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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/25/2024, 08/22/2024, 01/21/2025, 07/09/2025, 10/20/2025, 01/13/2026 has been considered by examiner.
It should be noted that the Miller et al. (US 2004/032711) in the IDS dated 01/13/2026 does not appear to be pertinent to the present application and the document number may have a typographical error.
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) 1-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shimbara et al. (US 2004/0159343), hereinafter ‘Shimbara’.
Shimbara discloses:
1. A substrate holding device that holds and rotates a substrate (W), the device
comprising:
a spin table (21 in figure 4) that rotates in a horizontal plane; and
three or more holders (F1-F3, S1-S3 in figure 10) each having a base (95 in figure 11)
and a position regulator (A in figures 10 and 11) protruding upward from the base (95)
and regulating a horizontal position of the substrate on the spin table by contacting an
outer periphery edge of the substrate (see figure13(b)), the three or more holders being
arranged on an outer periphery of the spin table while being spaced apart from one
another (see Fig. 10), wherein
at least one holder of the three or more holders includes:
a rotating base (95) as the base that is rotatable around a longitudinal shaft axis (axis
corresponding to the wafer support portion 95a, see paragraph 222 and figure 10);
a rotating position regulator (A) as the position regulator that protrudes toward the outer
periphery edge of the substrate at a position apart from the shaft axis in plan view, and
regulates the horizontal position of the substrate on the spin table by contacting the
outer periphery edge of the substrate along with rotation of the rotating base (see figure
13(b));
a rotating mechanism (see Figs. 12(a) and 12(b)) configured to rotate the rotating base (95) to switch the rotating position regulator (A) between a first condition
(corresponding to figure 13(b)) in which the rotating position regulator (A) contacts the
outer periphery edge of the substrate to hold the substrate and a second condition
(corresponding for example to figure 13(f)) in which the rotating position regulator (A) is
spaced apart from the outer periphery edge of the substrate to release the substrate;
and
a pushing member (B in Figs. 10 and 11) that is provided on the rotating base (95) to
protrude toward the outer periphery edge of the substrate, spaced apart from the
substrate when the rotating position regulator (A) is under the first condition (see figure
13(b)), and configured to contact the outer periphery edge of the substrate to push the
substrate in a direction apart from the position regulator when the rotating position
regulator (A) is switched from the first condition to the second condition (see for
example figure 13(f); ‘B’ is a pushing member under the broadest reasonable interpretation because it pushes the substrate into position and therefore meets the claimed limitations).
2. The substrate holding device according to claim 1, wherein at least three holders of the three or more holders each include: the rotating base; the rotating position regulator; the rotating mechanism; and the pushing member (each holder F1, F2, F3 has a rotating bas 95, rotating position regulator A, rotating mechanism seen in Fig. 12, see paragraphs [0226]-[0229]).
3. The substrate holding device according to claim 1, wherein all of the holders arranged on the outer periphery of the spin table each include: the rotating base; the rotating position regulator; the rotating mechanism; and the pushing member (see Fig. 10, each holder F1, F2, F3 has a rotating bas 95, rotating position regulator A, rotating mechanism seen in Fig. 12, see paragraphs [0226]-[0229]; etc.).
4. The substrate holding device according to claim 1, wherein the pushing member is provided opposite to the rotating position regulator across the shaft axis in plan view (see Fig. 10, 13, pushing member B is opposite the position regulator A across the shaft axis at 95a).
5. The substrate holding device according to claim 2, wherein the pushing member is provided opposite to the rotating position regulator across the shaft axis in plan view (see Fig. 10, 13, pushing member B is opposite the position regulator A across the shaft axis at 95a).
6. The substrate holding device according to claim 3, wherein the pushing member is provided opposite to the rotating position regulator across the shaft axis in plan view (see Fig. 10, 13, pushing member B is opposite the position regulator A across the shaft axis at 95a).
