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 I, claims 12-22 in the reply filed on December 23, 2025, is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the Office Action does not establish that each and every element of the subject matter that is common to claims 12 and 23 is known in the art. This is not found persuasive because the Restriction Requirement dated December 3, 2025, properly identifies that the technical feature common to the inventions of Groups I and II is an apparatus for producing a CZ crystal that includes a quartz crucible for containing a melt, a heater, two CCD cameras, an image processor, and one of a solidification detection processor and a melt completion detection processor. Since this technical feature does not make a contribution over the prior art in view of U.S. Patent Appl. Publ. No. 2018/0340269 to Katsuyuki Kitagawa, the restriction is therefore considered to be proper and is maintained.
Claims 23-28 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on December 23, 2025.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Objections
Claims 12 and 22 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 12 recites a “melting complication timing” in l. 11. It is assumed applicants intended to recite a “melting completion timing” in order to be commensurate with, for example, dependent claims 15, 17, and 22.
Claim 22 depends from claim 1 which has been cancelled. It is assumed applicants intended for claim 22 to depend from claim 12.
Appropriate correction is required.
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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 12, 17, and 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Japanese Patent Appl. Publ. No. JP 2007-246356 A to Toshio Hisaichi (hereinafter “Hisaichi”) in view of U.S. Patent Appl. Publ. No. 2018/0340269 to Katsuyuki Kitagawa (“Kitagawa”).
Regarding claim 12, Hisaichi teaches a method for detecting a surface state of a raw material melt in a quartz crucible in single crystal production by a CZ method in which a raw material contained in the quartz crucible is melted with a heater and a single crystal is pulled from the raw material melt (see Figs. 3-5 and the first Embodiment at p. 5 which teach an embodiment of a CZ growth system and method in which a single crystal (123) is pulled from a melt (105) contained within a quartz crucible (101) that is heated by heaters (107) and (109); see also Figs. 6-8 and pp. 6-7 of the first Embodiment which teach that 90% or more of the surface of the remaining melt is solidified before the crucible is replenished with raw material with p. 4 of the Best Mode specifically teaching the use of a monitoring window and a CCD camera to determine the solidification state of the melt), the method comprising:
photographing a predetermined same test region of the surface of the raw material melt in the quartz crucible with a CCD camera to obtain measurement images of the test region (see Figs. 6-7 and p. 4 of the Best Mode which teaches the use of a monitoring window and a CCD camera to determine the solidification state of the melt by measuring the percentage of a dark part which represents a solidified portion of the melt); and
automatically detecting, using data of the measurement image from the CCD cameras, one or more of the following: solidification timing when a state in which the raw material is completely melted becomes a state in which solidification is formed on the surface of the raw material melt; and melting complication timing when a state in which the raw material melt has solidification on the surface of the raw material melt becomes a completely melted state (see the Experimental Example 1 at p. 8 which teaches that a visual sensor is used to automatically determine the time at which 90% or more of the entire melt surface is solidified prior to replenishing the crucible (101) with raw material).
Hisaichi does not teach the use of two different CCD cameras to obtain images of the same test region of the surface of the raw material melt in the quartz crucible simultaneously in different directions and using parallax data of the measurement images from the two CCD cameras to determine the solidification timing and/or the melting complication timing. However, in Figs. 1-4 and ¶¶[0060]-[0068] as well as elsewhere throughout the entire reference Kitagawa teaches an analogous embodiment of a CZ crystal growth system which includes, inter alia, a quartz crucible (9) which contains a melt (8) which is heated by a heater (12) while a single crystal is pulled from the melt using a pulling wire (3) with operation of the CZ system being controlled by a control section (23). As explained in ¶¶[0092]-[0098] the CZ apparatus includes two or more CCD cameras (21) which are used to take images of the surface of the melt through an observation window (20) with changes in parallax being used to detect changes in the position of the raw material during melting (and solidification). Thus, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would look to the teachings of Kitagawa and would utilize at least two different CCD cameras in the method of Hisaichi to simultaneously obtain images of the same test region of the surface of the melt and measure changes in the parallax to determine the fraction of the melt that has solidified with the motivation for doing so being to provide a means for more accurately determining when the melt has begun to solidify and reaches the desired amount of solidification such that the crucible can be replenished with raw material for continued crystal growth. The combination of prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results has been held to support a prima facie determination of obviousness. All the claimed elements are known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could combine the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, with the combination yielding nothing more than predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, __, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395 (2007). See also, MPEP 2143(A).
