DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to the application No. 18/353,222 filed on July 17, 2023.
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 Species I, corresponding to claims 1 and 3, in the reply filed on April 30, 2026, is acknowledged. Claims 2 and 4 are withdrawn from consideration.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgement is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. The IDS has been considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Takasaki et al. (US 2022/0199411, of record from IDS).
(Re Claims 1 and 3) Takasaki teaches a processing method of a workpiece by which the workpiece is processed in a frame unit in which the workpiece is supported in an opening of an annular frame through a support component, the processing method comprising (Figs. 2A-2B, workpiece 10, frame 21, support component 22):
a protective film coating step of coating a front surface of the workpiece with a protective film (Fig. 3A, protective film 15);
a protective film removal step of partly removing the protective film along planned dividing lines (Fig. 3B, removed at St);
a dividing step of supplying a first gas in a plasma state to divide the workpiece into a plurality of chips along the planned dividing lines (Fig. 3C, ¶¶46-49, 80-85);
a hydrophilization step of supplying a second gas in a plasma state to at least any of front surfaces and side surfaces of the chips, the support component exposed, and the annular frame that have been hydrophobized due to the dividing step to hydrophilize the at least any of the front surfaces and the side surfaces of the chips, the support component exposed, and the annular frame (¶¶56-58, oxygen plasma cleaning step, performed prior to fluorine removal (cleaning) step, produces a hydrophilic surface and will expose all of the surfaces and parts as claimed, see Fig. 3D); and
a cleaning step of removing the protective film and cleaning the frame unit by a cleaning liquid after the hydrophilization step (¶¶50-55, fluorine removal step: the wafer on the tape which is mounted on the frame is immersed in a liquid, Fig. 3D); and
wherein the protective film is a water-soluble resin (¶¶34-36,51,53,72-73,78).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The additional cited art teaches plasma dicing, cleaning, and hydrophilic plasma treatments.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIK T. K. PETERSON whose telephone number is (571)272-3997. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9-5 pm (CST).
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/ERIK T. K. PETERSON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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