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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 6, 10-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 6 recites the limitation of the first arc-shaped bar and the second arc-shaped bar. However, in previous claims 4, 5, there are two first and two second arc-shaped bars, respectively meaning a total of four bars. Therefore, it is unclear which of the two first and two second arc-shaped bars is referred to by each of the first and second arc shaped bar, respectively, since it could be either of the two. Claim 10 recites the RF source and the output end of the RF source. However, claim 10 or the previous claims on which it depends do not introduce an RF source and an output end of the RF source, and therefore it is unclear what exactly it is referring and its relationships/locations to other elements of the apparatus. Claim 11 has the same issue regarding the RF source. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claims. Dependent claims 11-12 are also rejected by dependency to rejected claim 10.
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) 1-9, 13-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Yoshida (JP 2004063663).
Regarding claim 1. Yoshida teaches in the drawings a coil device (at least plasma generating coil 6 [5-6]) for generating plasma in semiconductor process equipment ([5-8]), comprising a coil structure (said coils 6) and a fixed cooling assembly (including components 4, 8, 12-15,17-19, 21-22 that are connected/assembled to each other and are in fixed locations, fig. 2, and part of an air/water cooling system [15-31]) configured to fix and cool the coil structure ([26-28] the cooled air generated by said assembly passes by the coils 6 fig. 2), wherein: the fixed cooling assembly includes a fixed body (considered the cylindrical structure/housing formed of 4, 8, 17 (all are ring/cylindrical shaped [4, 6, 22]) and the top/bottom connecting 4, 8 to form the space containing 6, 18, fig. 2) made of an insulation material (the body is at least partly made of insulator, i.e. 4 is made of quartz [4] and 17 of AlN [22], which are electrical and/or thermal insulator), a cooling space is formed within the fixed body (as prev disc, the space has cooled air/water flowing, fig. 2 [26-28]), the coil structure is fixedly arranged in the cooling space (as disc, fig. 2, 6 inside said space), the fixed body is provided with an inlet opening (air intake/opening 12 fig. 2 [15-17, 24]) and an output opening (top right opening, fig. 2, thru which air exits and flows into 13, [24-26]) communicating with the cooling space (fig. 2),
the inlet opening is configured to transfer a cooling gas into the cooling space (fig. 2 [24-26] both outside air used for cooling and radiator cooled air are cycled into said space), and the outlet opening is configured to exhaust the cooling gas out of the cooling space (as disc, fig. 2, said air flows out said space from the top right space, which is mostly cooled by 14 and partly completely removed via the little exist at the top right of 19, fig. 2); and a turbulence structure (baffle plate 18 [23]) is arranged in the cooling space (fig. 2) and is configured to change a gas flow direction (creates gas eddies, fig. 2, which change direction/rotate gas flow direction [28]) in the cooling space (fig. 2, said eddies/vortices inside said space) to improve uniformity of gas distribution in the cooling space (since turbulence/vortices is created, the gas has at least some lateral and reverse flow directions via impingement on the bottom of 18, vs simply upwards flow, which allows gas to more easily reach other parts of said cooling space in the lateral direction, fig. 2).
