DETAILED ACTION
1. This is the initial office action of application number 18/202,052 filed on 01/26/2023 and has a foreign priority date of 11/27/2022. Claims 1, 2, 4-9, 11, 12, 14-18, and 19-24 are currently pending and considered below.
Election/Restrictions
2. The applicant made an election with traverse in the reply filed on 01/12/2026. The applicant’s argument is persuasive and the applicant’s identification of claims 1, 2, 4-9, 11, 12, 14-18, and 19-24 which corresponds to species “A width of an uppermost end of the first lower pipe section in the second direction and a width of a lowermost end of the first lower pipe section in the second direction are equal to each other;” pointed by the applicant is accurate and elected that group as part of the species/restriction requirement.
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 .
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.
3. Claims 1, 2, 4-9, 11, 12, 14-18, and 19-24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamauchi et al. (US 11561473 B2) in view of Zhang et al. (CN114950752A).
Regarding Claim 1: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus that is comprised of a spin chuck 11 (spin chuck) that serves as a substrate holding unit. The spin chuck 11 is connected to the rotating mechanism 12, which allows it to rotate about the vertical axis (first direction). Yamauchi also teach nozzle 33a for discharging resist liquid (photoresist) from a resist liquid source. [para 16-22]
However, Yamauchi do not teach a nozzle that “includes a pipe extending in the first direction and through which the processing liquid moves, and a housing surrounding the pipe, and wherein the pipe includes one or more first lower pipe sections, each of whose width in a second direction intersecting the first direction increases and then decreases in a direction toward the substrate.”
Zhang et al. teach a nozzle 1 that is comprised of a nozzle body 4 (housing), and cavity 3 (pipe) where material passes through. The discharge point of the nozzle is shown on top of the fig 2. The nozzle cavity has multiple swirling sections (lower pipe sections) along a material flow direction. A portion of fig 2 is annotated and shown below. The diagram shows a swirling section (first pipe section) of inner cavity 3 and a dotted line which is an intersection point or midpoint of a swirling section (pipe section). The width of the swirling section increases in a horizontal direction (second direction) going from bottom direction to intersected line (first direction). The width in a horizontal direction then decreases as going towards substrate direction
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It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
Regarding Claim 2: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 2.
Zhang et al. teach a nozzle in fig 2 where discharge point is shown on top. The nozzle is comprised of swirling sections and a dotted line in the annotated diagram below depicts a swirling section (pipe section). The dotted lines show width in a horizontal direction (second direction) which corresponds to a width of a lower section (uppermost end) of the swirling section and a width of an upper section (lowermost end) of swirling section. The widths are the same. Zhang et al. further suggests that the ratio of the major axis and minor axis of the elliptical shaped swirling section is fixed and preferably 2 to 3 or 4 to 8 being max [para 0048]. This suggests that all of the swirling section would have the same size and shape since the ratio must be fixed, therefore all the swirling sections as well as the portions ('uppermost end' and 'lowermost end' of passage sections) that connect plurality of swirling sections would have the same width.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in process requirements such as accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045-49]
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Regarding Claim 4, 5, and 6: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claims 4, 5, and 6.
Zhang et al. teach a nozzle comprised of a cavity. A section of the cavity includes structures similar to the claimed 'first portion' and 'second portion' as shown in the annotated diagram below. The diagram also shows a width of the claimed 'first portion' increases towards flow direction and the width of the claimed 'second portion' decrease as going towards flow direction. The dotted line, that intersects the claimed 'first portion' and 'second portion', also depicts maximum width of overall section of the cavity. The height of the claimed 'first portion' is greater than the claimed 'second portion' is shown below.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 7: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 7. Zhang et al. teach a nozzle comprised of a structure similar to a claimed 'first height' and claimed 'second height' as shown in claim 4, 5, and 6. Zhang et al. disclose that the ratio of major and minor axes of the elliptical shaped swirling sections is 2 to 3 preferred due to process requirements like material flow [para 45-49]. While Zhang et al. do not teach the specific claimed range of ratios, the specific ratio claimed by the inventor is not shown to produce any unexpected results, critical functionality, improvement, or a non-obvious advantage. A person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the ratio of the claimed 'first height' and 'second height' is simply a design parameter which is a routine trial for experimentation. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have arrived at the claimed ratio by experimentation. (MPEP 2144.05.II and MPEP 2144.05.III)
Regarding Claim 8: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 7. Zhang et al. teach a nozzle comprised of a structure similar to a claimed 'maximum width' and claimed 'first width of an uppermost end of the first lower pipe section' as shown in claim 4, 5, and 6. Zhang et al. disclose that the ratio of major and minor axes of the elliptical shaped swirling sections is 2 to 3 preferred due to process requirements like material flow [para 45-49]. While Zhang et al. do not teach the specific claimed range of ratios, the specific ratio claimed by the inventor is not shown to produce any unexpected results, critical functionality, improvement, or a non-obvious advantage. A person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the ratio of the claimed 'first height' and 'second height' is simply a design parameter which is a routine trial for experimentation. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have arrived at the claimed ratio by experimentation. (MPEP 2144.05.II and MPEP 2144.05.III)
Regarding Claim 9: The limitation recited in this claim describes how the apparatus is used rather than a structural feature. Such limitation is directed to intended use and do not define any further limitation to the structure of the apparatus or a feature of the apparatus, thus no patentable weight is given. (MPEP 2114).
Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus that is used to discharge a liquid into a substrate and a step requires lithography which requires to coat a substrate with liquid. The applicant claimed a volume of applied liquid being '3 mL or less' which is between 0mL to 3mL. Yamauchi et al. teach application of liquid during lithography step is a suggestion that at least 0mL of liquid was used, therefore falls within the claimed range of volume of liquid. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to apply a processing liquid to substrate because Yamauchi teach that a resist can be used to achieve resist pattern on a semiconductor wafer[para08].
Regarding Claim 11: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 11.
Zhang et al. teach a structure similar to the claimed “second lower pipe section” and it is connected to other swirling sections (pipe section). The structure similar to the claimed “second lower pipe section” has a constant width as shown in the annotated diagram below.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 12: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 12.
Zhang et al. teach a structure similar to the claimed ‘uppermost end of the pipe” and “lowermost end of the pipe” in the annotated diagram below. The diagram also shows the width of each structure and from cross sectional view, the structure similar to the claimed ‘uppermost end of the pipe” has a width greater than that of the structure similar to the “lowermost end of the pipe”
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 14: Yamauchi teach a liquid processing device that is comprised of a spin chuck 11 (spin chuck) that serves as a substrate holding unit. The spin chuck 11 is connected to the rotating mechanism 12, which allows it to rotate about the vertical axis (first direction). Yamauchi also teach nozzle 33a for discharging resist liquid (photoresist) from a resist liquid source. [para 16-22]. However, Yamauchi do not teach a nozzle that “includes a passage through which the processing liquid moves, and a housing surrounding the passage, wherein the passage includes a plurality of lower passage sections, wherein each of the plurality of lower passage sections includes an uppermost end into which the processing liquid is introduced, a lowermost end through which the processing liquid is discharged, and a central opening between the uppermost and lowermost ends, and wherein a width of the central opening is greater than a width of the uppermost end and is greater than a width of the lowermost end.”
Zhang et al. teach a nozzle 1 that is comprised of a nozzle body 4 (housing), and cavity 3 (passage) where material passes through. The discharge point of the nozzle is shown on top of the fig 2. The nozzle cavity has multiple swirling sections (lower passage sections) where material flows through. Fig. 2 shows a plurality of swirling sections and the annotated diagram below shows a particular swirling section a width of a swirling section (width of central opening), two ends where liquids are introduced (uppermost end) and discharged (lowermost end). The claimed 'width of central opening' is larger than the widths of the claimed 'uppermost end' and 'lower most end'.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 15: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 15.
Zhang et al. teach a nozzle in fig 2 where discharge point is shown on top. The nozzle is comprised of swirling sections and a dotted line in the annotated diagram below depicts a swirling section (passage section). The dotted lines show width in a horizontal direction (second direction) which corresponds to a width of a lower section (uppermost end) of the swirling section and a width of an upper section (lowermost end) of swirling section. The widths are the same. Zhang et al. further suggests that the ratio of the major axis and minor axis of the elliptical shaped swirling section is fixed and preferably 2 to 3 or 4 to 8 being max [para 0048]. This suggests that all of the swirling section would have the same size and shape since the ratio must be fixed, therefore all the swirling sections as well as the portions ('uppermost end' and 'lowermost end' of passage sections) that connect plurality of swirling sections would have the same width.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in process requirements such as accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045-49]
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Regarding Claim 16: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 16.
Zhang et al. teach the claimed height from 'lower most end to central opening' of a swirling section (passage section) is greater than the height of 'uppermost end to central opening' and is shown below in an annotated diagram.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 17: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 17.
Zhang et al. teach the claimed width of 'uppermost end' of cavity (passage) is greater than all of the claimed width of 'uppermost end' of swirling sections (passage sections) and is shown below in the annotated diagram.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 18: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 18.
Zhang teach a swirling section that has a claimed 'central opening' and is shown below in the annotated diagram. Going downwards from the claimed 'central opening', the width of a portion decreases and it corresponds to "the width of the lower passage section gradually decreases from the central opening toward the uppermost end".
