The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Figure 2 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: par [0057] discloses (referring to Fig. 8A), “As indicated by the open load switch 404a, and "dotted square line", no power resource is being currently delivered from the common power resource 402 to the processing area of the seventh station 112 of first processing line 103a. Likewise, as indicated by the open load switch 404b, and "dotted square line", no power resource is being currently delivered from the common power resource 402 to the processing area of the seventh station 112 of second processing line 103b” (emphasis added). However, Fig. 8A does not show open an load switch 404b and a dotted line to indicate that no power is being delivered in processing line 103b, but rather a closed load switch and a solid line to indicate that power is being delivered.
Appropriate correction is required.
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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 3-14 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 3, lines, 2, 3, 4 and 21, the recitations “a first substrate processing line”, “a substrate processing system”, “a plurality of stations”, and “a second station” should be --the first substrate processing line--, --the substrate processing system--, --the plurality of stations--, and --the second station--, respectively (emphasis added).
Claim 5, line 3, “first” should apparently be --second--. This also applies to analogous claim 12.
Claim 6, line 5, it is not clear what is meant by “a vacuum resource from the common gas resource” (emphasis added).
Claims 7 and 8, line 2, --the-- should be inserted before “first station”. This also applies to analogous claims 13 and 14.
Claim 9, line 29, the recitation “a first station of a second substrate processing line” should be --the first station of the second substrate processing line-- (emphasis added).
Claims 10 and 11, which depend from claim 9, recite that each of the first and second resources, respectively, further comprise “a power resource from a common power resource, a gas resource from a common gas resource, a vacuum resource from the common gas resource, or combination thereof” (emphasis added). However, claim 9 has already recited that “the first resource is a power resource from a common power resource” and that “the second resource is a vacuum resource from a common vacuum resource”. Not only is it unclear how the resources of claims 10 and 11 could further comprise a power resource or a vacuum resource, respectively, but it is also unclear whether the vacuum resource of claim 11 (which is from the gas resource) is the same vacuum resource of claim 9 (which is from a vacuum resource).
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.
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 1-6 and 9-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cox (US 6,228,773) in view of Kim et al (US 7,537,401).
Cox discloses a method of substrate processing, comprising (note: the following refers to the “Working Example 1” described at col. 13:55 through col. 14:54 with reference to Figs. 17-18; however, this is not necessarily the only disclosed example that meets the claim limitations):
processing a first substrate 3 within a first station 1 (analogous to chamber 30 shown in Figs. 1-16) within a first substrate processing line of a substrate processing system 10, wherein the first substrate processing line comprises at least the first station 1, and processing the first substrate comprises: loading the first substrate 3 into a processing area of the first station 1 of the first substrate processing line, and delivering a first resource from a first common resource to a component within the first station of the first substrate processing line for a first configurable period of time (col. 14:7-18);
locking out the first resource from providing the first common resource to a component within a first station 2 (analogous to chamber 32) of a second substrate processing line for the first configurable period of time (see at least the Abstract, col. 5:10-15, col. 5:67 to col. 6:12, and col. 10:54-66);
unloading the first substrate 3 from the processing area of the first station 1 of the first substrate processing line after the first configurable period of time has elapsed (col. 14:36-38);
processing a second substrate 4 within the first station 2 within the second substrate processing line of the substrate processing system, wherein the second substrate processing line comprises at least the first station 2, and processing the second substrate comprises: loading the second substrate 4 into a processing area of the first station 2 of the second substrate processing line, and delivering the first resource from the first common resource to the component within the first station 2 of the second substrate processing line for a second configurable period of time (col. 14:30-33;
locking out the first resource from providing the first common resource to the component within the first station 1 of the first substrate processing line for the second configurable period of time (implicit from the above-noted passages cited in reference to the previous step of “locking out the first resource”, in conjunction with the statement “The cycle repeats” at col. 14:38; also note claim 1); and
unloading the second substrate 4 from the processing area of the first station 2 of the second substrate processing line (again, implicit from the statement “The cycle repeats”).
