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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 8, 10, 13, 17-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiromitsu (KR 20120058592) in view of in view of Yamaguchi (KR 20180010250).
Regarding claims 1, 19, and 20, Hiromitsu discloses a substrate processing apparatus (processing system 2) comprising: a load lock chamber (load lock devices 8 and 10) into which a substrate is loaded and from which the substrate is unloaded (one or a plurality of small capacity load lock devices capable of selectively realizing a vacuum atmosphere state and an atmospheric pressure atmosphere state are connected to a common transfer chamber. Then, for loading and unloading the semiconductor wafer between the common transport chamber in the vacuum atmosphere and the external atmosphere at approximately atmospheric pressure,);
a substrate support (support means 50) provided in the load lock chamber and configured to support a plurality of substrates (W) comprising the substrate in a multistage manner (For example, the support means 50 which has the support part 52 which supports the semiconductor wafer W over multiple stages is provided, and it respond I corresponds to the support part 52 in order to inject gas for atmospheric pressure return as a cooling gas.) with a predetermined interval therebetween; and
a temperature sensor (temperature measuring means 98) capable of measuring a temperature of the substrate support in a non-contact manner while the plurality of substrates are supported by the substrate support (Further, the opening operation of the gate valve G between the load lock container 34 and the waiting room is restricted based on the temperature measuring means 98 provided on the support 52 and the measured value of the temperature measuring means 98).
Hiromitsu does not disclose the temperature sensor is provided outside of the load lock chamber.
Yamaguchi, however, discloses a temperature sensor(Fig. 11, 263: non-contact type temperature detector) provided outside of the load lock chamber (201) to measure the temperature of the substrate. The temperature measurement may be performed by using a thermocouple (thermocouple) or by using a thermocouple and a radiation thermometer in addition to the radiation thermometer described above. However, when the temperature measurement is performed using the thermocouple, it is necessary to perform the temperature measurement in the vicinity of the process wafer 200 in order to improve the temperature measurement accuracy of the thermocouple. Therefore, It is preferable that the radiation thermometer is used as the temperature sensor 263. Further, the temperature sensor 263 is not limited to being provided on the cap flange 104, but may be provided on the mounting table 210. With this structure, it is possible to use a reaction tube in which the upper end is closed, and it is possible to reduce the possibility of leakage of the microwave, the processing gas, and the like supplied to the processing chamber 201. The temperature sensor 263 is installed not only directly on the cap flange 104 or the mount table 210 but also indirectly by reflecting the radiation from the measurement window provided on the cap flange 104 or the mount table 210 with a mirror or the like measurement may be performed. With this configuration, it is possible to relax the restriction on the place where the temperature sensor 263 is installed. Yamaguchi further discloses the controller 121 which is a control unit (control means) includes a CPU 121a (Central Processing Unit), a RAM 121b (Random Access Memory), a storage device 121c, an I / O port 121d As shown in Fig. The RAM 121b, the storage device 121c and the I / O port 121d are configured to exchange data with the CPU 121a via an internal bus 121e. The controller 121 is connected to an input / output device 122 configured as, for example, a touch panel. The storage device 121c is composed of, for example, a flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD), or the like. In the storage device 121c, a control program for controlling the operation of the substrate processing apparatus and an etching recipe or a process recipe describing the order and condition of the etching process and the film forming process of the nozzle, which will be described later, are readable. The etching recipe and the process recipe are combined so as to obtain predetermined results by executing the respective steps in the substrate processing step to be described later on the controller 121 and function as a program. Hereinafter, the process recipe, the control program, and the like are collectively referred to simply as a program. The etching recipe and process recipe are also simply referred to as recipe. When the word "program" is used in this specification, there may be a case where only a recipe group is included, a case where only a control program group is included, or both of them are included. The RAM 121b is configured as a memory area (work area) in which programs and data read by the CPU 121a are temporarily held.
