DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Election/Restrictions
Claim 6 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected invention (apparatus), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 03/17/2026.
Applicant's election with traverse of Invention I (method), drawn to claims 1-5, in the reply filed on 03/17/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that undue diverse searching should not be required. This is not found persuasive because the inventions are classified in different areas. As such, a search of the method would not encompass the apparatus.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 1-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ohashi et al (US 2021/0301397).
Regarding claim 1:
Ohashi teaches a control method comprising: providing a substrate processing apparatus (substrate processing apparatus) including a processing container (process vessel, 203) [fig 1-2 & 0018]; and a rotary table (rotary table, 217) provided in the processing container (203) and having a plurality of substrate placing portions (concave portions, 217b) in a circumferential direction on a top surface thereof [fig 1-2 & 0023]; forming films on substrates (substrate, S) on the substrate placing portions (217b) according to a process recipe (film forming step, s140) by rotating the rotary table (rotary table 217 is rotated a predetermined number of times) [fig 7 & 0092]; unloading the substrates (S) on the substrate placing portions (217b) from the processing container (unloaded out of the process vessel 203) after the forming (s170 is after s140) [fig 7 & 0095]; and rotating the rotary table until before the unloading after the forming (carrying out step s160) [fig 7 & 0094].
Regarding claim 2:
Although taught by Ohashi (step, s160), the limitations “wherein when stopping of rotation of the rotary table is set in a final step of the forming in the process recipe, the rotation of the rotary table is stopped after the forming” are contingent limitations NOT required by the claimed method. Specifically, the broadest reasonable interpretation of a method (or process) claim having contingent limitations requires only those steps that must be performed and does not include steps that are not required to be performed because the condition(s) precedent are not met [MPEP 2111.04(II)].
Regarding claim 3:
Ohashi teaches wherein in the rotating, a rotational speed is variably controlled (rotation controlled between a desired speed and stopping between at steps s150-s160) [fig 7 & 0088, 0093-0094].
The claim limitations “to reduce an influence of temperature on the substrates on the substrate placing portions” simply express the intended result of a process step positively recited. As such, these limitations have not been afforded patentable weight. Hoffer v. Microsoft Corp., 405 F.3d 1326, 1329, 74 USPQ2d 1481, 1483 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (quoting Minton v. Nat’l Ass’n of Securities Dealers, Inc., 336 F.3d 1373, 1381, 67 USPQ2d 1614, 1620 (Fed. Cir. 2003)
Regarding claims 4-5:
Ohashi teaches wherein in the unloading (s170), in order to sequentially unload the substrates (S) on the substrate placing portions (217b), rotation of the rotary table is decelerated and stopped such that a position of one of the substrate placing portions is aligned with a position of a transfer port (rotated to move the substrate S to the position facing the gate valve 205) [fig 7 & 0095]; and wherein in the unloading (s170), an unloading instruction is received for each of the substrates (S) on the substrate placing portions (217b) , and the rotation of the rotary table is decelerated and stopped such that a position of the substrate placing portion of a substrate for which the unloading instruction is received first is controlled to be a position corresponding to the transport port, so that the substrate for which the unloading instruction is received first is unloaded prior to a substrate for which the unloading instruction is received later (rotated to move the substrate S to the position facing the gate valve 205 is repeated until all of the plurality of the substrates are unloaded out of the process vessel 203) [fig 7 & 0095].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kato et al (US 2010/0055317) teaches a rotary table control method [fig 12].
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/Benjamin Kendall/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
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