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 .
Claims 1-8 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 5 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 5 recites “receiving e from the plasma control board” from line 11. It is unclear what is the “e” recited in this limitation. For examination purpose, the examiner considers this limitation as “receiving the result from the plasma control board” according to claims 1 and 8. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-6, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) or 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Shoji (US 20210225622 A1) .
As to claim 1, Shoji teaches an apparatus for semiconductor processing, the apparatus comprising:
a reactor chamber [chamber 10] configured to process a wafer [Fig. 1] [0018, 0032];
a plasma generator provided to the reactor chamber to generate a plasma in the reactor chamber [Figs. 1-2] [0021-00261];
a plasma control board operably connected to the plasma generator and provided with a power control to control plasma power in the reactor chamber; and a process controller operably connected to the plasma control board and configured to set plasma parameters for the plasma in the reactor chamber [control plasma power in the reactor chamber using a recipe stored in the PMC 20, wherein the recipe indicates appropriate flow amount of gas pulse provided into the chamber to generate plasma with desired plasma power] [Figs. 1, 7][0019, 00432-0045],
wherein the plasma control board comprises a plasma power measurement sensor [The RF sensor 24, the photodetector 30 and the sensor 26a have been described as examples of “output device” which monitors and outputs the plasma-related signal data] and is constructed and/or programmed to count both a number of plasma pulses whose plasma power enters into a plasma power valid range when the plasma power goes up through a plasma power low threshold and a number of plasma pulses whose plasma power enters into a plasma power valid range when the plasma power goes down through a plasma power high threshold [counting the total number of times the monitored plasma power enter into range between upper limit and lower limit to determine whether the plasma treatment process is sufficient based on a predetermined number of times] [0033-00373, 0042].
As to claim 2, Shoji teaches the plasma control board is further configured to transmit the result of the plasma pulses count to the process controller [0034-0037, 0043-0044].
As to claim 3, Shoji teaches the process controller is configured to set off an alarm if the result of the plasma pulses count is either below a predetermined value range or above the predetermined value range [0028, 0031, 0035-0037, 0039, 0044].
As to claim 5, Shoji teaches a semiconductor processing method in an apparatus comprising a reactor chamber [chamber 10] configured to process a wafer [Fig. 1] [0018, 0032], a plasma generator provided to the reactor chamber to generate a plasma in the reactor chamber [a radio frequency power is applied to the shower head 14 from the radio frequency power supply device 22 to generate plasma of the gas provided between the parallel plates] [Figs. 1-2] [0021-0026], a plasma control board comprising a plasma power measurement sensor, and the plasma control board operably connected to the plasma generator and provided with a power control to control plasma power in the reactor chamber, and a process controller operably connected to the plasma control board and configured to set plasma parameters for the plasma in the reactor chamber [control plasma power in the reactor chamber using a recipe stored in the PMC 20, wherein the recipe indicates appropriate flow amount of gas pulse provided into the chamber to generate plasma with desired plasma power] [Figs. 1, 7] [0019, 0043-0045], the method comprising,
setting the plasma parameters from recipe or operator input [using a recipe stored in the PMC 20, wherein the recipe indicates appropriate flow amount of gas pulse provided into the chamber to generate plasma with desired plasma power] [0019, 0043-0045];
sending the plasma parameters to the plasma control board [a MFC 54 controlled by PMC 20, the MFC 50 controls a flow amount of a gas based on the recipe from PMC 20 ] [0019, 0043-0045];
sensing and counting a number of good pulses in the plasma power [monitoring a number of times the plasma power enters into range between upper limit and lower limit to determine whether a predetermined number of times the normal plasma has been generated] [0033-0037, 0042];
receiving the result from the plasma control board [0027, 0035, 0043-0045]; and
deciding whether number of good ignition is within a predetermined acceptable range or not, wherein the counting the number of good pulses is to count both a number of plasma pulses whose plasma power enters into a plasma power valid range when the plasma power goes up through a plasma power low threshold and a number of plasma pulses whose plasma power enters into a plasma power valid range when the plasma power goes down through a plasma power high threshold [counting the total number of times the monitored plasma power enter into range between upper limit and lower limit to determine whether the plasma treatment process is sufficient based on a predetermined number of times the normal plasma has been generated ] [0033-0037, 0042].
As to claim 6, Shoji teaches setting an alarm if it is decided that the number of good ignition is not within the predetermined acceptable range [0028, 0031, 0035-0037, 0039, 0044].