The I / O port 121d is connected to the MFCs 241a to 241d, the valves 243a to 243d, the pressure sensor 245, the APC valve 244, the vacuum pump 246, the temperature sensor 263, A microwave oscillator 265, a microwave oscillator 655, and the like. The CPU 121a is configured to read and execute the control program from the storage device 121c and to read the recipe from the storage device 121c in response to input of an operation command from the input / output device 122. [ The CPU 121a controls the flow of various gases by the MFCs 241a to 241d to follow the contents of the read recipe, the opening and closing operations of the valves 243a to 243d, the opening and closing operations of the APC valve 244, 245, the start and stop of the vacuum pump 246, the output adjustment operation of the microwave oscillator based on the temperature sensor 263, the adjustment by the drive mechanism 267, (Or the boat 217), or an elevating operation or the like of the boat 210 (or the boat 217). The controller 121 is connected to the external storage device 123 (e.g., a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk such as a flexible disk or a hard disk, an optical disk such as a CD or a DVD, a magneto- Or a semiconductor memory such as a memory card) installed in the computer. The storage device 121c and the external storage device 123 are configured as a computer-readable recording medium. Hereinafter, they are collectively referred to simply as a recording medium. In the present specification, the word "recording medium" includes only the storage device 121c alone, or includes only the external storage device 123, or both. The program may be provided to the computer by using a communication means such as the Internet or a dedicated line without using the external storage device 123.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the temperature sensor of Yamaguchi with temperature sensor of Hiromitsu for the purpose of using a load lock chamber with less restriction of the location of temperature sensor.
Regarding claim 2, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a controller (121 in Fig. 11 of Yamaguchi) configured to be capable of obtaining a temperature of the substrate based on the temperature of the substrate support measured by the temperature sensor (The controller 121 is connected to a heat insulating plate 101a or 101b housed in the process chamber 201 or a temperature sensor 263 for measuring the temperature of the wafer 200.).
Regarding claim 8, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
an elevation driver (267 in Fig. 1) configured to elevate or lower the substrate support along a direction in which the plurality of substrates (200) are stacked in the multistage manner (Fig. 1); and
a controller (121) configured to be capable of acquiring the temperature of the substrate support measured by the temperature sensor(263) and capable of controlling the elevation driver to perform an elevation operation of elevating or lowering the substrate support, wherein the substrate support is provided with a vertical surface extending in a direction perpendicular to a surface of the substrate supported by the substrate support, and wherein the controller is further configured to be capable of controlling the elevation driver to perform the elevation operation while the plurality of substrates are supported by the substrate support such that relative positions of the vertical surface and the temperature sensor in an elevation direction of the substrate support are capable of being changed in a state where a temperature measurement range of the temperature sensor lies within the vertical surface, and capable of controlling the temperature sensor to measure temperatures at a plurality of measurement positions on the vertical surface (The controller 121 is connected to a heat insulating plate 101a or 101b housed in the process chamber 201 or a temperature sensor 263 for measuring the temperature of the wafer 200. [ The temperature sensor 263 measures the temperature of the heat insulating plate 101a or 101b or the wafer 200 and transmits the measured temperature to the controller 121. The controller 121 controls the output of the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 Thereby controlling the heating of the wafer 200. Here, the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 are controlled by the same control signal transmitted from the controller 121. [ However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration, and the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 may be configured so as to individually control the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2 by transmitting individual control signals from the controller 121 to the microwave oscillators 655-1 and 655-2, respectively Maybe.).
Regarding claim 10, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller (121) is further configured to be capable of controlling the elevation driver such that the temperature sensor measures the temperatures at the plurality of measurement positions on the vertical surface a plurality number of times by continuously moving the substrate support upward and downward at least once in the elevation operation (The CPU 121a is configured to read and execute the control program from the storage device 121c and to read the recipe from the storage device 121c in response to input of an operation command from the input / output device 122. [ The CPU 121a controls the flow of various gases by the MFCs 241a to 241d to follow the contents of the read recipe, the opening and closing operations of the valves 243a to 243d, the opening and closing operations of the APC valve 244, 245, the start and stop of the vacuum pump 246, the output adjustment operation of the microwave oscillator based on the temperature sensor 263, the adjustment by the drive mechanism 267, (Or the boat 217), or an elevating operation or the like of the boat 210 (or the boat 217).
