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
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.
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 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP 2019/091589 A [hereinafter UIvac] in view of US 2006/0097186 A1 [hereinafter Hitachi].
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Regarding Claim 1:
UIvac discloses a liquid metal ion source device for using bismuth and an alloy of the bismuth (paras. [0001 and 0024]: liquid metal ion source using liquid bismuth “various liquid bismuth alloys as main component), the liquid metal ion source device comprising:
a base (Fig. 1 -14) formed of an electrically insulating material (para. [0025]: support 14 “may be made of an insulating material” (e.g., ceramics));
two electrodes (Fig. 1-15) connected to the base and configured to supply current (paras. [0021, 0025]: two terminals 15, each terminal “may have conductivity capable of supplying current to the filament heater 13” to heat the filament heater);
a needle (Fig. 1-11) (para. [0016]: “electrode 11 has a single needle shape extending in the extending direction DE”);
a filament (Fig. 1-13) comprising
a pair of connection rods (See annotated Fig .1- two “connection part”) connected to the two electrodes, respectively (para. [0021]: “One end of the filament heater 13 is connected to one terminal 15, and the other end of the filament heater 13 is connected to the other terminal 15”),
a pair of support rods (See annotated Fig .1 – two “support part”) formed to be extended from the pair of connection rods, respectively, and provided in a direction away from the base and towards the needle (para. [0021]: leg portions extending away from the support (toward the electrode) as support rods), and
a filament head (See annotated Fig .1- “filament head”) connecting the pair of support rods to one another and having a shape curved toward the base (para. [0021]: “the filament heater 13 has a substantially W shape... central portion of the filament heater 13, in other words, a peak portion in the W shape...” which is curved toward the support/base as shown in the figure); and
a reservoir (Fig. 1-12) configured to accommodate at least a portion of the filament head inside the reservoir and store a liquid metal (paras. [0018, 0021]: “A central portion of the filament heater 13, in other words, a peak portion in the W shape, is located inside the space partitioned by the reservoir 12” ... “The reservoir 12 stores liquid metal in the space defined by the reservoir 12”).
Although UIvac does not expressly label separate “connection rods” and “support rods,” it teaches the filament heater 13 is a single metal wire formed in a substantially W shape with its ends connected to the two terminals 15. In such one-piece W-shaped filament, the portions extending from each terminal inherently function as the claimed connection/support rod portions, because connecting the heater to the base-mounted terminals are necessarily requires elongated lead/leg portions between the terminals and the central/peak portion, as shown in the annotated Fig. 1.
However, UIvac does not specifically note that the needle is mounted on the base and configured to pass through the base.
Hitachi disclose a liquid mental ion source which has a needle emitter 2-11, reservoir 2-12, filament 2-13, and an insulator base 2-15 for fixing terminals 2-14 (See Hitachi paras. [0036–0037]). Specifically, Hitachi teaches the needle is mounted on the base and configured to pass through the base (As shown in Fig. 2, the needle/emitter structure is shown extending through a central region of the base (i.e., passing through the base while being supported by the base assembly).
UIvac and Hitachi are in the same field (liquid metal ion sources). UIvac teaches a specific electrode/reservoir/filament-heater configuration (e.g., a spiral reservoir storing liquid metal and a W-shaped filament heater whose central portion is joined to the electrode within the reservoir space). Hitachi teaches a conventional mounting arrangement for a liquid metal ion source including an insulating base supporting power-supply terminals and a needle emitter/reservoir/filament assembly (see Hitachi Fig. 2). It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective time of filing, to implement the UIvac ion-source subassembly using the base-mounted layout of Hitachi to provide a robust, electrically insulated support structure that facilitates supplying heater current through base-mounted terminals while maintaining stable alignment of the needle emitter. Such substitution is a predictable use of prior-art elements according to their established functions in the LMIS art.
Regarding Claim 2:
UIvac in view of Hitachi discloses the liquid metal ion source device of claim 1. UIvac further teaches the needle comprises:
a needle body (Fig .1-body of electrode 11) configured to penetrate an inside of the reservoir (para. [0018]: “The electrode 11 is joined to the reservoir 12 at a portion closer to the proximal end 11A than the center in the extending direction DE of the electrodes 11. A portion of the electrode 11 is surrounded by the reservoir 12 ...”); and
a needle tip (Fig. 1-11T) formed to be extended from the needle body and having a conical shape with a radius that decreases in a direction away from the base (para. [0016]: “The electrode 11 has a single needle shape extending in the extending direction DE, and includes a proximal end 11A and a tip 11T for emitting an ion beam. The electrode 11 has a conical surface 11B”).
Regarding Claim 3:
UIvac in view of Hitachi discloses the liquid metal ion source device of claim 2. Hitachi further teaches the needle body is connected to the base (Fig. 2 shows the emitter/needle supported by and extending through the insulator base 2-15 in the ion-source assembly; paras. [0036-0037] also describes the insulator base fixing the terminals for the filament and the needle emitter assembly). UIvac further teaches the two electrodes are provided on opposite sides with respect to the needle body (Fig. 1 shows two terminals 15 supported by the support 14 on opposite sides around the central electrode/needle axis).
Regarding Claim 4:
UIvac in view of Hitachi discloses the liquid metal ion source device of claim 2. UIvac further teaches the needle body is connected to the filament head (paras. [0021-0022]: “A central portion of the filament heater 13, in other words, a peak portion in the W shape... is joined to a part of the portion surrounded by the reservoir 12 in the electrode 11, “the liquid metal ion source 10 has a junction between the filament heater 13 and the electrode 11 in the space defined by the reservoir 12.”).
Regarding Claim 5:
UIvac in view of Hitachi discloses the liquid metal ion source device of claim 1. UIvac further teaches the reservoir is provided to be spaced apart from the filament head (paras. [0018, 0021]: “A central portion of the filament heater 13, in other words, a peak portion in the W shape, is located inside the space partitioned by the reservoir 12,” so that the filament portion is accommodated within the reservoir space rather than being structurally joined to the reservoir (i.e., spaced apart from the reservoir body).).
Regarding Claim 6:
UIvac in view of Hitachi discloses the liquid metal ion source device of claim 1. UIvac further teaches the connection rods, the support rods, and the filament head have the same thickness (para. [0023]: teaches the filament heater 13 is “composed of one metal wire.” A filament formed from a single wire supports that the connected portions (end portions/legs/central portion) share the same wire thickness).
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Regarding Claim 7
UIvac in view of Hitachi discloses the liquid metal ion source device of claim 1. UIvac further teaches the filament head has a shape convexly curved toward the base (annotated figs.1 and 2; para. [0021]: as shown in annotated Figs. 1 and 2, the filament heater 13 has a substantially W shape, and the central/peak portion of the W is curved toward the support 14 (base)).
Regarding Claim 8:
UIvac in view of Hitachi discloses the liquid metal ion source device of claim 1. UIvac further teaches the filament head comprises:
both end portions connected to the pair of support rods (annotated Fig. 2 shows the filament head region as part of the W-shape connecting leg portions; the end portions of the head connect to the two legs (support-rod portions)); and
a central portion provided between the both end portions and provided closer to the base than the both end portions (annotated Fig. 2 shows the central portion of the head positioned closer to the support/base than the two end portions).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JING WANG whose telephone number is (571)272-2504. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-17:00.
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/JING WANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2881
/WYATT A STOFFA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881