As to claim 8, Shoji teaches the invention comprises:
setting the plasma parameters from recipe or operator input [using a recipe stored in the PMC 20, wherein the recipe indicates appropriate flow amount of gas pulse provided into the chamber to generate plasma with desired plasma power] [0019, 0043-0045];
sending the plasma parameters to a plasma control board [a MFC 54 controlled by PMC 20, the MFC 50 controls a flow amount of a gas based on the recipe from PMC 20 ] [0019, 0043-0045];
sensing and counting a number of good pulses in the plasma power [monitoring a number of times the plasma power enters into range between upper limit and lower limit to determine whether a predetermined number of times the normal plasma has been generated] [0033-0037, 0042];
receiving the result from the plasma control board [0027, 0035, 0043-0045]; and
deciding whether number of good ignition is within a predetermined acceptable range or not, wherein the counting the number of good pulses is to count both a number of plasma pulses whose plasma power enters into a plasma power valid range when the plasma power goes up through a plasma power low threshold and a number of plasma pulses whose plasma power enters into a plasma power valid range when the plasma power goes down through a plasma power high threshold [counting the total number of times the monitored plasma power enter into range between upper limit and lower limit to determine whether the plasma treatment process is sufficient based on a predetermined number of times the normal plasma has been generated] [0033-0037, 0042].
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 4 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shoji in view of Omori et al. (hereinafter “Omori”) (US 8790743 B1).
As to claims 4 and 7, Shoji teaches the PMC 20 setting the plasma parameters from recipe and sending the plasma parameters to the MFC 50 to control a flow amount of gas based on the recipe to generate plasma power [0019, 0043-0045]. Shoji does not explicitly teach adjust the plasma parameters.
However, Omori teaches a system and method for processing a substrate in a reactor by pulsing RF power. Especially, Omori teaches modify the process recipe if the number of anomalous pulses of RF power is determined to be unacceptable by adjusting the plasma parameters [column 2, lines 24-35; column 5, lines 33-49; column 6, lines 35-46; column 9, lines 33-47].
Shoji and Omori are analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor of processing a substrate with plasma in a reactor. At the time of the invention it would have been obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the art to change the plasma parameters when the result is unacceptable. The suggestion for doing so would have been obvious to prepare a correction process to adjust operation parameters in order to provide an appropriate plasma power for processing the substrate when the previous operating parameters did not provide a desired result. Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine the teachings of Omori with the teachings of Shoji for the purpose of providing a solution by adjusting the plasma parameters as specified in the claims 4 and 7.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHIPENG WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5437. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 10-7.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kamini Shah can be reached at 5712722279. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHIPENG WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2115
1 [0026] FIG. 2 is a flowchart which shows one example of the substrate treatment method. In this example, in the substrate treatment using plasma, the reflected wave power of the radio frequency power shall be an object to be monitored. Firstly, in step S1, the substrate is subjected to plasma treatment. Specifically, a radio frequency power is applied to the shower head 14 from the radio frequency power supply device 22 to generate plasma of the gas provided between the parallel plates, and the substrate on the stage 12 is treated with the plasma.
2 [0043] FIG. 7 is a view which shows a structure example of a substrate treatment apparatus according to another example. In this example, a flow amount of a gas shall be an object to be monitored. This substrate treatment apparatus includes: a mass flow controller (MFC) 50 which is controlled by the PMC 20; an MFC 54; and an RF supplier 60. The MFC 50 controls a flow amount of a gas which is supplied into a chamber 10 from a gas source 52. The MFC 54 controls a flow amount of a gas which is supplied into the chamber 10 from a gas source 56. These controls can be performed on the basis of a recipe. The MFCs 50 and 54 can be replaced with an arbitrary gas supplier having the same function.
3 [0035] In step S13, the substrate treatment apparatus determines whether the calculated integrated value is within a predetermined range. An arbitrary controller can execute this determination. According to one example, the alarm determination unit of the UPC 19 determines whether the integrated value is within a range between an upper limit and a lower limit which are stored in the storage unit or the data storage unit 21. If the integrated value is not within the predetermined range, it means that normal plasma has not been generated, and accordingly the alarm determination unit issues an alarm in step S15. On the other hand, if the integrated value is within the predetermined range, in step S14, the UPC 19 or PMC 20 determines whether to continue the plasma treatment based on the recipe. If the plasma treatment is to be continued, the UPC 19 or PMC 20 returns the process to step S10, and implements the next plasma treatment. Otherwise, the UPC 19 or PMC 20 ends the process.
[0037] FIG. 5 is a diagram which shows an example of a PD voltage. When monitoring only the presence or absence of the plasma luminescence, the substrate treatment apparatus has only to monitor whether or not the PD voltage has exceeded a threshold value of, for example, 5 V. It is monitored that the PD voltage has exceeded 5 V a predetermined number of times in a predetermined period. When the number of times of detection of the PD voltage exceeding 5 V in the predetermined period is, for example, five times short of the predetermined number of times, the substrate treatment apparatus can issue an alarm. In addition to such monitoring, or instead of such monitoring, in the process described with reference to the above FIG. 4, the integrated value of the PD voltage shall be an object to be monitored. Monitoring of the integrated value makes it possible to detect not only an insufficient luminescence intensity of the plasma, but also an excessive luminescence intensity of the plasma. In addition, the monitoring of the integrated value does not mean monitoring waveform of the PD voltage but means the monitoring of the area, and accordingly, the substrate treatment apparatus can monitor the process with high accuracy.