Regarding claim 2. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 1, wherein: the fixed body includes a first fixed ring (the stationary upper wall portion connecting 4 to 8 top ends and is ring shaped to match 4, 8’s annular shape fig. 2), a second fixed ring (the stationary lower wall portion, ie. Upper part of 1, connecting 4, 8’s lower ends, and is ring shaped to match 4, 8’s annular shape fig. 2), a first connection ring (said outer stationary cylinder/ring 8, connecting said upper to lower wall portions at an outer side, fig. 2), and a second connection ring (said inner stationary ring the inner cylindrical/ring chamber wall 4 connecting said upper/lower wall portions at an inner side, fig. 2) forming the cooling space (as disc, the enclosed space within 4, 8 is said cooling space), the first fixed ring and the second fixed ring are arranged opposite to each other (fig. 2, said upper and lower ring wall portions face top-down each other); the first connection ring connects between the first fixed ring and the second fixed ring (as discussed, fig. 2, 8 connects between upper/lower walls at an outer side); the second connection ring passes through the first fixed ring and the second fixed ring along an axial direction of the first fixed ring (fig. 2, 4 passes thru the opposing surfaces of the upper/lower walls in the y axis direction of the upper wall), and the first connection ring surrounds at an outer side of the second connection ring (the larger cylinder 8 surrounds the inner/small cylinder 4 at an outer side of 4 fig. 2); the coil structure surrounds the space between the first connection ring and the second connection ring (fig. 2, 6 surrounds the space between 4, 8 fig. 2); and the inlet opening and the outlet opening are arranged at the first connection ring (fig. 2, the said inlet/outlet are at/very near/adjacent the outer connection ring 8).
Regarding claim 3. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 2, wherein the turbulence structure includes: a first turbulence element arranged at a position near the inlet opening (fig. 2, the bottom fin of 18 nearest to 12) to cause a part of the cooling gas flowing through the first turbulence element to flow toward an edge area of the cooling space (the gas flowing thru/past the bottom fin is made into a vortex which spreads gas in all directions, including inner and outer edges of the space fig. 2); and a second turbulence element arranged at a position near the outlet opening (the top fin of 18 fig. 2) to cause a part of the cooling gas flowing through the second turbulence element to flow toward a center area of the cooling space (similarly, a top vortex of gas passing thru the top fin flows in all directions, including inwards to 17 fig. 2; additionally, all of these limitations are intended use and do not structurally further limit the apparatus, MPEP 2114).
Regarding claim 4. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 3, wherein: one outlet opening is provided (fig. 2, the said top right outlet), and two inlet openings are provided (fig. 2, there are two 12’s) and arranged symmetrically on two sides (they are symmetric/facing each other at equal/mirror locations fig. 2) in an axial direction (they are mirrored in at least the x/y axis) of the outlet opening (x/y axis are also coordinates of the outlet since they can be mapped onto a cartesian plane, fig. 2); the first turbulence element includes two first arc-shaped bars (each of the fins 18, including the bottom fin, forms a circular/ring shaped/thin bar section in the arcuate direction, each ring can be split into two sections of half moon/crescent shape, fig. 2 since they conform along to the inside of cylinder 8) extending along a circumferential direction of the first connection ring (as just discussed) spaced apart from each other (fig. 2, each fin is vertically spaced apart), and corresponding to the two inlet openings, respectively (all the fins correspond/are in fluid connection to the 12s since air from the 12 flow to all the fins); and two ends of each of the first arc-shaped bars are located on two opposite sides of an axial direction of a corresponding inlet opening (assuming each half crescent section of each fin extends around from left to right, it has at least an edges/ends on both right/left side which are opposite in the x-direction fig. 2, the x-axis being a direction of either inlet 12 since it is on the cartesian plane).
Regarding claim 5. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 4, wherein: the second turbulence element includes two second arc-shaped bars extending along a circumferential direction of the first connection ring (as disc in claim 4, each 18 includes two crescent thin curved bars along the inner circumf of 8) spaced apart from each other (spaced apart by the central space in 4 fig. 2), and located on two opposite sides in an axial direction of the outlet opening (fig. 2, the crescent halves of each 18 on left/right opposing sides in the lateral/x axis direction, which is also an axis of the said outlet as prev disc).
Regarding claim 6. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 5, wherein: the first arc-shaped bar and the second arc-shaped bar are concentrically arranged (fig. 2, the entire rings of 18 are arranged around a common center thru the middle of 4) and distributed at different positions along the circumferential direction of the first connection ring (as prev disc, the half circles are each diff left and right perimeters of 4); and a radial thickness of the second arc-shaped bar is greater than a radial thickness of the first arc-shaped bar (the radial direction/radial length or thickness can be set one and of the other bar shorter, eg one is less than the full radial length of an 18 and the other less).