Cox does not show that each of the first and second substrate processing lines comprises a plurality of stations that comprise at least the first station of each respective substrate processing line.
Kim discloses a substrate processing system wherein each of (at least) first and second parallel substrate processing lines 2001, 2002 comprises a plurality of stations (Fig. 3, noting that each of the processing lines shown in that figure is structured as in Fig. 2 with a plurality of serially arranged stations 520, 540, etc.). Among other advantages, this maximizes the rate of operation in each line (col. 8:1-65).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the apparatus of Cox by arranging the first and second substrate processing lines such that they each comprised a plurality of stations, as shown by Kim, to maximize the rate of operation in each line.
Re claim 2, Cox discloses that the step of loading the second substrate into the processing area of the first station of the second substrate processing line occurs before the first configurable period of time has elapsed (col. 14:19-32).
Re claim 3, given that Cox discloses repeating the cycle with (at least) subsequent third and fourth substrates, the method of Cox, when modified as above such that each processing line comprised multiple stations (including at least a second station), would obviously further comprise: processing a third substrate within a second station within [a] the first substrate processing line of [a] the substrate processing system, wherein the first substrate processing line comprises [a] the plurality of stations that comprise at least the first station, and at least the second station, and processing the third substrate comprises: loading the third substrate into a processing area of the second station of the first substrate processing line, wherein loading the third substrate into the processing area of the second station occurs before the second configurable period of time has elapsed, and delivering a second resource from a second common resource to a component within the second station of the first substrate processing line for a third configurable period of time; locking out the second resource from providing the second common resource to a component within a second station of the second substrate processing line for the third configurable period of time; unloading the third substrate from the processing area of the second station of the first substrate processing line after the third configurable period of time has elapsed; processing a fourth substrate within [a] the second station within the second substrate processing line of the substrate processing system, wherein processing the fourth substrate comprises: loading the fourth substrate into a processing area of the second station of the second substrate processing line, wherein loading the fourth substrate into the processing area of the second station of the second substrate processing line occurs before the third configurable period of time has elapsed, and delivering a second resource from the second common resource to the component within the second station of the second substrate processing line for a fourth configurable period of time; locking out the second resource from providing the second common resource to the component within the second station of the first substrate processing line for the fourth configurable period of time; and unloading the fourth substrate from the processing area of the second station of the second substrate processing line. This would merely involve performing the same steps of the process to the subsequent third and fourth substrates in the corresponding second stations of each of the first and second processing lines of Cox when modified as above with such second stations.
Re claim 4, Cox discloses that the first common resource, and the second common resource are (or at least can be) the same type of common resource, wherein the common resource is selected from a group consisting of a power resource, a gas resource, or a vacuum resource (col. 6:34-39; col. 9:50-60; col. 10:54-66).
Re claim 5, Cox discloses that a difference in time from when the first substrate is loaded into the processing area of the first station of the first substrate processing line and the time from when the [first] second substrate is loaded into the processing area of the first station of the second substrate processing line is less than the first configurable period of time (col. 14:39-50).
Re claim 6, Cox discloses that the first resource from the first common resource further comprises: a power resource from a common power resource, a gas resource from a common gas resource, a vacuum resource from the common gas resource, or combination thereof (col. 6:34-39; col. 9:50-60; col. 10:54-66).
