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 without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 11/04/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 11-13 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/04/2025.
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 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.
Claim(s) 1 7 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Mori et. Al. (US 20230207368 A1 hereinafter Mori which claims priority to JP 2023077928 A filed 11/25/2021).
Regarding claim 1, Mori teaches in Fig. 5 with associated text a bonding apparatus configured to bond substrates to each other, comprising: a first holder 423 configured to attract and hold a first substrate 51 from above (Fig. 5, [0030]); a second holder 433 configured to attract and hold a second substrate 6 from below (Fig. 1, [0032]); a moving unit (43 and 436) configured to move a first one (second holder) of the first holder and the second holder with respect to a second one of the first holder and the second holder in a first horizontal direction and a second horizontal direction orthogonal to the first horizontal direction (Fig. 5, [0031] and [0078]); a housing (1 and 42) accommodating therein the first holder, the second holder, and the moving unit (Fig. 5, [0029] and [0035]); a scale member 424, disposed within the housing, having gradations (marks making up scale drawn by semiconductor lithography process [0078]) indicating positions in the first horizontal direction and the second horizontal direction (Fig. 5, [0077]); and a read head 435 configured to be moved as one body with the first one of the first holder and the second holder, and configured to read the gradations of the scale member to measure the position of the first one of the first holder and the second holder (Fig. 5, [0078]).
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Regarding claim 7, Mori teaches the scale member is disposed at a position closer to a substrate holding surface of the first one of the first holder and the second holder than to a bottom surface of the housing along a vertical direction (Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 9, Mori teaches the moving unit comprises a rotating unit configured to rotate at least one of the first holder or the second holder around a vertical axis (Fig. 5, [0031]).
Regarding claim 10, Mori teaches an elevating unit configured to bring the second one of the first holder and the second holder closer to the first one of the first holder and the second holder (Fig. 5, [0036]).
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 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 of this title, 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 2- rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mori as applied to claim 1 above and further in view of Aoki et. Al. (US 20200004166 A1 hereinafter Aoki).
Regarding claim 2, Mori teaches the bonding apparatus of Claim 1.
Mori does not specify the moving unit comprises: a first moving unit configured to move a first one of a first holder and the second holder 141 along a first horizontal direction; and a second moving unit configured to move the first one of the first holder and the second holder along the second horizontal direction, and wherein a stroke of the first moving unit along the first horizontal direction is smaller than a stroke of the second moving unit along the second horizontal direction.
Aoki discloses in Fig. 6 with associated text a moving unit similar to that of Mori wherein the moving unit comprises: a first moving unit (44, 54 and 36) configured to move a first one of a first holder and the second holder 22 along a first horizontal direction (Y direction) (Figs. 4-5, [0104]); and a second moving unit (22) configured to move the first one of the first holder and the second holder along the second horizontal direction (X direction) (Fig. 4-5, [0105]), and wherein a stroke of the first moving unit along the first horizontal direction is smaller than a stroke of the second moving unit along the second horizontal direction (Figs. 4-5, [0124])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a moving unit similar to that of Aoki for the moving unit of Mori because according to Aoki the substrate drive system 60 is equipped with; a first drive system 62 for finely moving fine movement stage 22 in directions of six degrees of freedom (in each of the X-axis, the Y-axis, the Z-axis, the θx, the θy, and the θz directions) [0106] so that such a moving unit would be suitable to provide the 2 dimensional motion needed for the moving unit of Mori.
Regarding claim 3, Mori in view of Aoki teaches the first moving unit is fastened to a pair of rails (30 of Aoki) extending in the first horizontal direction, and configured to be moved along the pair of rails [0104], and two opposite ends of the first moving unit in the second horizontal direction are moved independently along the pair of rails, respectively (Figs. 4-5 [0104]).
Regarding claim 4, Mori in view of Aoki teaches the read head (88 of Aoki) includes multiple read heads (74x and 74y), the second moving unit is disposed above the first moving unit (Figs. 2 and 4 of Aoki), the first one of the first holder and the second holder is fastened to the second moving unit (Fig. 2) and moved as one body with the second moving unit (Fig. 2), and the multiple read heads are fastened to a mounting member 90, which is provided at the second moving unit, at a distance therebetween in the second horizontal direction (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 5, Mori in view of Aoki teaches the distance is equal to or less than a diameter of the second substrate (Mori teaches the wafer stage 43 can be measured in the movable range of the wafer stage 43 [0077]).
Regarding claim 6, Mori in view of Aoki teaches the read head (88 of Aoki) includes multiple read heads (74x and 74y), wherein the bonding apparatus further comprises: a controller (CNT of Mori) configured to control the first moving unit to adjust moving amounts of the two opposite ends such that measurement results of the multiple read heads regarding the first horizontal direction are identical (Mori [0078] and Aoki [0122]).
Regarding claim 8, Mori teaches the bonding apparatus of Claim 1.
Mori does not specify the scale member has a rectangular shape in which a length of a side along the first horizontal direction is shorter than a length of a side along the second horizontal direction, when viewed from a top, however Mori teaches the dimensions of the scale member corresponds to the range of motion [0077].
Aoki discloses in Fig. 6 with associated text a moving unit similar to that of Mori wherein the moving moves through a range in a first direction (Y direction) and a second direction (X-direction) that is rectangular (Figs. 4-5, [0124]) wherein a range of motion along the first horizontal direction is shorter than a that along the second horizontal direction, when viewed from a top (Figs. 4-5) so that by making the scale member of Mori to be the same as the range of motion taught by Aoki the scale member would have a rectangular shape in which a length of a side along the first horizontal direction is shorter than a length of a side along the second horizontal direction, when viewed from a top.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a moving unit having a range of motion similar to that of Aoki for the moving unit of Mori because according to Aoki the substrate drive system 60 is equipped with; a first drive system 62 for finely moving fine movement stage 22 in directions of six degrees of freedom (in each of the X-axis, the Y-axis, the Z-axis, the θx, the θy, and the θz directions) [0106] so that such a moving unit would be suitable to provide the 2 dimensional motion needed for the moving unit of Mori.
Conclusion
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/AARON J GRAY/Examiner, Art Unit 2897