Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 18/474,738

FLUIDIC BAFFLE FOR HIGH PRESSURE FLUID DISTRIBUTION AND SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 26, 2023
Examiner
YUEN, JESSICA JIPING
Art Unit
3762
Tech Center
3700 — Mechanical Engineering & Manufacturing
Assignee
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
60%
Grant Probability
Moderate
1-2
OA Rounds
3y 7m
To Grant
82%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 60% of resolved cases
60%
Career Allow Rate
663 granted / 1108 resolved
-10.2% vs TC avg
Strong +22% interview lift
Without
With
+21.7%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 7m
Avg Prosecution
30 currently pending
Career history
1138
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
0.4%
-39.6% vs TC avg
§103
48.4%
+8.4% vs TC avg
§102
19.9%
-20.1% vs TC avg
§112
26.2%
-13.8% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1108 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
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 § 102 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 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. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim s 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Rasheed et al. (US 20160312360 A1) . Rasheed et al. discloses a substrate processing apparatus, comprising: a chamber 100 configured to provide a space (see reproduced Fig. 1 below) for processing a substrate 110 (Fig. 1) ; a substrate support 112 configured to support the substrate 110 in the chamber (Fig. 1) ; an upper supply port 134 (Fig. 1) provided in an upper portion of the chamber 100 and configured to supply a supercritical fluid on an upper surface of the substrate 110 ; a recess 164 provided in an upper wall (see reproduced Fig. 1 below) of the chamber 100 , the recess having a diffuser shape whose diameter gradually increases from an outlet (see reproduced Fig. 1 below) of the upper supply port 134 (Fig. 1) ; and a fluidic baffle 125 disposed in the recess between the upper supply port 134 and the substrate 110 (Fig. 1) , the fluidic baffle 125 including unit cells 126 (Figs. 2-3) repeatedly arranged in a space with same phases and geometric sizes and in fluid communication with each other (Figs. 1-3) . W herein the fluidic baffle 125 is spaced apart from an inner wall (see reproduced Fig. 1 below) of the recess by at least 0.2 mm (Figs. 1-3) . As for the limitations, “an upper supply port … configured to supply a supercritical fluid” in lines 4-5 of claim 1, it is viewed as functional or intended use limitations. As MPEP 2114 states, “[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”. In this case, the limitation above does not add any structural limitations to the claim and Rasheed et al. discloses all the structural limitations. Additionally while not disclosed, the upper supply port of Rasheed et al. i s capable of being used for supplying a supercritical fluid. Allowable Subject Matter Claims 11-20 are allowed. Claims 2-9 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: t he primary reason for allowance of claims 2-9, 11-20 is the inclusion of the limitation s “ wherein each of the unit cells includes, upper holes disposed in a first plane and which the fluid enters; lower holes disposed in a second plane parallel with the first plane and spaced apart from the first plane along a vertical direction; an crossover passage hole disposed between the first plane and the second plane; and branch passages extending along oblique directions between the first plane and the second plane, the branch passages including upper branch passages communicating the upper holes to /with the crossover passage hole, respectively and lower branch passages communicating the crossover passage hole to /with the lower holes, respectively ” in claims 2 and 20; “ wherein the unit cells have a lattice structure designed by Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) ” in claim 6; “ wherein the fluidic baffle includes, an upper baffle having a first cone shape; and a lower baffle having a second cone shape and formed integrally with the upper baffle ” in claim 8; “ the fluidic baffle having a three-dimensional curved structure where an interior is divided into two subspaces twisted with each other by an interface and having triperiodic minimum curved surface (TPMS) ” in claim 11 in combination with the remaining claimed elements. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Wang (US 11,139,152 B2) discloses a substrate processing apparatus comprising a recess 2340 having a diffuser shape whose diameter gradually increases from an outlet of the upper supply port and a fluidic baffle 2130 including unit cells repeatedly arranged in a space with same phases and geometric sizes and in fluid communication with each other (Fig. 1). Yang et al. (US 9,514,919 B2) discloses a substrate processing apparatus comprising a recess 132 having a diffuser shape whose diameter gradually increases from an outlet of the upper supply port and a fluidic baffle 140 including unit cells repeatedly arranged in a space with same phases and geometric sizes and in fluid communication with each other (Fig. 1). Chandrasekharan et al. (US 2015/0315706 A1) discloses a semiconductor processing apparatus comprising a recess 130 having a diffuser shape whose diameter gradually increases from an outlet of the upper supply port and a fluidic baffle 110 disposed in the recess 130 (Fig. 1). Driscoll et al. (EP 0702392 A2) discloses a semiconductor processing apparatus comprising a recess 35a having a diffuser shape whose diameter gradually increases from an outlet of the upper supply port and a fluidic baffle 20a disposed in the recess (Fig. 1 A ). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT JESSICA J YUEN whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-4878 . The examiner can normally be reached FILLIN "Work Schedule?" \* MERGEFORMAT Monday-Friday 9am-5pm . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, FILLIN "SPE Name?" \* MERGEFORMAT MICHAEL G HOANG can be reached at FILLIN "SPE Phone?" \* MERGEFORMAT (571) 272-6460 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. FILLIN "Examiner Stamp" \* MERGEFORMAT /Jessica Yuen/ Primary Examiner Art Unit 3762 JY
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Prosecution Timeline

Sep 26, 2023
Application Filed
Mar 21, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
60%
Grant Probability
82%
With Interview (+21.7%)
3y 7m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1108 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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