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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 3/2/26 has been entered.
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.
Claims 1-5 are 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 1: Claim 1 recites the limitation “reference axis of the movable member matches the reference axis of the film forming chamber” which renders the claim indefinite because the term “matches” is not defined in the specification or claim and one of ordinary skill would not be able to ascertain the metes and bounds of the limitation given that the accepted definition of the term “matches” includes exact or similar, a counterpart, or to harmonize with (see Merriam-Webster Dictionary).
For the purpose of examination, given that there is necessarily “a reference axis of the movable member” and “a reference axis of the film forming chamber” it will be considered to read on matches because they are present.
Claim 1: Claim 1 recites “a reference axis of the movable member” in lines 14-15, “the reference axis of the movable member is shifted” in line 18, and “the reference axis of the movable member” in line 21 which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear if the last recitation of “the refence axis of the movable member” in line 21 refers to the “the reference axis of the movable member” recited in lines 14-15 or “the reference axis of the movable member” recited in line 18 and therefore one of ordinary skill in the art would not be able to ascertain the metes and bounds of the claim.
Claims 2-5: Claims 2-5 are rejected for being indefinite because they depend from claim 1 and do not remedy the issues of claim 1.
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.
Claims 1-6, 8, & 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamazaki et al. (US PG Pub 2006/0011136; hereafter ‘136).
Claim 1: ‘136 is directed towards a substrate processing method (abstract, ¶s 55-82 & 107-146, and Figs. 1 & 7) comprising:
moving, in an internal space of a film forming chamber, a substrate or a mask that limits a region in which a film is formed on the substrate so as to reduce an alignment error between the substrate and the mask (¶s 63-64);
supporting, after the moving the substrate or the mask, the mask and the substrate in a stacked state by a movable member in a state in which a pressure in the internal space is reduced (¶s 63-64, 141);
forming a film on the substrate via the mask after the supporting (¶ 66); and
conveying the substrate form the internal space of the film forming chamber to an outside after the forming (¶s 107-146 & Fig. 7),
wherein the method further comprises moving, between the supporting and the forming or between the forming and the conveying, the movable member supporting the substrate to a predetermined position different from a position in a preceding process (¶s 55-88 & 107-146),
wherein a position of the substrate against the mask is fixed in the forming process (the position is fixed at least part of the time and thus reads on the limitation), and
wherein the predetermined position is a position where a reference axis of the movable member matches a reference axis of the film forming chamber, the reference axis of the movable member is shifted from the reference axis of the film forming chamber after the moving so as to reduce the alignment error and before the movable member is moved to the predetermined position and the reference axis of the movable member matches the reference axis of the film forming chamber at a beginning of the conveying (‘136 inherently reads on these limitation because there are an infinite number of reference axis that can be drawn through the film forming chamber and one of those axes will match one of the infinite number of reference axes drawn through movable member and additionally, the plural axes of the movable member read on each recitation).
Claim 2: ‘136 further teaches that the moving the substrate or the mask includes causing the movable member to move in a state in which the substrate is supported by a substrate supporting mechanism (see Fig. 1 & ¶s 62-64).
Claim 3: ‘136 further discloses conveying, before the moving the substrate or the mask by a substrate conveying mechanism so as to match a reference position of a hand of the substrate conveying mechanism with the predetermined position (see Fig. 7 & ¶s 107-146).
Claim 4: ‘136 further teaches that in the moving the substrate or mask, the substrate is separated from the mask (see Fig. 1 & ¶s 63-64).
Claim 5: ‘136 further teaches that a process between the supporting and the forming and a process between the forming and the conveying the substrate to the outside, the moving the movable member to the predetermined position is performed only in the process between the forming and the conveying the substrate to the outside (see ¶s 63-64 & 107-146).
Claim 6: ‘136 is directed towards a substrate processing method (abstract, ¶s 55-82 & 107-146, and Figs. 1 & 7) comprising:
conveying a substrate into an internal space of a film forming chamber such that the substrate is positioned at an initial transfer position (see Fig. 7);
moving, in the internal space, the substrate or a mask so as to reduce an alignment error between the substrate and the mask (¶s 61-72);
supporting, after the moving, the mask and the substrate in a stacked state by a movable member in a state in which a pressure in the internal space is reduced (¶s 61-72, 141);
positioning, after the supporting, the movable member at the initial transfer position (¶s 61-72);
forming, after the positioning, a film on the substrate via the mask (¶ 66); and
conveying, after the forming, the substrate to an outside of the film forming chamber (¶s 107-146; Fig. 7).