Regarding claim 17, Hisaichi teaches that after pulling the single crystal, the solidification timing is detected followed by recharging with the raw material, and during melting of the raw material which is recharged, the melting completion timing is detected followed by pulling a next single crystal (see Figs. 7-9 and pp. 6-9 which teach that after more than 90% of the surface of the melt has solidified, the crucible (101) is replenished with raw material which is heated to again form a melt (105) after a predetermined heating period and the process of crystal growth by pulling a single crystal is repeated; moreover, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to utilize a CCD camera to measure changes in the solidification portion during the melting phase as taught at least Fig. 2 and ¶¶[0092]-[0098] of Kitagawa to accurately determine when the raw material has been melted such that crystal growth may be initiated).
Regarding claim 22, Hisaichi teaches a method for producing a single crystal by a CZ method in which a raw material contained in a quartz crucible is melted with a heater and a single crystal is pulled from a raw material melt (see Figs. 3-5 and the first Embodiment at p. 5 which teach an embodiment of a CZ growth system and method in which a single crystal (123) is pulled from a melt (105) contained within a quartz crucible (101) that is heated by heaters (107) and (109)), the method comprising:
automatically controlling a power of the heater, a position of the quartz crucible, and a position of the heater so as to satisfy a condition of a subsequent process under automatic detection of the solidification timing or the melting completion timing by the method for detecting a surface state of a raw material melt according to claim 1 (see Figs. 6-7 and p. 4 of the Best Mode which teaches the use of a monitoring window and a CCD camera to determine the solidification state of the melt (105) by measuring the percentage of a dark part which represents a solidified portion of the melt; see also the Experimental Example 1 at p. 8 which teaches that a visual sensor is used to automatically determine the time at which 90% or more of the entire melt surface is solidified prior to replenishing the crucible (101) with raw material and that this is accomplished by controlling the heater power at a given position and crucible rotation speed; see also supra with respect to the rejection of claim 12 in which Kitagawa is relied upon to teach the use of parallax to measure the solidification state of the melt)
when a next single crystal is pulled after pulling the single crystal, recharging with the raw material, and melting the raw material (see Figs. 8-9 and the Embodiment of the invention at pp. 5-7, and Experimental Example 1 at p. 8 which teach that after the crucible (101) has been replenished with raw material that has been melted to resupply the melt (105), a subsequent single crystal (123) is pulled from the melt (105) and the process is repeated the desired number of times to produce a plurality of Si single crystal ingots).
Claims 13-16 and 18-21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hisaichi in view of Kitagawa and further in view of Japanese Patent Appl. Publ. No. JP 2000-264780A toKanai, et al. (“Kanai”).
Regarding claim 13, Hisaichi and Kitagawa do not teach that as the parallax data of the measurement images, a parallax ratio obtained by dividing the parallax data within the test region by an area of the test region is used. However, in pp. 6-7 of the Embodiment section and in Example 1 at p. 8, Hisaichi teaches that the heater power is controlled such that greater than 90%, but less than 100% of the surface of the melt (105) is solidified before the crucible is replenished with raw material. Then, in Figs. 1-3 and pp. 3-7 of the Embodiments section Kanai teaches an analogous system for crystal growth by the CZ method which includes, inter alia, a CCD camera (201) for photographing the inside of a crucible (102) in order to determine the fraction of the surface that has been melted. As detailed in Fig. 3 and pp. 5-7, a picture processor (202) converts images of the surface of the melt into a binary picture where Si mass (108) which has not been melted appears black while the Si melt (109) itself appears white. By calculating the fraction of black pixels (108) relative to white pixels (109) it is possible to determine the fraction of the raw material that has melted (or solidified). Thus, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would look to the teachings of Kanai and would be motivated to utilize the method of measuring the parallax on the surface of the melt as taught by Kitagawa to determine the fraction of the melt that has been solidified by dividing the area that exhibits a change in parallax by the total observed area with the motivation for doing so being to provide a more effective means for accurately calculating the percent of the melt surface that has been solidified prior to refilling with additional raw material.
