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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 4/28/26 have been fully considered.
Applicant has argued that the amended Claims 1, 4-13 and 15-18 should overcome the Prior Art rejections. The argument is persuasive.
Applicant has argued that the feature of a first energy source for depositing primary film different from a second energy source for depositing the secondary film as recited in the context of New Claim 21 is not shown or suggested by Henri. However, the argument is not persuasive because Henri teaches the plasma energy from RF power (514) and thermal energy source (510) is used for providing temperature (Figure 5 substrate support).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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 –
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 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being
anticipated by, or in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable
over US Patent 9,385,318 to Henri.
Regarding Claim 21, Henri teaches a sacrificial passivation film deposition method using a low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, comprising: depositing a primary sacrificial passivation film (109) on an entire surface of a substrate using a thermal ALD (T-ALD) process (Col. 8, Lines 39-47 and Col. 12, Lines15-67); and additionally depositing a secondary sacrificial passivation film (110) on an upper surface and at least a portion of a side surface of an upper portion of the primary sacrificial passivation film using a plasma-ALD (P-ALD) process (Col. 13, Line 1 - Col. 14, Line 22) wherein the thermal energy source (510) is used for providing temperature (Figure 5 substrate support) in depositing a primary fil, and different plasma energy source RF frequency power (514) is used for depositing a second film.
Regarding Claim 21, Henri teaches the method of the invention substantially as
claimed with sufficient specificity, however, it further would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to perform the first forming step with thermal ALD (T-ALD) process and the second forming step with plasma-ALD (P-ALD) process in order to suitably form the layers while protecting the underlying material with predictable results. Further, the use of a different power source for plasma is conventional and would have been an obvious expedient to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 4-13 and 15-18 are allowed.
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.
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/ROBERTS P CULBERT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1716
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