Regarding claim 13, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 8, further comprising: an inert gas supplier (232, 241) configured to supply an inert gas into the load lock chamber, wherein the controller is further configured to be capable of controlling the inert gas supplier to supply the inert gas and capable of increasing an inner pressure of the load lock chamber by supplying the inert gas into the load lock chamber where the substrate is loaded (The I / O port 121d is connected to the MFCs 241a to 241d, the valves 243a to 243d, the pressure sensor 245, the APC valve 244, the vacuum pump 246, the temperature sensor 263, A microwave oscillator 265, a microwave oscillator 655, and the like.).
Regarding claims 17 and 23, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claims 1 and 17, further comprising:
an atmospheric transfer chamber (12) connected to a first portion of the load lock chamber (8 and 10);
a vacuum transfer chamber (vacuum conveyance chamber 6) connected to a second portion of the load lock chamber; an atmospheric transfer structure provided in the atmospheric transfer chamber and configured to be capable of transferring the substrate between the atmospheric transfer chamber and the load lock chamber;
a vacuum transfer structure provided in the vacuum transfer chamber and configured to be capable of transferring the substrate between the vacuum transfer chamber and the load lock chamber; and
a controller configured to be capable of controlling a transfer operation of the atmospheric transfer structure and a transfer operation of the vacuum transfer structure so as to change a path for transferring the substrate between the atmospheric transfer chamber and the vacuum transfer chamber via a first load lock chamber among a plurality of load lock chambers comprising the load lock chamber or a second load lock chamber among the plurality of load lock chambers based on a temperature measured by the temperature sensor provided in the first load lock chamber and a temperature measured by the temperature sensor provided in the second load lock chamber (The positioning semiconductor wafer W is conveyed again by the atmospheric conveyance mechanism 24, and is carried in the load lock apparatus of either the 1st or 2nd load lock apparatuses 8 and 10. FIG. The four semiconductor wafers W are supported by the support means 50 in a load lock apparatus by repeating the conveyance operation of the semiconductor wafer W as mentioned above four times. Then, after evacuating the inside of the load lock device 8 or 10, the unprocessed inside the load lock device 8 or 10 is utilized by using the vacuum conveyance mechanism 16 in the vacuum conveyance chamber 6 which has been evacuated beforehand. The semiconductor wafer W is accommodated in the vacuum transfer chamber 6.).
Regarding claim 18, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 17, wherein the controller is further configured to be capable of changing a frequency of loading the substrate from the vacuum transfer chamber to the first load lock chamber and a frequency of loading the substrate from the vacuum transfer chamber to the second load lock chamber such that the temperature of the substrate support measured by the temperature sensor provided in the first load lock chamber and the temperature of the substrate support measured by the temperature sensor provided in the second load lock chamber get close to each other (The positioning semiconductor wafer W is conveyed again by the atmospheric conveyance mechanism 24, and is carried in the loadlock apparatus of either the 1st or 2nd loadlock apparatuses 8 and 10. FIG. The four semiconductor wafers W are supported by the support means 50 in a load lock apparatus by repeating the conveyance operation of the semiconductor wafer W as mentioned above four times. Then, after evacuating the inside of the loadlock device 8 or 10, the unprocessed inside the loadlock device 8 or 10 is utilized by using the vacuum conveyance mechanism 16 in the vacuum conveyance chamber 6 which has been evacuated beforehand. The semiconductor wafer W is accommodated in the vacuum transfer chamber 6.).
Regarding claim 21, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller (121) is further configured to be capable of controlling the elevation driver (267) such that the substrate support is elevated from an initial position and then lowered back to the initial position.
