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
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.
Claims 1, 9, 15, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ota et al. (JP 2019-129243) (“Ota”) in view of Numata (US 2020/0254389).
With regard to claim 1, figs. 1-2 of Ota discloses a substrate processing apparatus comprising: a reservoir 110 configured to temporarily store a processing liquid L for processing a substrate W; a replenisher 220 configured to replenish the processing liquid L to the reservoir 110; a gas supplier 210 configured to supply gas G to the reservoir 110 to pressurize an interior of the reservoir 110; and a controller 180, wherein the controller 180 is configured to control the gas supplier 210 to execute a process of replenishing the processing liquid L from the replenisher 220 to the reservoir 110 while regulating a magnitude of an internal pressure 170 of the reservoir 110.
Ota does not disclose a flow rate measurer configured to measure a flow rate of the processing liquid replenished to the reservoir; wherein the controller is configured to control the gas supplier based on a value measured by the flow rate measurer.
However, fig. 4 of Numata discloses a flow rate measurer 310 configured to measure a flow rate of the processing liquid 200 replenished to the reservoir 30; wherein the controller 70 is configured to control the pump 40 based on a value measured by the flow rate measurer 310.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to control the check valve for the gas supply of Ota with the measurement results of the flow rate of the replenisher liquid as taught in Numata in order to control the flow of processing liquid based on the flow rate of the replenisher liquid suppled from the replenisher tank to the process liquid tank. See par [0155] of Numata.
With regard to claim 9, figs. 1-2 of Ota discloses a nozzle 122 connected in a fluidic sense to the reservoir 110, wherein the controller 180 is configured to control the gas supplier 210 to pressurize the interior of the reservoir 110 and to further execute a process of ejecting the processing liquid L in the interior of the reservoir from the nozzle 122.
With regard to claim 15, figs. 1-2 of Ota discloses a substrate processing method comprising: supplying gas from a gas supplier 210 to a reservoir 110 configured to temporarily store a processing liquid L for processing a substrate W to pressurize an interior of the reservoir 110; and replenishing the processing liquid L from a replenisher 220 to the reservoir 110 while regulating a magnitude of an internal pressure 170 of the reservoir 110 by the gas supplier 210.
Ota does not disclose measuring, by a flow rate measurer, a flow rate of the processing liquid when the reservoir is replenished with the processing liquid for processing the substrate; regulating a magnitude of an internal pressure of the reservoir by the gas supplier based on a value measured by the flow rate measurer.
However, fig. 4 of Numata discloses measuring, by a flow rate measurer 310, a flow rate of the processing liquid 200 when the reservoir 30 is replenished with the processing liquid 200 for processing the substrate (“substrate”, par [0205]); regulating a magnitude of an internal pressure of the reservoir 30 by the pump 40 based on a value measured by the flow rate measurer 310.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to control the check valve for the gas supply of Ota with the measurement results of the flow rate of the replenisher liquid as taught in Numata in order to control the flow of processing liquid based on the flow rate of the replenisher liquid suppled from the replenisher tank to the process liquid tank. See par [0155] of Numata.
With regard to claim 18, figs. 1-2 of Ota discloses ejecting the processing liquid L in the reservoir 110 from a nozzle 122 connected in a fluidic sense to the reservoir 110 by pressurizing the interior 110 of the reservoir 110 by the gas supplier 210.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ota et al. (JP 2019-129243) (“Ota”), Numata (US 2020/0254389), and Muta et al. (US 2020/0357662) (“Muta”).
With regard to claim 8, Ota and Numata do not disclose: a rotary holder configured to hold and rotate the substrate; and a container configured to accommodate the rotary holder and the reservoir.
However, figs. 3-4 of Muta discloses a rotary holder 21 configured to hold and rotate the substrate W; and a container 2 configured to accommodate the rotary holder 21 and the reservoir 60A.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the substrate of Ota on a rotary holder as taught in Muta in order to rotate the wafer based on operation instruction from the control. See par [0054] of Muta.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7, 10-14, 16-17, and 19-20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN T LIU whose telephone number is (571)272-6009. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 11:00am-7:30pm.
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, Yara J Green can be reached at 571 270-3035. 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.
/BENJAMIN TZU-HUNG LIU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893