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 .
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 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.
Elections/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species A, drawn to claims 1-3 in the
reply filed on 03/27/2026, is acknowledged.
Claims 4-7 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as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. Election
was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/27/2026
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 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiroki (US 20150377571).
Regarding Claim 1:
Hiroki teaches a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a processing chamber (processing vessel 52); a substrate support stage (stage ST) that is disposed in the processing chamber, includes an upper surface that supports a substrate placed thereon and a lower surface on a side opposite to the upper surface (as evidenced by Fig. 1, the stage ST comprises upper and lower surfaces),
and provides at least one recess (recess portions 82) that opens downward; at least one supply pipe (first pipes 22) that includes an opening end (opened ends 22a) that opens upward in the at least one recess and is configured to supply a heat transfer medium to the at least one recess (each of the first pipes 22 ejects the heat exchange medium through the first opened end 22a); at least one partition (partition walls 20) that forms at least one space including the at least one recess together with the substrate support stage (the partition walls 20 include the respective spaces S which are two-dimensionally arranged and mutually non-inclusive regions below the plate 2); at least one collection pipe (second pipes 24) that is configured to collect the heat transfer medium from the at least one space (the second pipes 24 serve as pipes which outwardly discharge the heat exchange medium ejected from the first opened ends 22a of the first pipes 22); at least one flow rate adjusting valve (flow rate controllers FC) that is connected to the at least one supply pipe; and a controller (control unit Cnt) that is configured to control the at least one flow rate adjusting valve to adjust a flow rate of the heat transfer medium supplied to the at least one supply pipe (a flow rate controller FC may be a valve installed between a first pipe line 40a and a supply flow path 26a and can be used to control the flow rates of the heat exchange medium) [Fig. 1, 7, 10, 11 & 0032, 0036, 0038, 0069, 0088, 0101].
Regarding Claim 2:
Hiroki teaches wherein the substrate support stage provides a plurality of recesses (recess portions 82) as the at least one recess, and includes a plurality of zones (zones Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4 and Z5), each including one or more of the plurality of recesses (the recess portions 82 correspond to each of the first pipes 22), the substrate processing apparatus includes a plurality of supply pipes (first pipes 22) as the at least one supply pipe, the opening end of each of the plurality of supply pipes is disposed in a corresponding recess among the plurality of recesses (as evidenced by Fig. 10, each of the first pipes 22 comprises a first opened end 22a that is disposed within the recess portions 82), the substrate processing apparatus includes, as the at least one partition, a plurality of partitions (partition walls 20) that form a plurality of spaces respectively including the plurality of recesses, together with the substrate support stage (the partition walls 20 include the respective spaces S which are two-dimensionally arranged and mutually non-inclusive regions below the plate 2), the substrate processing apparatus includes, as the at least one collection pipe, a plurality of collection pipes (second pipes 24) respectively connected to the plurality of spaces, the substrate processing apparatus includes a plurality of flow rate adjusting valves (the flow rate controllers FC may be valves installed between the first pipe lines 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d and 40e and the supply flow paths 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d and 26e) as the at least one flow rate adjusting valve, the substrate processing apparatus further comprises: a plurality of common supply pipes (supply flow paths 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d, and 26e, each connected to one or more supply pipes for a corresponding zone of the substrate support stage (the supply flow path 26a is used as a flow path for supplying the heat exchange medium introduced through the first opening 16a to the first pipes 22 arranged within the zone Z1 of the heat exchanger 6), among the plurality of supply pipes through a corresponding flow rate adjusting valve among the plurality of flow rate adjusting valves (the flow rate controllers FC may be valves installed between the first pipe lines 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d and 40e and the supply flow paths 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d and 26e); and a plurality of common collection pipes (recovery flow paths 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d and 28e), each connected to one or more collection pipes for a corresponding zone of the substrate support stage, among the plurality of collection pipes (the recovery flow paths 28a, 28b, 28c, 28d and 28e recovers discharged heat exchange medium from the openings 24a of the second pipes 24) [Fig. 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 & 0036, 0040-0043, 0066, 0069, 0088, 0101].
