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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/13/2024, 03/21/2024, and 09/25/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it should avoid using phases which can be implied, such as, “This disclosure concerns”, “The disclosure defined by this invention”, “This disclosure describes”, “is disclosed”, “are disclosed”, “the invention relates to” etc. Correction is required. See MPEP 608.01 (b).
In this case, the present Abstract filed on 01/31/2024, contain the phrase “The present invention relates to” should avoid.
Additionally, the term “a step S10 of” and the term “a step S20 of” as cited in lines 3 and 5, should be removed.
Furthermore, the term “an ESC electrode” as cited in line 5, should be changed to “an electrostatic chuck (ESC) electrode”.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every features of the invention specified in the claims. No new matter should be entered.
In claim 1, the limitation "a metal layer by depositing metal on a lower portion of a base" as cited in line 2, must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s).
The present Drawing, fig.2, filed on 01/31/2024, shows a metal layer 3, is located on the top surface of a base 1.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). 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.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-7 are objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 1:
The term “a step S10 of” in line 2, and the term “a step S20 of” in line 4, should be removed; and
The limitation “an ESC electrode” in line 3, should be changed to “An electrostatic chuck (ESC) electrode”
In claim 2: the term “a step S5 of” in line 1, and the term “before the step S10” in line 3, should be removed.
In claim 3: the term “step S30” in line 1, the term “a step S301 of” in lines 1-2, the term “a step S302 of” in line 4, and the term “after the step S20” in line 6, should be removed.
In claim 4: the term “a step S25 of” in line 1, and the term “before the step S30” in line 2, should be removed.
In claim 5: the term “in the step S20” in line 3, should be removed.
In claim 6:
The term “in the step S5” in line 1, and the term “after the step S5” in line 5, should be removed; and
The phrase “an ESC electrode forming step” in line 3, should be changed to “the ESC electrode forming step”.
In claim 7: the term “step S30” in line 2, the term “a step S301 of” in line 2, the term “a step S302 for” in lines 4-5, the term “a step S303 of” in line 6, the term “after the step S20” in line 8, the term “step S40” in line 9, and the term “step S30” in line 10, should be removed.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
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 1-3 and 5-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nasu et al. (US 20160099163 A1) in view of Singh (US 20120115254 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Nasu discloses
A method for manufacturing an electrostatic chuck (electrostatic chuck 1, fig.1) [semiconductor manufacturing equipment component method, tittle], the method comprising:
forming a metal layer (heating element 41, attraction electrode 21, and body substrate 11, fig.1) by depositing metal on a lower portion of a base (body substrate 11, fig.1) containing a ceramic material [Par.0051 cited “…body substrate 11 made of a ceramic…”] and provided with an electrode (attraction electrode 21, fig.1) at an upper portion thereof; and
forming a heater electrode (heating element 41, fig.1) by forming a pattern on the metal layer (heating element 41, attraction electrode 21, and body substrate 11) using a photolithography process [Par.0011 cited: “…photosensitive metal paste heating element material) is formed to have a desired pattern by using photolithography…”].
However, Nasu does not disclose an ESC electrode.
Sigh discloses a method for manufacturing a semiconductor (heating plate with planar heater zones for semiconductor processing, tittle) comprises an ESC electrode [Par.0004 cited: “…substrate support assembly also comprising an electrostatic chuck (ESC)…”].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to replace an electrode of Nasu, by using an ESC electrode, as taught by Sigh, in order to provide an excellent substrate support assembly.
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Regarding claim 2, Nasu discloses
manufacturing the base (body substrate 11, fig.1) by applying pressure to a material for sintering containing the ceramic material [Par.0051 cited “…body substrate 11 made of a ceramic…”, Par.0054 cited: “…ceramic layers are each made of a sintered compact that is mainly composed of alumina …”] at a temperature of 1000° C. or higher [Par.0085 cited: “…aluminum nitride is used as the ceramic material, in step 8, the stacked sheet is co-fired in reducing atmosphere for 5 hours at a temperature in the range of 1600 to 2000° C…”].
