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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of species A/fig. 2 in the reply filed on 3/13/26 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not make any argument or traverse the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). Claims 11-20 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Upon further review, it was found that claim 4 is directed to non-elected species B/fig. 5 and claims 6-9 directed to non-elected species C/fig. 8, and are also withdrawn. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/13/26.
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, 2, 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Tien (US 5997589).
Regarding claim 1. Tien teaches in the drawings a plasma processing apparatus (semiconductor fabrication chamber 51, col 5:48-67 which performs plasma processing, abstract, col 2:24-67, 3:1-60) comprising: a substrate chuck (ES chuck 57, col. 5:58-67) in a chamber (fig. 6, 57 inside the chamber space 53/54 of chamber 51, col 58-67); a restriction ring (baffle plate/member 52, shown in figs. 4ab, 5a-c as 30 and 40 with ring components 31/32 and 41/42, col. 6:1-15, with small flow openings, such as 44 in ring 41 and side cutouts in 31/32, that restrict pressure/create pressure differences col. 3:1-60) surrounding an outer perimeter of the substrate chuck (fig. 1-6, baffle ring 52 surrounds the chuck 57, similar to 12 and 17 in fig. 1, 2); a movable ring (fig. 4ab, either baffle ring plates 31/32 of 30 is rotatable, col. 5:37-47; fig. 5a-c, rotatable baffle ring 42, col 5:48-57) on the restriction ring (fig. 4ab, since the overlapped 31/32 are both rotatable, there is a rotatable overlapping ring, which appears to be 32/solid line, on the overlapped ring, which appears to be 31/dotted outline; similarly, fig. 5a-c col. 5:48-57, there is a rotating ring 42 on the lower side of fixed restriction/perforated plate 41); and an actuator (CPU 26, fig. 7, col. 6:25-42, which actuates/moves the baffle plates to adjust their flow openings) configured to move the movable ring, wherein grooves formed in the restriction ring are opened or closed by movement of the movable ring (as discussed, CPU controls the baffle plate opening size via adjusting the openings smaller or larger/i.e. closing and opening motions, which is done via control of the rotation of the at least one movable ring, fig. 4a, 5a, col. 5:37-57, col. 6:25-42, his claims 1-7).
Regarding claim 2. Tien teaches the plasma processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the movable ring has a ring shape (as discussed) extending along a side surface of the substrate chuck (fig. 4-5, each ring 31/32 and 42 is circular and matching in shape and follows/extends along the lower edge of 17/57. Fig. 1-2, 4-6) and comprises radial straight grooves (fig. 4ab 5a-c 31/32 having wide radial cutouts/grooves and 42 also having smaller radial cutouts) disposed at an interval (fig. 4, 5, showing the grooves are equally spread around each movable ring at equal intervals).
Regarding claim 5. Tien teaches the plasma processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the actuator is configured to rotate the movable ring (as prev discussed) to adjust an open-close ratio of a lower surface of the restriction ring covered by the movable ring (eg fig. 5a the opening amount/open-close ratio of 41’s lower surface where its holes 44 are located, is controlled by rotation of 42, as prev discussed, wherein the lower surface of 41 is covered by 42/dotted line).
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tien (US 5997589) in view of Moon (US 20050224179).
Regarding claim 3. Tien teaches the plasma processing apparatus of claim 2, but does not teach wherein the interval is between about 0.1 cm to about 2 cm. However, Moon teaches in [6] that the distance between the openings/slots affects the processing efficiency and manufacturing cost, and thus is a result effective parameter. It would be obvious to those skilled in the art at the time of invention to optimize the interval/distance between openings/slots to control the processing efficiency and manufacturing cost. For optimization of result effective parameter, see MPEP 2144.05.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tien (US 5997589) in view of Wu (US 20050031796).
Regarding claim 10. Tien teaches the plasma processing apparatus of claim 1, but does not teach further comprising: a sensor configured to sense plasma distribution inside the chamber; and a plasma generator configured to control an amount of plasma introduced into the chamber, based on a result sensed by the sensor. However Wu teaches in the abstract a sensor (sensors) configured to sense plasma distribution inside the chamber ([38, abstract]); and a plasma generator ([26-29] RF power source 44 generating high density plasma field) configured to control an amount of plasma introduced into the chamber (controls the amount of high density plasma introduced into the lower portion of the chamber/near wafer [29]), based on a result sensed by the sensor ([26-29] the output of 44 controlled via capacitors in response to the sensing). It would be obvious to those skilled in the art at the time of the invention to modify Tien to maintain spatial uniformity of plasma [abstract 7 8 24 31].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YUECHUAN YU whose telephone number is (571)272-7190. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/YUECHUAN YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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