Additionally, going downwards from the claimed 'lowermost end' of swirling section (passage section), the width of a portion increases and it corresponds to the "width of the lower passage section gradually increases from the lowermost end toward the central opening"
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 19 and 20: Yamauchi teach a liquid processing device that is comprised of a spin chuck 11 (spin chuck) that serves as a substrate holding unit. The spin chuck 11 is connected to the rotating mechanism 12, which allows it to rotate about the vertical axis (first direction). Yamauchi also teach nozzle 33a for discharging resist liquid (photoresist) from a resist liquid source. [para 16-22]. However, Yamauchi do not teach a nozzle that includes “a pipe extending in the first direction and through which the photoresist moves, and a housing surrounding the pipe, wherein the pipe includes one or more first lower pipe sections whose widths in a second direction intersecting the first direction increase and then decrease toward the substrate, wherein each first lower pipe section includes a first portion and a second portion on the first portion, a width of the first portion in the second direction increasing as a distance from the substrate increases, and a width of the second portion in the second direction decreasing as a distance from the substrate increases, wherein a first height of the first portion in the first direction is greater than a second height of the second portion in the first direction, wherein a width of an uppermost end of the first portion is equal to a width of a lowermost end of the second portion, and wherein a width of an uppermost end of the pipe is smaller larger than a width of a lowermost end of the pipe,” and “first lower pipe section has a maximum width at a boundary between the first portion and the second portion”
Zhang teach a nozzle that is comprised of a nozzle body 4 (housing), and cavity 3 (pipe) where material passes through. The nozzle cavity has multiple swirling sections (lower pipe section) along a material flow direction (first direction). A portion of fig 2 is annotated and shown below. The diagram shows a swirling section (first pipe section) of inner cavity 3 and a dotted line which is an intersection point or midpoint of a swirling section (pipe section). The width of the swirling section increases in a horizontal direction (second direction) going from bottom direction to intersected line (first direction). The width in a horizontal direction then decreases as going towards substrate direction
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Zhang et al. further teach a swirling section of cavity that is comprised of structures similar to the claimed 'first portion' and 'second portion' as shown in the annotated diagram below. The diagram also shows a width of the claimed 'first portion' increases towards flow direction and the width of the claimed 'second portion' decrease as going towards flow direction. The dotted line, that intersects the claimed 'first portion' and 'second portion', depicts maximum width of overall section of the cavity and corresponds to the claimed limitation- “a width of an uppermost end of the first portion is equal to a width of a lowermost end of the second portion". The height of the claimed 'first portion' is greater than the claimed 'second portion' is shown below. A maximum width is also same as the dotted line, that intersects the claimed 'first portion' and 'second portion' and shown below (claim 20).
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The limitation, “a width of an uppermost end of the pipe is larger than a width of a lowermost end of the pipe.' is shown below is also shown in claim 12 above:
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It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
Regarding Claim 21: Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus, however, do not teach limitations recited in claim 7. Zhang et al. teach a nozzle comprised of a structure similar to a claimed 'maximum width of each first lower pipe section' and claimed 'width of an uppermost end of the first lower pipe section' as shown in claims 1,2, 4-9, 11-12. Zhang et al. disclose that the ratio of major and minor axes of the elliptical shaped swirling sections is 2 to 3 preferred due to process requirements like material flow [para 45-49]. While Zhang et al. do not teach the specific claimed range of ratios, the specific ratio claimed by the inventor is not shown to produce any unexpected results, critical functionality, improvement, or a non-obvious advantage. A person having ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the ratio of the claimed 'first height' and 'second height' is simply a design parameter which is a routine trial for experimentation. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to have arrived at the claimed ratio by experimentation. (MPEP 2144.05.II and MPEP 2144.05.III)
Regarding Claim 22: The limitation recited in this claim describes how the apparatus is used rather than a structural feature. Such limitation is directed to intended use and do not define any further limitation to the structure of the apparatus or a feature of the apparatus, thus no patentable weight is given. (MPEP 2114).
Yamauchi teach a liquid treatment apparatus that is used to discharge a liquid into a substrate and a step requires lithography which requires to coat a substrate with liquid. The applicant claimed a volume of applied liquid being '3 mL or less' which is between 0mL to 3mL. Yamauchi et al. teach application of liquid during lithography step is a suggestion that at least 0mL of liquid was used, therefore falls within the claimed range of volume of liquid. It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to apply a processing liquid to substrate because Yamauchi teach that a resist can be used to achieve resist pattern on a semiconductor wafer[para08].
Regarding Claim 23: Yamauchi teach a liquid processing apparatus but do not teach limitations recited in claim 23.
Zhang et al. teach a structure similar to the claimed “second lower pipe section” and it is connected to other swirling sections (pipe section). The structure similar to the claimed “second lower pipe section” has a constant width as shown in the annotated diagram below.
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to incorporate a nozzle taught by Zhang et al within the apparatus/nozzle of Yamauchi because Zhang teach that the swirling sections of the nozzle assists in accelerating and decelerating material flow. [para 0045]
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Regarding Claim 24: The limitation recited in this claim describes how the apparatus is used rather than a structural feature. Such limitation is directed to intended use and do not define any further limitation to the structure of the apparatus or a feature of the apparatus, thus no patentable weight is given. (MPEP 2114)
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Wasiqul Haq whose telephone number is (571)272-9973. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dah-Wei Yuan can be reached at (571) 272-1295. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WASIQUL HAQ/Examiner, Art Unit 1717
/Binu Thomas/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1717