Regarding claim 3, Nasu discloses
a sintering [Par.0054 cited: “…ceramic layers are each made of a sintered compact that is mainly composed of alumina …”] comprising: placing an intermediate product (semiconductor wafer 8, fig.1) at an upper portion of a material for sintering containing the ceramic material, the intermediate product (semiconductor wafer 8) comprising the base (body substrate 11, fig.1) and the heater electrode (heating element 41, fig.1) provided at the lower portion of the base (body substrate 11); and sintering the material for sintering and the intermediate product (semiconductor wafer 8) placed at the upper portion of the material for sintering by applying pressure [Par.0054 cited: “…ceramic layers are each made of a sintered compact that is mainly composed of alumina …”] at a temperature of 1000° C. or higher [Par.0085 cited: “…aluminum nitride is used as the ceramic material, in step 8, the stacked sheet is co-fired in reducing atmosphere for 5 hours at a temperature in the range of 1600 to 2000° C…”].
Regarding claim 5, Nasu discloses
the heater electrode (heating element 41, fig.1) comprises: a contacting part (vias 42, 43, fig.1); and a connecting part (drivers 44, 45, fig.1) connected to the contacting part (vias 42, 43) having a width smaller than that of the contacting part (vias 42, 43).
Regarding claim 6, Nasu discloses
the base (body substrate 11, fig.1) manufactured is provided with a cave-in groove at an the upper portion thereof [Par.0069 cited: “…plurality of cooling openings (not shown) and an annular cooling groove (not shown) are formed in the upper surface 111 (attraction surface) of the body substrate 11…”], and further comprising the electrode (attraction electrode 21, fig.1) forming step comprising: a filling step for filling the cave-in groove of the base (attraction electrode 21, fig.1) with a conductive paste (vias 42, 43, fig.1); and an installation step for installing the electrode (attraction electrode 21) at the upper portion of the base (body substrate 11) but does not disclose an ESC electrode.
Regarding claim 7, Nasu discloses
a sintering [Par.0054 cited: “…ceramic layers are each made of a sintered compact that is mainly composed of alumina …”] comprising: of placing an intermediate product (semiconductor wafer 8, fig.1) at an upper portion of the material for sintering containing the ceramic material, the intermediate product (semiconductor wafer 8) comprising the base (body substrate 11, fig.1) and the heater electrode (heating element 41, fig.1) provided at the lower portion of the base (body substrate 11); placing the material for sintering containing the ceramic material at the upper portion of the intermediate product (semiconductor wafer 8) provided with the electrode (attraction electrode 21, fig.1); and sintering the material for sintering and the intermediate product (semiconductor wafer 8) placed at the upper portion of the material for sintering by applying pressure at a temperature of 1000° C. or higher [Par.0085 cited: “…aluminum nitride is used as the ceramic material, in step 8, the stacked sheet is co-fired in reducing atmosphere for 5 hours at a temperature in the range of 1600 to 2000° C…”]; and a perforation of perforating the lower portion of an insulator (cooling groove, Par.0069) manufactured by sintering the material for sintering and the base (body substrate 11) in the sintering to form an insert groove [Par.0069 cited: “…plurality of cooling openings (not shown) and an annular cooling groove (not shown) are formed in the upper surface 111 (attraction surface) of the body substrate 11…”] extending from a lower portion of the insulator (cooling groove, Par.0069) to the conductive paste (vias 42, 43, fig.1), but does not disclose an ESC electrode.
Sigh discloses a method for manufacturing a semiconductor (heating plate with planar heater zones for semiconductor processing, tittle) comprises an ESC electrode [Par.0004 cited: “…substrate support assembly also comprising an electrostatic chuck (ESC)…”].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to replace an electrode of Nasu, by using an ESC electrode, as taught by Sigh, in order to provide an excellent substrate support assembly.
Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nasu et al. (US 20160099163 A1) in view of Singh (US 20120115254 A1) further in view of Chang (US 4169369).
Regarding claim 4, Nasu discloses substantially all the features as set forth above but does not explicitly disclose measuring a resistance of the heater electrode by connecting an ohmmeter to the heater electrode.
Change discloses the step of measuring a resistance of the heater electrode by connecting an ohmmeter to the heater electrode [Col.5, lines 47-49 cited: “…measuring the resistance of the tin oxide thin film 12 using electrodes 18 and ohmmeter 20 …”].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the heater electrode of Nasu, to measure a resistance of the heater electrode by connecting an ohmmeter to the heater electrode, as taught by Chang, in order to control an amount of heat.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Kitagawa et al. (US 20020023914 A1) is considered as a relevant prior art in field of a heating apparatus, as shown in fig.1, with a ceramic sintered body, an electrode plate is formed from a metal, and an electrode, but does not disclose an electrostatic chuck (ESC)…
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PHUONG T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1834. The examiner can normally be reached 9.00am-5.00pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Steven Crabb can be reached on 571-270-5095. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PHUONG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
07/13/2026
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