Re claim 9, since Cox discloses that the common resource shared between the stations of the first and second processing lines may include one or more of at least a gas, power or vacuum resource, as noted above with respect to claims 4 and 6, the method of Cox, when modified as above such that each processing line comprised multiple stations (including at least a second station), would obviously comprise:
processing a first substrate within a first station within a first substrate processing line of a substrate processing system, wherein the first substrate processing line comprises a plurality of stations that comprise at least the first station, and processing the first substrate comprises: loading the first substrate into a processing area of the first station of the first substrate processing line, wherein loading the first substrate into the processing area of the first station of the first substrate processing line occurs before a third configurable period of time, and a fourth configurable period of time, have elapsed, delivering a first resource from a first common resource to a component within the first station of the first substrate processing line for a first configurable period of time, wherein the first resource from the first common resource is a power resource from a common power resource, and delivering a second resource from a second common resource to a component within the first station of the first substrate processing line for a second configurable period of time, wherein the second resource from the second common resource is a vacuum resource from a common vacuum resource; locking out the first resource from providing the first common resource to a component within a first station of a second substrate processing line for the first configurable period of time; locking out the second resource from providing the second common resource to a component within [a] the first station of [a] the second substrate processing line for the second configurable period of time; unloading the first substrate from the processing area of the first station of the first substrate processing line after the first configurable period of time, and the second configurable period of time, have elapsed; processing a second substrate within the first station within the second substrate processing line of the substrate processing system, wherein the second substrate processing line comprises a plurality of stations that comprise at least the first station, and processing the second substrate comprises: loading the second substrate into a processing area of the first station of the second substrate processing line, wherein loading the second substrate into the processing area of the first station of the second substrate processing line occurs before the first configurable period of time, and the second configurable period of time, have elapsed, delivering the first resource from the first common resource to the component within the first station of the second substrate processing line for the third configurable period of time, and delivering the second resource from the second common resource to the component within the first station of the second substrate processing line for the fourth configurable period of time; locking out the first resource from providing the first common resource to the component within the first station of the first substrate processing line for the third configurable period of time; locking out the second resource from providing the second common resource to the component within the first station of the first substrate processing line for the fourth configurable period of time; and unloading the second substrate from the processing area of the first station of the second substrate processing line after the third configurable period of time, and the fourth configurable period of time, have elapsed. This would merely involve performing the same steps of the process of claim 1 with both a power resource and a vacuum resource as common resources in the first station of one of the first and second processing lines while locking out such resources from the first station of the other one of the first and second processing lines, and vice-versa, of Cox when modified as above.
Claims 10 and 11 (as best understood in light of the rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth above) are treated in the same manner as otherwise analogous claim 6.
Claim 12 is treated in the same manner as analogous claim 5 above.
Claims 7-8 and 13-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cox in view of Kim, as applied to claims 1 and 9 above, and further in view of Bluck et al (US 2017/0025300, cited by applicant).
Cox as modified does not show that the loading of the first substrate, and the unloading of the first substrate, from the first station of the plurality of stations of the first substrate processing line further comprises: transporting the first substrate between the plurality of stations by use of a magnetic transportation system, or that the loading of the second substrate, and the unloading of the second substrate, from the first station of the plurality of stations of the second substrate processing line further comprises: transporting the second substrate between the plurality of stations by use of a magnetic transportation system.
It is noted that Kim discloses conveying the substrates between workstations, but does not specify any particular type of conveyor.
The examiner notes it is generally well known in the art of semiconductor wafer and other similar substrate processing technologies to utilize a magnetic transportation system for transporting substrates between stations to reduce contamination within the clean room environment in which such substrates are typically manufactured.
Specifically, Bluck discloses transporting substrates between plasma processing chambers using a conveying means in the form of a magnetic transportation system (par. [0047]; Figs. 1-2).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art, prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the apparatus of Cox by utilizing a magnetic transportation system as the means of conveying (transporting) the substrates between the plurality of stations of the first and second substrate processing lines, as shown by Bluck, as this would simply be one of a finite number of known ways to transport substrates between stations in a clean room environment of a semiconductor processing system while minimizing contamination therein.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to James Keenan whose telephone number is (571)272-6925. The examiner can normally be reached Mon. - Thurs.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ernesto Suarez can be reached at 571-270-5565. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/James Keenan/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3652
2/24/26