Regarding claim 14, Hisaichi and Kitagawa teach that the solidification timing to be detected is defined as timing when the parallax ratio is 10% or more (See pp. 6-7 of the Embodiment section and in Example 1 at p. 8 of Hisaichi which teach that the heater power is controlled such that greater than 90%, but less than 100% of the surface of the melt (105) is solidified while ¶[0094] of Kitagawa teaches that changes in the position of the raw material during melting (and solidification) are measured using two or more CCD cameras (21) which detect changes in parallax. Accordingly, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to measure the parallax to determine when greater than 90% of the surface has solidified such that the crucible can be replenished with additional raw material.).
Regarding claim 15, Hisaichi does not teach that the melting completion timing to be detected is defined as timing when the parallax ratio of 3% or less continues for 5 minutes or more. However, as noted supra with respect to the rejection of claims 12 and 13, in ¶[0094] Kitagawa teaches that changes in the position of the raw material during melting (and solidification) are measured using two or more CCD cameras (21) which detect changes in parallax. Then in Figs. 1-3 and pp. 3-7 of the Embodiments section Kanai teaches an analogous system for crystal growth by the CZ method which includes, inter alia, a CCD camera (201) for photographing the inside of a crucible (102) in order to determine the fraction of the surface that has been melted. As detailed in Fig. 3 and pp. 5-7, a picture processor (202) converts images of the surface of the melt into a binary picture where Si mass (108) which has not been melted appears black while the Si melt (109) itself appears white. By calculating the fraction of black pixels (108) relative to white pixels (109) it is possible to determine the fraction of the raw material that has melted (or solidified). At p. 5 Kanai specifically teaches that in order to avoid the influence of reflections due to fluctuations of the melt surface (109) it is preferable to perform image processing so that only black pixels that exist at the same position continuously for a certain period of time are determined to be the Si mass (108). When the number of black pixels (m) becomes smaller than a reference value (S) it is determined that the melting of the Si block (108) has been completed. Thus, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would utilize the method of measuring the parallax on the surface of the melt as taught by Kitagawa to monitor the surface of the raw material that has been added to the crucible and is subsequently heated prior to resuming crystal growth and would be motivated to utilize the method of Kanai calculate the fraction of the surface that has melted and reached a predetermined setpoint value of near 100% melted (i.e., substantially 0% solids remaining) for a given duration with the motivation for doing so being to more accurately determine the point at which the raw material is sufficiently melted prior to initiating crystal growth. Moreover, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to utilize routine experimentation to determine the optimal % solids remaining for a certain duration such as the claimed range of less than 3% solids for 5 min or more prior to commencing crystal growth in order to accurately and reproducibly determine the shortest melting time necessary to produce a melt suitable for the growth of high quality single crystals.
Regarding claim 16, Hisaichi does not teach that the melting completion timing to be detected is defined as timing when the parallax ratio of 3% or less continues for 5 minutes or more. However, as noted supra with respect to the rejection of claims 12 and 13, in ¶[0094] Kitagawa teaches that changes in the position of the raw material during melting (and solidification) are measured using two or more CCD cameras (21) which detect changes in parallax. Then in Figs. 1-3 and pp. 3-7 of the Embodiments section Kanai teaches an analogous system for crystal growth by the CZ method which includes, inter alia, a CCD camera (201) for photographing the inside of a crucible (102) in order to determine the fraction of the surface that has been melted. As detailed in Fig. 3 and pp. 5-7, a picture processor (202) converts images of the surface of the melt into a binary picture where Si mass (108) which has not been melted appears black while the Si melt (109) itself appears white. By calculating the fraction of black pixels (108) relative to white pixels (109) it is possible to determine the fraction of the raw material that has melted (or solidified). At p. 5 Kanai specifically teaches that in order to avoid the influence of reflections due to fluctuations of the melt surface (109) it is preferable to perform image processing so that only black pixels that exist at the same position continuously for a certain period of time are determined to be the Si mass (108). When the number of black pixels (m) becomes smaller than a reference value (S) it is determined that the melting of the Si block (108) has been completed. Thus, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would utilize the method of measuring the parallax on the surface of the melt as taught by Kitagawa to monitor the surface of the raw material that has been added to the crucible and is subsequently heated prior to resuming crystal growth and would be motivated to utilize the method of Kanai calculate the fraction of the surface that has melted and reached a predetermined setpoint value of near 100% melted (i.e., substantially 0% solids remaining) for a given duration with the motivation for doing so being to more accurately determine the point at which the raw material is sufficiently melted prior to initiating crystal growth. Moreover, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to utilize routine experimentation to determine the optimal % solids remaining for a certain duration such as the claimed range of less than 3% solids for 5 min or more prior to commencing crystal growth in order to accurately and reproducibly determine the shortest melting time necessary to produce a melt suitable for the growth of high quality single crystals.
