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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group 1, Claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 02/18/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground that Groups 1 and 2 have a special technical feature, as Arikawa (US 2023/0386880 A1) is not appropriate as prior art. This is not found persuasive. Under lack of unity restriction, prior art, under PCT Rule 64, can include any patent reference that is filed before the current Application and does not provide an exception for common inventor/assignee. (See MPEP 1878.01(a), 1850). Therefore, Arikawa is considered prior art under PCT restriction, even though it would not be considered prior art for 102/103 purposes. Thus, lack of unity is shown due to lack of special technical feature due to Arikawa.
Applicant also traverses on lack of search burden. A search of these inventions may overlap, but the search of one invention does not include all the areas required for the others. A serious burden does exist, as different searches are required for each invention. Therefore, in order to ensure the quality of the search and examination, these inventions should be searched separately to account for their differences.
Claim 8 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Group 2, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 02/18/2026
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made 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.
Claims 1-4 and 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esaki et al. (US 2007/0212567 A1) in view of Masayuki (JP 2016-086081 A).
Regarding Claims 1-4 and 6-7, Esaki teaches a ceramic joined body for use with electrostatic chucks (Abstract) comprising a pair of ceramic plates of the same material (Items 1-a and 1-b), and an electrode that is interposed between the pair of ceramic plates, (Item 2), and an insulating layer that is integrally formed with one of the ceramic plates that is disposed in a periphery of the electrode layer between the plates (see edge surrounding the electrode in Fig. 1 and 2, Item 1-a).
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Esaki teaches the both ceramic plates and therefore the insulating layer can be the same material of aluminum nitride, an insulating material. (Abstract). Esaki does not specifically teach the ceramic plates and therefore the insulating layer also comprises both insulating material and a conductive material.
Masayuki teaches a ceramic body for use in electrostatic chucks (Abstract), where the ceramic insulating body is formed from an insulating material, including aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide, and also a dispersed conductive material, including SiC, Mo, W, and Ta (Paragraph 0010, 0028-0030). Masayuki teaches the inclusion of both insulating and conductive material for the ceramic material covering the electrode allows for faster release of the attached wafer leading to faster production. (Paragraph 0009-0010). Thus, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to add conductive particles of SiC, Mo, W, and Ta to the aluminum nitride of plates and insulating layer in Esaki or use the ceramic composition taught by Masayuki as the ceramic composition for the plates and insulating layer in Esaki to have a ceramic joined body that can be used in electrostatic chucks that can have faster release.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Esaki and Masayuki, in further view of Momiyama et al. (US 2021/0074525 A1).
Regarding Claim 5, Esaki and Masayuki do not teach the relative density of the outer edge of the electrode layer is lower than a relative density of a center of the electrode layer.
Momiyama teaches a ceramic joined body for an electrostatic chuck (Abstract), where the porosity of the edge region of an electrode layer is higher than the porosity of the center regions of the electrode layer. (Paragraph 0041). Thus, the relative density of the electrode layer is lower at the edge than in the center, due relative density being inversely correlated to porosity. Momiyama teaches this increase the uniformity of the plasma density through the chuck (Paragraph 0041. Thus, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art to have a relative density of an outer edge of the electrode layer is lower than a relative density of a center of the electrode layer in Esaki as taught by Momiyama for better plasma density.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-0358. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday: 9:30am-3:30pm, 8:30PM-10:30PM.
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/Michael Zhang/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781
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