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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, with respect to the rejection(s) of previous claim(s) 4-5 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Allisson US 2011/0171883 A1.
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) 1-3, 6, 9-10 -5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wiswell US 20230011626 A1 in view of Allison US 2011/0171883 A1.
Re claim 1, Wiswell discloses a polishing pad 110 [fig. 2B] for chemical mechanical polishing comprising
a porous polishing layer 112 having a top polishing surface 119,
a sub-pad 114 located opposite from the top polishing surface, the sub-pad having a bottom sub-pad surface, and
a window 118 for transmitting a signal wave through the polishing pad to a substrate 10 to be polished and back through the polishing pad for endpoint detection, the window having a top window surface, a bottom window surface, and side edges, wherein the top window surface is recessed from the top polishing surface [see fig. 2B], the bottom window surface is substantially coplanar with the bottom sub-pad surface [bottom of 114], the window extending from the bottom sub-pad surface to the top window surface and the side edges are in contact with the polishing material and the sub-pad material 114 and wherein the window is non-porous ¶7.
Wiswell does not disclose wherein a portion of the polishing layer in contact with the side edges of the window forms a peripheral region that is recessed from the top polishing surface coplanar with the top surface of the window.
Allison teaches wherein a portion of the polishing layer 60 [fig. 3] in contact with the side edges of the window forms a peripheral region 42 that is recessed from the top polishing surface 24 coplanar with the top surface of the window 40.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the recessed top polishing surface and the top surface of the window and make them coplanar in WIswell, as suggested and taught by Allison, in order to yield the predictable result of ease of manufacturing ¶37.
Re claim 2, Wiswell further discloses wherein the window 118 comprises, a top window portion defining the top window surface; and an encapsulating layer portion defining the bottom window surface [where the encapsulating layer is the precursors materials intermingled with the bottom portion, ¶ 11, “[t]he backing material portion and the acoustic window portion are deposited by ejecting a plurality of precursor materials from one or more nozzles and solidifying the plurality of precursor materials to form a solidified backing material and a solidified acoustic window. Ejecting the plurality of precursor materials from the one or more nozzles forms an interface with intermingled polymer that directly bonds the solidified acoustic window and the solidified backing material”].
Re claim 3, Wiswell further discloses an encapsulating layer [precursor materials] in contact with the bottom window surface and the bottom sub-pad surface.
Re claim 6, Wiswell further discloses wherein the top polishing surface comprises grooves 116.
Re claim 9, Wiswell further discloses wherein there are no chemical bonds between the window 118 and the polishing layer 112.
Re claim 10, Wiswell teaches a method of polishing comprising providing a substrate to be polished providing the polishing pad as in claim 1,
providing a slurry on the polishing pad,
moving the substrate relative to the polishing pad,
transmitting a signal wave through the window material and slurry and detecting the signal wave reflected from the substrate back through the window and slurry to determine when polishing is complete ¶5.
Claim(s) 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wiswell US 20230011626 A1 in view of Allison US 2011/0171883 A1 and in further view of String US 8,083,570 B2 and Turner 2005/0060943 A1.
Re claims 7-8, Wiswell further discloses wherein the top surface of the window is recessed below the polishing surface to a depth of 0.1 to 1.1 mm and wherein the recessed peripheral portion of polishing layer has a top surface that is recessed 0.1 to 1.1 mm from the top surface of the top polishing surface and the top recessed surface has a width of 0.1 to 1.1 mm.
Turner teaches the width of the window’s gap is between 0.1-1 mm ¶19. String teaches the grooves of 15 mils. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the recessed and width above since it has been held that [W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, i.e, the dimensions of the window hole in Wiswell, Allison, String, and Turner, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. MPEP 2144.05 II A.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Carlos A. Rivera whose telephone number is (571)270-5697. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM -4PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Keller can be reached at (571) 272-8548. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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C. A. R.
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3723
/C. A. RIVERA/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723
