DETAILED ACTION
The communication dated 7/17/2026 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 13-23 were canceled. Claims 1-12 are currently pending.
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 (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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 7/17/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 10-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/17/2026.
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.
Claims 1, 6, and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Minoshima et al. U.S. Publication 2018/0294171 (henceforth referred to as Minoshima).
As for claim 1, Minoshima teaches a substrate cleaning apparatus (Fig. 2) comprising: a substrate holding and rotating mechanism (Fig. 2: parts 301-304) configured to hold and rotate a substrate (Fig. 2: part W); a cleaning liquid supplier (Fig. 2: parts 315-316) configured to supply a cleaning liquid to the substrate; a cleaning member (Fig. 2: parts 307-308) configured to come into contact with the substrate to clean the substrate; a charge amount adjustment apparatus capable of increasing and decreasing a charge amount of the substrate (paragraph [0063]); a charge amount measuring instrument configured to measure the charge amount of the substrate (paragraph [0055]); and a controller (Fig. 1: part 7) configured to control the charge amount adjustment apparatus according to the charge amount measured by the charge amount measuring instrument (paragraph [0037]).
As for claim 6, Minoshima further teaches that the substrate holding and rotating mechanism has a non-conductive holding member that comes into contact with the substrate and holds the substrate (paragraphs [0038]-[0039]; Fig. 2).
As for claim 9, Minoshima further teaches that the controller controls the charge amount adjustment apparatus in a state where the cleaning liquid is supplied and the cleaning member is cleaning the substrate (paragraphs [0028]-[0029]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5 and 7-8 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: Minoshima et al. U.S. Publication 2018/0294171, the closest prior art, differs from the instant claims in failing to teach that the controller controls the charge amount adjustment apparatus such that the charge amount measured by the charge amount measuring instrument falls within a target range. Furthermore, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the substrate cleaning apparatus taught by Minoshima as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEVON J SHAHINIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1384. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30am-6:00pm.
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/LEVON J SHAHINIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
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