow in any number of directions, including downward, see also downward flow at “6” as it is exhausted); and providing an inert gas downwards and towards a central region of the substrate and radially outwards towards the edge of the substrate (see Figure 4 and accompanying text, radial flow will be a necessary result of the gas flow and exhaust flow, i.e. from 43a vertically towards substrate surface and exhaust through port 6 will result in radial flow).
Claim 28: Kodama discloses 1 mm (0039, “height of the gap pins 23 is set to 1 mm from the surface of the heating plate”)
Claim 29: Kodama discloses forming the HMDS coating comprises directing a HMDS vapor at the edge (Figure 4 and accompanying text, 0027).
Claim 32: Kodama discloses exhausting the coating vapor and the inert gas at the edge of the substrate (Figure 4, accompanying text, see exhaust port 6).
Claim 35: Kodama discloses the inert gas is directed to flush the coating gas from the front side of the substrate to maintain the gas at the back side of the substrate.
Claim 36: Kodama discloses the inert gas radially flushes (from center to the edge) over the edge the front side of the substrate to maintain the gas at the bottom surface of the substrate.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 19, 23, 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kodama.
Claims 19, 23 and 26: Kodama discloses directing the inert purge gas comprises flowing N2 at a flow rate and a flow rate of the coating gas (Figure 4 and accompanying text, i.e. flow rate necessarily exists). Kodama discloses the flow rate of the inert gas that overlaps and thus makes obvious the claimed amount (see 0046, 0047, the supply flow rate from the second discharge hole 43a was also incrementally varied by 1 [L/min] within the range of 1 to 5 [L/min].)
Kodama fails to explicitly disclose the flow rate of the HMDS; however, as outlined above, the HDMS will necessarily have a flow rate and the flow rate of such would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to be a result effective variable, directly affecting film formation (too little HDMS will result in insufficient coating and too much HDMS will result in waste and/or infiltration to the front). Therefore, taking the level of one of ordinary skill in the art, it would have been obvious to have determined the optimum HDMS flow rate through routine experimentation, including that as claimed (i.e. half of the inert gas flow or about 2.25 liters / minute to about 2.75 liters / minute) to reap the benefits of providing the friction reducing film on the edge of the wafer while the inert gas prevent the coating gas to the front surface.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 33-34 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: None of the prior art cited or reviewed by the examiner, alone or in combination, reasonably discloses the first and third gas inlet channels above edges of the top surface of the substrate and an inert gas inlet directed to the top surface such that the coating case coats the back side edges of the substrate. Closest prior art are cited on PTO 892 as it relates to allowable subject matter discloses inert gas curtain over center of substrate and treatment gas over edges to control the treatment and gas flow over a wafer; however, the prior art reviewed does not disclose the back side edges of the substrate are coated via first and third inlets above the top surface edges of the substrate with the inert gas as claimed.
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 DAVID P TUROCY whose telephone number is (571)272-2940. The examiner can normally be reached Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gordon Baldwin can be reached at 571-272-5166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DAVID P TUROCY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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