CTNF 18/562,565 CTNF 80573 DETAILED ACTION Examiner Comment The claimed inverter comprising a switch unit is interpreted to be Applicant’s own design and fabrication. If any part of the claimed inverter was obtained commercially, then the manufacturer and model would be material to patentability. Search Report and Written Opinion The rejections below are generally consistent with the Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ziemba (WO 2020/160497) . As to claim 1 , Ziemba teaches a plasma system comprising a chuck capable of holding a substrate (see page 28, lines 17-20; Fig. 1). Ziemba teaches an RF frequency generator which applies a bias power to an electrode in the chuck (bias generator 600, RF driver 605, page 20). The Ziemba RF frequency generator includes a power source to supply DC power (page 10, line 15) and at least one transistor (page 20, lines 10-20) for providing an RF frequency. Although Ziemba does not specifically teach an “inverter”, the RF driver would obviously include an inverter. Ziemba teaches controlling bias power during a main process period and an auxiliary process period (page 15, lines 22-23) such as during a bias pulse, bias burst turn-on time, bias burst turn-off time (see claim 1). The Ziemba device is capable of adjusting the length of the bursts to be less than 30 microseconds (page 18, line 28). As to claims 2-5 , Ziemba provides four transistors (page 20, lines 10-29) in the claimed configuration (see Fig. 6, compare to instant Fig. 4) and configured to perform the claimed switching signals and switching operations. Note that the claimed first through fourth transistors do not necessarily match with the numbering provided by Ziemba. One utilizing the Ziemba controller would have recognized that the switching time would be a result effective variable. One would have found it obvious to arrive at the claimed times as a matter of routine optimization. As to claims 6, 7, 8 , the Ziemba controller is capable of setting the process periods and therefore meets the claimed lengths of time. As to claim 10 , Ziemba provides a chamber containing a substrate holder and an RF source which generates a plasma (Fig. 1) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ziemba (WO 2020/160497) in view of Choi (KR 20190048413A). Ziemba teaches the subject matter of claim 1 above under 35 U.S.C. 103 . As to claim 9 , Ziemba is silent to the sensor to detect an extend of etching and a controller configured to control the inverter when a predetermined etch depth is reached. Choi teaches a process monitoring circuit that measures the etching degree/depth and a control unit (Abstract). Choi teaches that since the control of the radio frequency is the driving force for etching and is an important parameter, it is considered to be a variable that can be easily adjusted. Choi teaches that the end point of the etching process can be confirmed, and end of the etching would increase the length of the (following) auxiliary process period. It would have been prima facie obvious to incorporate the Choi monitoring process into Ziemba because this is the use of a known device/technique which improves a similar device in the same way. Ziemba provides a base device, but the prior art of Choi contained a comparable device that is not the same as the base device, but is improved in the same way as the claimed invention by providing etch depth information. One of ordinary skill in the art could have applied this known improvement in the same way to Ziemba to provide the predictable result that etching would end at the desired depth . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ziemba (WO 2020/160497) . As to claim 11 , Ziemba teaches a plasma system comprising a chuck capable of holding a substrate (see page 28, lines 17-20; Fig. 1). Ziemba teaches an RF frequency generator which applies a bias power to an electrode in the chuck (bias generator 600, RF driver 605, page 20). The Ziemba RF frequency generator includes a power source to supply DC power (page 10, line 15) and at least one transistor (page 20, lines 10-20) for providing an RF frequency. Although Ziemba does not specifically teach an “inverter”, the RF driver would obviously include an inverter with first, second, and third switching operations during operation. Ziemba teaches controlling bias power (page 15, lines 22-23) such as during a bias pulse, bias burst turn-on time, bias burst turn-off time (see claim 1), which provides at the claimed main process period and auxiliary process period. Since Ziemba suggests that process parameters such as turn on time and pauses duration can be selected (pages 18-19), one would have recognized the claimed third switching operation time relative to the auxiliary process period time to be a result effective variable and arrived at the claimed ratio as a matter of routine optimization. As to claim 12 , Ziemba provides four transistors (page 20, lines 10-29) in the claimed configuration (see Fig. 6, compare to instant Fig. 4) and configured to perform the claimed switching signals and switching operations. Note that the claimed first through fourth transistors do not necessarily match with the numbering provided by Ziemba. As to claim 13 , the Ziemba controller is capable of setting the process periods and therefore meets the claimed lengths of time. As to claims 14-15 , Ziemba is capable of setting the main process period and auxiliary process period to 10 microseconds or less and therefore meets the claimed times (page 18, lines 27-29). Examiner Interview Applicant is invited to contact the Examiner for an interview prior to response to discuss the rejections above . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following were located during the Examiner’s search: Boll (US 3,825,771) – inverter Hwang (US 5,410,276) – RF Modulation using DC power supply Kadomura (US 5,662,819) – dry etching with plasma Donnelly (US 20110139748) – etching with pulsed plasmas Wu (US 20120302031) – plasma etching, Fig. 5 Long (US 10,264,663) Dorf (US 10,448,495) Bhutta (US 20200203130) Yin (US 20200251345) Zhao (US 20210082666) Evans (US 20220189738) Fujii (US 5,394,061) – four transistors/FETs Notomi (US 20200105503) Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW J DANIELS whose telephone number is (313)446-4826. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00 pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MATTHEW J DANIELS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1742 Application/Control Number: 18/562,565 Page 2 Art Unit: 1742