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.
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.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiroki (US 20150377571), as applied to claims 1-2 above, and further in view of Jung et al. (US 20210151300), with Criminale et al. (US 20160148822) as an evidentiary reference.
The limitations of claims 1-2 have been set forth above.
Regarding Claim 1:
Hiroki teaches a common supply line connected to the plurality of common supply pipes (the common supply line is shown in the annotated drawings below); a common collection line connected to the plurality of common collection pipes (the common collection line is shown in the annotated drawings below; wherein each of the plurality of flow rate adjusting valves is configured to adjust the flow rate of the heat transfer medium supplied to the one or more supply pipes for the corresponding zone of the substrate support stage, among the plurality of supply pipes by adjusting an opening degree thereof (a flow rate controller FC may be a valve installed between a first pipe line 40a and a supply flow path 26a and can be used to control the flow rates of the heat exchange medium), and the controller is configured to control the opening degree of each of the plurality of flow rate adjusting valves (the flow rate controllers FC may be needle valves and may be controlled to control the flow of heat exchange medium) [Fig. 11 & 0052, 0074, 0087, 0101].
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Hiroki does not specifically disclose a bypass flow rate adjusting valve connected between the common supply line and the common collection line, cand the controller is configured to control an opening degree of the bypass flow rate adjusting valve.
Jung teaches a bypass flow rate adjusting valve (valve 230) connected between the common supply line and the common collection line, and the controller is configured to control an opening degree of the bypass flow rate adjusting valve (the cooler 200 may adjust the flow rate of the cooling fluid via the heat exchanger 211 and the flow rate of the cooling fluid via the heater 220 through the three-way valve 230) [Fig. 3 & 0054, 0056].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the apparatus of Hiroki to have a bypass flow rate adjusting valve directly between the common supply line and the common collection line, as in Jung, to provide more control over heat exchange medium temperature [Jung - 0058]. Criminale et al. (US 20160148822) also discloses that heat exchange bypasses would be beneficial to smoothen flow rates [Criminale - 0036].
It is noted that the combination of references discloses a bypass valve with an opening degree that is controlled to change flow rates. As such, the intended result of “to maintain a total flow rate of the heat transfer medium supplied to the plurality of common supply pipes and the heat transfer medium bypassed to the common collection line from the common supply line,” would be performed. The court noted that a "‘whereby clause in a method claim is not given weight when it simply expresses the intended result of a process step positively recited.’" Id. (quoting Minton v. Nat’l Ass’n of Securities Dealers, Inc., 336 F.3d 1373, 1381, 67 USPQ2d 1614, 1620 (Fed. Cir. 2003)). In summary, modifying the common collection line and common supply line to have the bypass valve of Jung would disclose the intended result since the bypass valve of Jung can be controlled to control flow rates between two different lines.
Furthermore, although taught by the cited prior art the limitations “wherein each of the plurality of flow rate adjusting valves is configured to adjust the flow rate of the heat transfer medium supplied to the one or more supply pipes for the corresponding zone of the substrate support stage, among the plurality of supply pipes by adjusting an opening degree thereof,” are merely intended use and are given weight to the extent that the prior art is capable of performing the intended use. A claim containing a “recitation with respect to the manner in which a claimed apparatus is intended to be employed does not differentiate the claimed apparatus from a prior art apparatus” if the prior art apparatus teaches all the structural limitations of the claim. Ex parte Masham, 2 USPQ2d 1647 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1987).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s
disclosure. Tandou et al. (US 20100126666), Silveira et al. (US 20170323813), and West et al. (US 20150232983) teach substrate supports with heat exchangers [Tandou – Fig. 1A; Silveira – Fig. 7; West – Fig. 2]
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSHUA NATHANIEL PINEDA REYES whose telephone number is (571)272-4693. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 AM to 4:30 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Gordon Baldwin can be reached at (571) 272-5166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J.R./Examiner, Art Unit 1718 /GORDON BALDWIN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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