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 .
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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.
Claims 1, and 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Butcher (US 2008/0272463).
Regarding claim 1, Butcher discloses a method for producing a group III nitride semiconductor, the method comprising: a loading step of loading a substrate (Fig.12, numeral 1206) into a chamber ([0026]; Fig.12, numeral 1202); a decompression step of reducing a pressure ([0459]; [0456]) inside said chamber by a suction part (Fig.12B, numeral 1208; [0182]); a heating step ([0026]) of heating said substrate (1206) by a heater (1204) ([0452]) provided inside said chamber (1202); an excitation gas supply step of supplying an excitation gas to said substrate inside said chamber the excitation gas being obtained by supplying a first gas that contains a nitrogen gas without containing hydrogen ([0089]) to a plasma generator (1212) and turning said first gas into plasma by said plasma generator (1212); and an organometallic gas supply step of supplying a second gas ([0462]) to said substrate inside said chamber, the second gas being an organometallic gas containing a group III element ([0453]).
Regarding claim 4, Butcher discloses wherein said second gas contains trimethylgallium, triethylgallium, or trisdimethylamido gallium ([0453]).
Regarding claim 5, Butcher discloses wherein in said decompression step, the pressure inside said chamber is reduced to 100 Pa or more and 500 Pa or less ([0048]).
Regarding claim 6, Butcher discloses an apparatus for producing a group III nitride semiconductor (Fig.12B), the apparatus comprising: a chamber (1202); a substrate holder (1204) that is provided inside said chamber (1202) and holds a substrate(1206); a suction part (1208) that reduces a pressure inside said chamber (1202) ([0182]); a heater (1204) ([0452]) that is provided inside said chamber (1202) and heats said substrate (1206); a first gas supply part (1212) that supplies a first gas that contains a nitrogen gas without containing hydrogen ([0452]); a plasma generator (1214) ([0456]) that supplies an excitation gas to said substrate (1206) inside said chamber (1202), the excitation gas being generated by turning said first gas supplied from said first gas supply part into plasma ([0456]); and a second gas supply part (1221) that supplies a second gas to said substrate (1206) inside said chamber (1202), the second gas being an organometallic gas that contains a group III element ([0462]).
Claim(s) 1 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by JP’253 (JPH 1187253, cited in IDS; Machine Translation is provided.)
Regarding claim 1, JP’253 discloses a method for producing a group III nitride semiconductor, the method comprising: a loading step of loading a substrate (Fig.7, numeral 7) into a chamber (2); a decompression step ([0019]) of reducing a pressure inside said chamber by a suction part (Abstract; note: vacuum); a heating step of heating said substrate (7) by a heater (5) provided inside said chamber (2); an excitation gas supply step of supplying an excitation gas to said substrate (7) inside said chamber (2) the excitation gas being obtained by supplying a first gas that contains a nitrogen gas without containing hydrogen (Abstract; [0020]) to a plasma generator (4) and turning said first gas into plasma by said plasma generator (4) ([0020]; and an organometallic gas supply step of supplying a second gas (8) (TMG) to said substrate (7) inside said chamber, (2) the second gas being an organometallic gas containing a group III element (TMG)
Regarding claim 3, JP253 discloses wherein in said heating step, the substrate is heated to a temperature of 8000C or higher and 10000C or lower (Abstract; [0019]).
Regarding claim 4, JP’253 discloses wherein said second gas contains trimethylgallium, triethylgallium, or trisdimethylamido gallium (Fig.7, TMG).
Regarding claim 5, JP’253 discloses wherein in said decompression step, the pressure inside said chamber is reduced to 100 Pa or more and 500 Pa or less ([0019]).
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 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Butcher as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Tsujimura (US 2001/0008285).
Regarding claim 2, Butcher does not disclose wherein a ratio of a density of nitrogen radicals to a flow rate of said second gas is 1 or more and 10 or less.
Tsujimura however discloses that a flow rate of nitrogen radical is set to a value to increase the growth rate of a semiconductor layer ([0060]).
It would have been therefore obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Butcher with Tsujimura to adjust a flow rate of nitrogen radicals to be in the claimed range for the purpose of grow rate optimization.
Conclusion
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/JULIA SLUTSKER/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2891