Regarding claim 7. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 2, wherein: the coil structure includes at least one coil set including: a first sub-coil set (eg a set of adjacent windings of 6 eg a top 3 windings considered the set) including at least one first plane coil located in a first plane (fig. 2 one of the coil winding 6 at a first vertical level); and a second sub-coil set (another set of windings eg lower four windings of 6 w/ at least a level of coil winding at a different y level vs those of the 1st set that are above them fig. 2) coaxially arranged with the first sub-coil set (all the windings/coil sets have same center axis fig. 2) and including at least one second plane coil located in a second plane parallel to the first plane (as disc, the other winding is on a lateral plane parallel at a diff y level to each of the other windings, fig. 2), wherein: the first plane coil and the second plane coil are connected in series (fig. 2 all the windings are the same single helix/coil thus are all in series); an orthogonal projection of the second plane coil on the first plane is mirror-symmetrical or mirror-asymmetrical to the first plane coil (it is mirror symmetric since every winding is identical thus placing each winding superimposed on any other plane of another winding renders a symmetric/mirror image of the existing winding); and the first plane coil and the second plane coil are fixed at the first fixed ring and the second fixed ring, respectively (fig. 2 the top and lowermost windings/sets of 6 is at/very near the said top and bottom rings of the upper chamber respectively).
Regarding claim 8. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 7, wherein: the first sub-coil set includes a plurality of first plane coils having a same shape and spaced apart with each other (as disc, the top set of 3 windings are same shape/dimension and vert spaced fig. 2), first ends of the plurality of first plane coils being distributed uniformly along a circumferential direction of the coil set (either the left or right edge/ends of the top set of windings are aligned vertically and have the same arcuate alignment/direction of the entire 6, fig. 2), second ends of the plurality of first plane coils being distributed uniformly along the circumferential direction of the coil set (same as the first ends, but the other side opposite the first ends); the second sub-coil set includes a plurality of second plane coils having a same shape and spaced apart from each other (as prev discussed, the lower set of windings have same shape, fig. 2, and verti spaced apart), first ends of the plurality of second plane coils being distributed uniformly along the circumferential direction of the coil set (same concept as the first coil set, as prev disc), and second ends of the plurality of second plane coils being distributed uniformly along the circumferential direction of the coil set (same concept as the first coil set, as prev disc); and the plurality of first plane coils are in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of second plane coils (as prev disc, fig. 2, all the windings are the same/1-1 correspondence in shape/arrangement), the first ends of the plurality of first plane coils are connected in parallel (fig. 2, the ends/sides of all the coils are connected in parallel via connection by 17), the first ends of the plurality of second plane coils are connected in parallel (same concept as the 1st plane coils as disc prev), and the second ends of the plurality of first plane coils and the second ends of the plurality of second plane coils are connected in series (as prev disc, they are all connected as part of the single helix in 6, fig. 2, which connects all the windings and their ends via a single series/main helix).
Regarding claim 9. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 8, wherein: N first plane coils are provided and divided into N/2 first coil pairs along the circumferential direction of the coil set, N being an even number greater than or equal to 2 (eg two or four windings from fig. 2), each first coil pair including two neighboring first plane coils (fig. 2, at least two pairs of adjacent coil/windings fig. 6), a first extension segment connecting between first ends of the two neighboring first plane coils to connect the first ends in parallel (as prev discussed, their entire 6 is a helix/extended coil, thus all the ends of the adjacent windings must be connected in series as part of the single main helix), first extension segments of the N/2 first coil pairs are connected in parallel (the extends/outermost bends of each adjacent winding adjacent to 17 are connected in parallel via 17 fig. 2); and N second plane coils are provided and are divided into N/2 second coil pairs along the circumferential direction of the coil set (as disc prev, same concept as the first plane coils, i.e. another group of 2 or 4 coils from fig. 2), each second coil pair including two neighboring second plane coils (as disc prev), a second extension segment connecting between first ends of the two neighboring second plane coils to connect the first ends in parallel (same as the first plane coils, being connected via 17 as disc prev), and second extension segments of the N/2 second coil pairs being connected in parallel (all the adjacent windings of 6 with their extends/bends near 17 are connected in parallel via 17).
