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 § 103
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(s) 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yosiaki (JP-S6410946-U).
Regarding claim 1, Yosiaki teaches a vaporizer (Figs. 1-4) comprising:
a crucible (4);
a heater (5) that heats the crucible; and
a support member (7) that supports the crucible and includes an internal space (area inside 7 having an air supply pipe 8).
Yosiaki fails to explicitly teach that a pressure in the internal space can be changed, nor that a control device is configured to increase the pressure of the internal space when the heating of the crucible by the heater is stopped, compared to the pressure when the crucible is heated by the heater.
However, Yosiaki teaches that the air supply pipe (8) in the internal space (area inside 7) is connected to a rotary pump (17; page 16 para. 5 and 7). Yosiaki also teaches that during cooling of the crucible (when heating of the crucible is stopped), air is supplied into the internal space using the air supply pipe (8), and during heating of the crucible, the rotary pump (17) is used (page 16, para. 7-8 – page 17, para. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing of the claimed invention to recognize that when air is supplied into Yosiaki’s internal space, the pressure in the internal space can be changed, and that one of ordinary skill would incorporate a control device configured to turn on/off the air supply pipe (8), thus increasing the pressure of the internal space when the heating of the crucible by the heater is stopped (increased air in internal space increases pressure).
Regarding claim 2, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 1, wherein the control device supplies a gas (air, via the air supply pipe 8) into the internal space, when the heating of the crucible by the heater is stopped (during cooling; page 16, para. 7-8 – page 17, para. 1).
Regarding claim 3, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 1, wherein the control device vacuums (inherent from teaching of the vacuum seal; page 17, para. 3) the internal space, when the crucible is heated by the heater.
Regarding claim 4, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 1, wherein the pressure in the internal space is substantially atmospheric pressure, when heating of the crucible is stopped by the heater (valves 9 and 10 are open; page 16, para. 8 – page 17, para. 1).
Regarding claim 5, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 1, wherein the crucible further comprises:
a front portion that releases vapor (top portion of 4); and
a bottom portion (bottom portion of 4) opposed to the front portion; and
wherein the bottom portion comprises a double bottom structure having a first bottom lid and a second bottom lid (two bottoms in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 6, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 1, wherein the crucible (4) further comprises a gas introduction pipe (8) that introduces a gas (air) into the crucible,
wherein the gas introduction pipe (8) is disposed in the internal space of the support member (Fig. 4).
Regarding claim 7, Yosiaki teaches an ion source (page 15, para. 1) comprising: the vaporizer according to claim 1, the vaporizer that outputs a vapor; a plasma generation chamber that receives the vapor and generates a plasma based on the vapor; and an extraction electrode that extracts an ion beam from the plasma.
Regarding claim 8, Yosiaki teaches an ion beam irradiation (ion implantation apparatus; page 15, para. 4) apparatus comprising: the ion source according to claim 7, but fails to further teach a processing chamber in which a target is disposed, wherein the ion beam is irradiated into the processing chamber. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing of the claimed invention to incorporate Yosiaki’s ion source in a ion beam system, because such type of ion source is well known and used in the ion beam art.
Regarding claim 9, Yosiaki teaches an operating method for a vaporizer (Figs. 1-4) comprising a crucible (4), a heater (5) that heats the crucible (4), a support member (7) that supports the crucible and includes an internal space (area inside 7 having an air supply pipe 8). Yosiaki fails to explicitly teach that a pressure in the internal space can be changed, nor that during operating the vaporizer, the pressure of the internal space is increased when heating of the crucible by the heater is stopped compared to the pressure when the crucible is heated by the heater.
However, Yosiaki teaches that the air supply pipe (8) in the internal space (area inside 7) is connected to a rotary pump (17; page 16 para. 5 and 7). Yosiaki also teaches that during cooling of the crucible (when heating of the crucible is stopped), air is supplied into the internal space using the air supply pipe (8), and during heating of the crucible, the rotary pump (17) is used (page 16, para. 7-8 – page 17, para. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing of the claimed invention to recognize that when air is supplied into Yosiaki’s internal space, the pressure in the internal space can be changed, and that one of ordinary skill would incorporate a control device configured to turn on/off the air supply pipe (8), thus increasing the pressure of the internal space when the heating of the crucible by the heater is stopped (increased air in internal space increases pressure).
Regarding claim 10, Yosiaki teaches a vaporizer (Figs. 1-4) comprising:
a crucible (4);
a heater (5) configured to heat the crucible; and
a support member (7) that supports the crucible and includes an internal space (area inside 7 having an air supply pipe 8).
a control device configured to control to, when the heater is turned off, increase a pressure of the internal space with respect to the pressure of the internal space when the heater is turned on.
However, Yosiaki teaches that the air supply pipe (8) in the internal space (area inside 7) is connected to a rotary pump (17; page 16 para. 5 and 7). Yosiaki also teaches that during cooling of the crucible (when heating of the crucible is stopped), air is supplied into the internal space using the air supply pipe (8), and during heating of the crucible, the rotary pump (17) is used (page 16, para. 7-8 – page 17, para. 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing of the claimed invention to recognize that when air is supplied into Yosiaki’s internal space, the pressure in the internal space can be changed, and that one of ordinary skill would incorporate a control device configured to turn on/off the air supply pipe (8), thus increasing the pressure of the internal space when the heating of the crucible by the heater is stopped (increased air in internal space increases pressure).
Regarding claim 11, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 10, wherein the control device is configured to control to, when the heater is turned on, decrease the pressure of the internal space with respect to the pressure when the heater is turned off (air evacuated via pump 17).
Regarding claim 12, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 11, wherein, when the heater is turned on, the control device controls to create a vacuum (inherent from teaching of the vacuum seal; page 17, para. 3) in the internal space, and when the heater is turned off, the control device controls to create an atmospheric pressure in the internal space (valves 9 and 10 are open; page 16, para. 8 – page 17, para. 1).
Regarding claim 13, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 10, further comprising:
a three-way valve (vias 9, 10 and 11);
a pipe (8) connected to the three-way valve and to the internal space such that the three-way valve is in fluid communication with the internal space through the pipe (Fig. 1);
a vacuum pump (17) connected to the three-way valve (vacuum seal; page 17, para. 3); and
an air supply connected to the three-way valve (via air supply pipe 8),
wherein the control device is configured to control the three-way valve to connect the air supply to the internal space through the pipe when the heater is turned off and to connect the vacuum pump to the internal space through the pipe when the heater is turned on (page 16, para. 7-8 – page 17, para. 1).
Regarding claim 14, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 10, wherein the crucible further comprises:
a front portion (top portion of 4) that releases vapor; and
a bottom portion (bottom portion of 4) opposed to the front portion,
wherein the bottom portion comprises a double bottom structure having a first bottom lid and a second bottom lid (double bottoms in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 15, Yosiaki teaches the vaporizer according to claim 10, wherein the heater heats the crucible to generate vapor from a solid material (6) in the crucible.
Conclusion
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/HSIEN C TSAI/Examiner, Art Unit 2881
/DAVID E SMITH/Examiner, Art Unit 2881