Claim 8: The initial transfer position corresponds to a reference position of a hand of a substrate conveying mechanism (the apparatus comprises a conveying mechanism with a hand, see Fig. 7, which inherently has a reference position and thus it is apparent that the initial transfer position corresponds to said reference position).
Claim 10: The moving comprises detecting an alignment error between the substrate and the mask using a detector and moving at least one of the substrate and the mask based on a detection result of the detector (¶ 24).
Claim 11: The detecting is performed while the substrate is separated from the mask (the mask and substrate are separated by a distance, Figs. 1 & 2).
Claim 12: During the forming , a position of the substrate against the mask is fixed in the forming process (see ¶s 22-24).
Claim 13: The supporting is performed in a state in which the pressure in the internal space of the film forming chamber is reduced (¶ 21).
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.
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 7, 9, & 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘136.
Claim 14: ‘136 is directed towards a substrate processing method (abstract, ¶s 55-82 & 107-146, and Figs. 1 & 7) comprising:
conveying a substrate into an internal space of a film forming chamber such that the substrate is positioned at an initial transfer position (see Fig. 7, 718 moves substrate into 701 to one of the coating chambers);
moving, in the internal space, the substrate or a mask so as to reduce an alignment error between the substrate and the mask (¶s 61-72);
supporting, after the moving, the mask and the substrate in a stacked state by a movable member in a state in which a pressure in the internal space is reduced (¶s 61-72, 141);
forming, after the supporting, a film on the substrate via the mask (¶ 66); and
conveying, after the forming, the substrate to an outside of the film forming chamber (¶s 107-146; Fig. 7).
‘136 does not teaching positioning, after an end of the forming and prior to conveying the substrate to an outside of the film forming chamber, the movable member at an initial transfer position.
However, given that ‘136 teaches an initial transfer position during the convey step and also teaches a conveying step at the end of the coating process it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to reposition the movable member to the initial transfer position prior to conveying from the coating chamber because it is prima facie obvious to select from a limited number of possible choices.
Claims 7, 9, 15, & 17: ‘136 teaches means for moving the various components (see ¶s 21-24, 56, 62-63) and discloses that the film forming rate can be computer controlled (¶ 85).
As discussed above, ‘136 teaches an initial transfer position and also teaches repeating the process for multiple substrates (¶ 110).
‘136 does not teach “teaching the initial transfer position by storing the position information corresponding to the initial transfer moved to by the movable member.
However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to perform the claimed teaching and storing because ‘136 teaches moving as claimed and repeating the process and thus teaches performing at least manually and it is prima facie obvious to automate a manual process by use of a computer.
Claim 16: The initial transfer position corresponds to a reference position of a hand of a substrate conveying mechanism (the apparatus comprises a conveying mechanism with a hand, see Fig. 7, which inherently has a reference position and thus it is apparent that the initial transfer position corresponds to said reference position).
Claim 18: The moving comprises detecting an alignment error between the substrate and the mask using a detector and moving at least one of the substrate and the mask based on a detection result of the detector (¶ 24).
Claim 19: The detecting is performed while the substrate is separated from the mask (the mask and substrate are separated by a distance, Figs. 1 & 2).
Claim 20: During the forming , a position of the substrate against the mask is fixed in the forming process (see ¶s 22-24).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/2/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In response to applicant's argument that the references fail to show certain features of the invention, it is noted that the features upon which applicant relies (i.e., the specific positions of the substrate and mask and the reference axis as depicted in Figs. 3A-5A; the movable member is offset from the chamber axis, that the substrate is fixed in positional relationship relative to the mask) are not recited in the rejected claim(s). Although the claims are interpreted in light of the specification, limitations from the specification are not read into the claims. See In re Van Geuns, 988 F.2d 1181, 26 USPQ2d 1057 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
In regards to applicant’s argument that ‘136 does not teach the claimed “shifted and reset approach”; applicant is advised that the claims do not require a shifted-reset-approach for alignment as depicted in Figs. 3A-5A but instead require various movements and various reference axes which can be arbitrary chosen to read on the limitations as discussed above in the 112(b) and 102/103 art rejections.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M MELLOTT whose telephone number is (571)270-3593. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30AM-4:30PM CST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Curtis Mayes can be reached at 571-272-1234. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/James M Mellott/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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