Regarding claim 13. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 8, wherein a connection segment connects between a second end of each first plane coil and a second end of a corresponding second plane coil to connect the second end of each first plane coil and the second end of the corresponding second plane coil in parallel (as prev discussed, all the windings/plane coils are connected to each other, including all their ends, via 17, including outermost side parts/connection elements closest to 17, to connect them in parallel fig. 2), and an extension direction of the connection segment is parallel to an axis of the coil set (each outer part nearest 17 is parallel to x axis which is the main axis of each winding fig. 2).
Regarding claim 14. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 7,wherein: a first coil groove is arranged on a surface of the first fixed ring neighboring to the cooling space (fig. 2 the top ring part of the chamber has an outer edge groove and is associated with the coils diagonal to it, and adjacent to the cooling space); an orthogonal direction of the first coil groove on the first plane matches at least one of the first plane coils (as disc, making a right angle from the groove, down and right/left inwards, reaches the first winding fig. 2); the first coil groove is configured to accommodate at least a part of the first plane coils (fig. 2, the groove is aligned to fit with any coil since the size of the groove is at least the width of a winding); a second coil groove is arranged on a surface of the second fixed ring neighboring to the cooling space (the bottom fixed ring has an inner groove holding a coil of seal/o-ring fig. 2, adj to said cooling space); an orthogonal projection of the second coil groove matches at least one of the second plane coils (a right angle can be made from any winding to the groove, fig. 2); and the second coil groove is configured to accommodate at least a part of the second plane coils (fig. 2 the groove is aligned to fit with any coil since the size of the groove is at least the width of a winding).
Regarding claim 15. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 7 wherein two coil sets (technically the ring fins 18 form coils similar to the windings 6, hence they are two coil sets, 6 being within/nested in 18 fig 2) are divided (the 6 18 are divided/separate from each other), have different sizes (18 is wider than 6 fig. 2), and are nested with each other (as discussed), and the turbulence structure is arranged between the two coil sets (fig. 2, a middle 18 is between a top fin 18 and a bottom winding 6 in the diagonal direction from the outer edge of the top 18).
Regarding claim 16. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 1, wherein the insulation material includes ceramic (it is part AlN as prev discussed).
Regarding claim 17. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling gas includes compressed air (as prev discussed, it uses air cooled pressurized/pumped by fan 15 fig. 2; additionally, the air is a fluid used in the process and does not limit apparatus structure, MPEP 2114).
Claim(s) 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Irie (JP 2001345274).