Regarding claim 22, Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 8, wherein the controller (121) is further configured to be capable of controlling the elevation driver (267) and the temperature sensor (263) such that, when the substrate support is elevated or lowered, the temperature of the substrate is measured at the same position on the vertical surface when the substrate support is elevated and when the substrate support is lowered.
Claims 3-7, 9, 11, 12, and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiromitsu (KR 20120058592) in view of Yamaguchi (KR 20180010205) and further in view of Kobayashi et al. (KR 100270458).
Regarding claims 3, 4, 11, 12, 14-16, the teachings of Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi has been discussed above.
Hiromitsu in view of Yamaguchi does not fairly disclose an infrared transmittance of the vertical surface is set to be lower than an infrared transmittance of the substrate.
Kobayashi, however, discloses a non-contact thermometer 34 which measures the
temperature of the substrate 10 on the cooling stage 33 by non-contact. Radiation thermometers,
such as thermopile thermometers, are used as appropriate. In addition, the measurement data of
the non-contact thermometer (34) is sent to the control part (7) which controls the operation
movement of the whole apparatus. Furthermore, keeping the area of the substrate contact surface
of the cooling area larger improves cooling efficiency, allowing cooling to a predetermined
temperature in a short time and improving productivity.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the
effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the temperature measuring means of
Hiromitsu/Yamaguchi with radiation thermometers as taught by Kobayashi for the purpose of improving productivity by shortening the cooling time.
Regarding claims 5-7 and 9, Hiromitsu/Yamaguchi in view of Kobayashi discloses limitations as recited in claims 4 and 8 with an exception of a rotation driver.
Regarding claim 5, Hiromitsu/Yamaguchi in view of Kobayashi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 4, further comprising: a rotation driver (267, Yamaguchi) configured to rotate the substrate support about an axis extending along a direction in which the plurality of substrates are stacked in the multistage manner; and a controller (121) configured to be capable of controlling the rotation driver to perform a rotation operation of rotating the substrate support up to an angle at which the vertical surface faces the temperature sensor (263) while the plurality of substrates are supported by the substrate support.
Regarding claim 6, Hiromitsu/Yamaguchi in view of Kobayashi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the controller (121) is further configured to be capable of acquiring the temperature of the substrate support measured by the temperature sensor (263) after the rotation operation is performed.
Regarding claim 7, Hiromitsu/Yamaguchi in view of Kobayashi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the controller (121) is further configured to be capable of rotating the substrate support in the rotation operation such that an entirety of a temperature measurement range of the temperature sensor lies within the vertical surface when acquiring the temperature of the substrate support measured by the temperature sensor (263).
Regarding claim 9, Hiromitsu/Yamaguchi in view of Kobayashi discloses the substrate processing apparatus of claim 8,further comprising: a rotation driver (267) configured to rotate the substrate support about an axis extending along a direction in which the plurality of substrates are stacked in the multistage manner (Fig. 1), wherein the controller (121) is further configured to be capable of controlling the rotation driver to perform a rotation operation of rotating the substrate support up to an angle at which the vertical surface faces the temperature sensor while the plurality of substrates are supported by the substrate support and then controlling the elevation driver to perform the elevation operation such that the temperature sensor measures the temperatures at the plurality of measurement positions on the vertical surface (The CPU 121a controls the flow of various gases by the MFCs 241a to 241d to follow the contents of the read recipe, the opening and closing operations of the valves 243a to 243d, the opening and closing operations of the APC valve 244, 245, the start and stop of the vacuum pump 246, the output adjustment operation of the microwave oscillator based on the temperature sensor 263, the adjustment by the drive mechanism 267, (Or the boat 217), or an elevating operation or the like of the boat 210 (or the boat 217).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12/18/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant amended claims to include a temperature sensor provided outside of the load lock chamber in independent claims 1, 19, and 20. However, Yamaguchi reference discloses a non-contact type temperature sensor (263) provided outside of the load lock chamber to measure the temperature of the substrate. In view of above discussion, claims 1-23 remain rejected.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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STEVEN S. PAIK
Supervisory Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2876
/STEVEN S PAIK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2876
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