7. The substrate holding device according to claim 1, wherein the pushing member has a length toward the outer periphery edge of the substrate smaller than that of the rotating position regulator (when positioned in the position of Fig. 14F, pushing member B has a length towards the end of the substrate that is smaller than that length of position regulator A towards the end of the substrate; absent further limitations, “a pushing member has a length toward” can be interpreted to be a distance between the two structures; to capture the concept seen in applicant’s Fig. 3A-3B, the claim language should specifically recite that the pushing member and the rotating position regulator extend from a projection portion of the rotating base; wherein the pushing member (45) protrudes from the projection portion (41) toward the outer periphery edge of the substrate by a length smaller than that of the rotating position regulator (43)).
8. The substrate holding device according to claim 2, wherein the pushing member has a length toward the outer periphery edge of the substrate smaller than that of the rotating position regulator (when positioned in the position of Fig. 14F, pushing member B has a length towards the end of the substrate that is smaller than that length of position regulator A towards the end of the substrate; absent further limitations, “a pushing member has a length toward” can be interpreted to be a distance between the two structures; to capture the concept seen in applicant’s Fig. 3A-3B, the claim language should specifically recite that the pushing member and the rotating position regulator extend from a projection portion of the rotating base; wherein the pushing member (45) protrudes from the projection portion (41) toward the outer periphery edge of the substrate by a length smaller than that of the rotating position regulator (43)).
9. The substrate holding device according to claim 3, wherein the pushing member has a length toward the outer periphery edge of the substrate smaller than that of the rotating position regulator (when positioned in the position of Fig. 14F, pushing member B has a length towards the end of the substrate that is smaller than that length of position regulator A towards the end of the substrate; absent further limitations, “a pushing member has a length toward” can be interpreted to be a distance between the two structures; to capture the concept seen in applicant’s Fig. 3A-3B, the claim language should specifically recite that the pushing member and the rotating position regulator extend from a projection portion of the rotating base; wherein the pushing member (45) protrudes from the projection portion (41) toward the outer periphery edge of the substrate by a length smaller than that of the rotating position regulator (43)).
10. The substrate holding device according to claim 2, wherein the at least three holders are each positioned on a vertex of an equilateral triangle in plan view (see Fig. 10, holders F1, F2, F3).
11. The substrate holding device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of lower surface holders are further provided to contact the lower surface of the substrate for regulating a height position of the substrate (lower surface holders 95a, see Fig. 11, paragraph [0222]).
12. The substrate holding device according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of lower surface holders are further provided to contact the lower surface of the substrate for regulating a height position of the substrate (lower surface holders 95a, see Fig. 11, paragraph [0222]).
13. The substrate holding device according to claim 3, wherein a plurality of lower surface holders are further provided to contact the lower surface of the substrate for regulating a height position of the substrate (lower surface holders 95a, see Fig. 11, paragraph [0222]).
14. A substrate treating apparatus (Fig. 1) comprising: the substrate holding device according to claim 1; and a substrate transport unit (paragraph [0233]-[0234], “substrate transport robot”) for transporting the substrate to and from the substrate holding device, wherein the pushing member pushes the substrate in a direction apart from the rotating position regulator to align the substrate with the substrate transport unit (paragraph [0252] discloses the substrate transport robot removes the substrate after the entire process which includes having pushing member B engaged the substrate such that the substrate is pushed towards a position that is still aligned with the substrate transport unit).
15. A substrate treating apparatus comprising: the substrate holding device according to claim 2; and a substrate transport unit for transporting the substrate to and from the substrate holding device, wherein the pushing member pushes the substrate in a direction apart from the rotating position regulator to align the substrate with the substrate transport unit (paragraph [0252] discloses the substrate transport robot removes the substrate after the entire process which includes having pushing member B engaged the substrate such that the substrate is pushed towards a position that is still aligned with the substrate transport unit).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Furuya (US 9454080), Goodman et al. (US 9421617), Lin et al. (US 10658221), all disclose pertinent substrate holder systems
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Dustin T Nguyen whose telephone number is (571)270-0163. The examiner can normally be reached M - F: 8:00am - 4:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nathaniel E. Wiehe can be reached at (571) 272-8648. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUSTIN T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3745 September 23, 2026
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