Regarding claim 18, Hisaichi teaches that after pulling the single crystal, the solidification timing is detected followed by recharging with the raw material, and during melting of the raw material which is recharged, the melting completion timing is detected followed by pulling a next single crystal (see Figs. 7-9 and pp. 6-9 which teach that after more than 90% of the surface of the melt has solidified, the crucible (101) is replenished with raw material which is heated to again form a melt (105) after a predetermined heating period and the process of crystal growth by pulling a single crystal is repeated; moreover, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to utilize a CCD camera to measure changes in the solidification portion during the melting phase as taught at least Fig. 2 and ¶¶[0092]-[0098] of Kitagawa to accurately determine when the raw material has been melted such that crystal growth may be initiated).
Regarding claim 19, Hisaichi teaches that after pulling the single crystal, the solidification timing is detected followed by recharging with the raw material, and during melting of the raw material which is recharged, the melting completion timing is detected followed by pulling a next single crystal (see Figs. 7-9 and pp. 6-9 which teach that after more than 90% of the surface of the melt has solidified, the crucible (101) is replenished with raw material which is heated to again form a melt (105) after a predetermined heating period and the process of crystal growth by pulling a single crystal is repeated; moreover, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to utilize a CCD camera to measure changes in the solidification portion during the melting phase as taught at least Fig. 2 and ¶¶[0092]-[0098] of Kitagawa to accurately determine when the raw material has been melted such that crystal growth may be initiated).
Regarding claim 20, Hisaichi teaches that after pulling the single crystal, the solidification timing is detected followed by recharging with the raw material, and during melting of the raw material which is recharged, the melting completion timing is detected followed by pulling a next single crystal (see Figs. 7-9 and pp. 6-9 which teach that after more than 90% of the surface of the melt has solidified, the crucible (101) is replenished with raw material which is heated to again form a melt (105) after a predetermined heating period and the process of crystal growth by pulling a single crystal is repeated; moreover, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to utilize a CCD camera to measure changes in the solidification portion during the melting phase as taught at least Fig. 2 and ¶¶[0092]-[0098] of Kitagawa to accurately determine when the raw material has been melted such that crystal growth may be initiated).
Regarding claim 21, Hisaichi teaches that after pulling the single crystal, the solidification timing is detected followed by recharging with the raw material, and during melting of the raw material which is recharged, the melting completion timing is detected followed by pulling a next single crystal (see Figs. 7-9 and pp. 6-9 which teach that after more than 90% of the surface of the melt has solidified, the crucible (101) is replenished with raw material which is heated to again form a melt (105) after a predetermined heating period and the process of crystal growth by pulling a single crystal is repeated; moreover, a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention would be motivated to utilize a CCD camera to measure changes in the solidification portion during the melting phase as taught at least Fig. 2 and ¶¶[0092]-[0098] of Kitagawa to accurately determine when the raw material has been melted such that crystal growth may be initiated).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH A BRATLAND JR whose telephone number is (571)270-1604. The examiner can normally be reached Monday- Friday, 7:30 am to 4:30 pm EST.
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/KENNETH A BRATLAND JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1714