Regarding claim 18. Irie teaches in the drawings a semiconductor process equipment (semiconductor manufacturing apparatus [21-27]) comprising: a reaction chamber (container 2 w/ reaction film forming chamber 3 inside [9-10]), a dielectric window (ceiling plate 4 made of dielectric/insulator, alumina [15 16]) being arranged at a top of the reaction chamber (fig. 1-3); a coil device (including at least circular ring/coil shaped antenna 13 [11 16]) arranged above the dielectric window (fig. 1-3) and including a coil structure (as discussed, 13 has ring/circular/coil shape/structure) and a fixed cooling assembly (at least connected components 41-48 forming a stationary/fixed upper cooling structure, fig. 2, 3 [22-27]) configured to fix and cool the coil structure (cools both 4 and 13 by flowing down cooling air onto them, fig. 2, 3 [24-27]; the walls of chamber 41 keep 13 in a fixed vertical position by holding/supporting 4 on which 13 rests), wherein: the fixed cooling assembly includes a fixed body (includes a stationary rectangular upper chamber with an inner cover 42, fig. 2, 3) made of an insulation material (at least a part of it, e.g. 42 is made of Teflon [22 29], which is an electrical insulator), a cooling space (the cooling space/chamber 41, fig. 2, 3, through which cooling gas flows [22-30]) is formed within the fixed body (fig. 2, 3, 41 is entirely within the upper rectangular chamber and at least a central part of 41 is within the conical lower surface of 42), the coil structure is fixedly arranged in the cooling space (fig. 2, 3, the stationary 13 inside 41), the fixed body is provided with an inlet opening (the upper chamber has openings/inlets 45 for air to flow in 41 fig. 2 3 [22-31])
and an output opening (the central opening of the upper chamber connecting to 44, thru which air is removed [22-31]) communicating with the cooling space (fig. 2, 3, air communicates from 41 thru the exit to 44), the inlet opening is configured to transfer a cooling gas into the colling space (i.e. air used for cooling sent to 41 via 45 [22-31]), and the outlet opening is configured to exhaust the cooling gas out of the cooling space ([23 24 27-31]); and a turbulence structure (cover 42 which bends gas flow, fig. 2, 3 and has grooves 46 which swirls gas [23]/creating eddies/turbulence) is arranged in the cooling space (fig. 2, 3, 42 in 41) and is configured to change a gas flow direction in the cooling space (as discussed, swirling in 41 continuous changes flow direction in a rotary direction, and edge of 41 bends gas flow horizontally, fig. 2, 3) to improve uniformity of gas distribution in the cooling space ([24 27 35], fig. 2, 3, the gas is spread across the surface of 4/13 via the bent flow and swirling increases cooling efficiency); an RF source (HF/RF supply 15 [11 13]) configured to provide RF power to the coil structure (fig. 2 3 [11 13]); an inlet device (control means 49 [25] which controls the entire air flow to both inlet and outlet, fig. 2, 3, via control of the fan 47 creating a system suction to pull air in at 45, thru 41 and out 44 [23-25]) configured to provide a cooling gas to an inlet opening (as discussed); and an exhaust device (fan 47 [23-27] which removes air from 41) configured to exhaust the cooling gas out of the cooling space (as discussed previously, fig. 2, 3 [23 -27]).
Regarding claim 19. Irie teaches the semiconductor process equipment according to claim 18, wherein: the fixed body includes a first fixed ring (stationary upper wall portion of said upper box, and ring shape w/ hollow center via 44 and being the circular top of cylindrical 41 [9 22]), a second fixed ring (the lower ring, bottom corners of the upper box/chamber forming a ring to match the outer rim of the cylindrical 41), a first connection ring (the outer cylindrical wall of 41 connecting said 1st, 2nd fixed rings, fig. 3), and a second connection ring (the pipe 44 connecting 42 to fan 47 fig. 3) forming the cooling space (said elements define at least partly the space 41 fig. 3); the first fixed ring and the second fixed ring are arranged opposite to each other (fig. 3, opposite, top vs bottom); the first connection ring connects between the first fixed ring and the second fixed ring (fig. 3 , outer wall of 41 connects the top to bottom covers at their edges); the second connection ring passes through the first fixed ring and the second fixed ring along an axial direction of the first fixed ring (fig. 3, 44 passes thru the top and lower ring portions via its extension 42), and the first connection ring surrounds at an outer side of the second connection ring (fig. 3, outer wall of 41 surrounds lower portion of 44); the coil structure surrounds the space between the first connection ring and the second connection ring (fig. 3, 13 surrounds the lower part of the intermediate space between outer wall of 41 and 44); and the inlet opening and the outlet opening are arranged at the first connection ring (44 and 45 are at/near the outer wall of 41 fig. 3).
Regarding claim 20. Irie teaches the semiconductor process equipment according to claim 19, wherein the turbulence structure includes: a first turbulence element (one of the steps on the outer top side of 42 fig. 3 that causes impinged outward flow/turbulence) arranged at a position near the inlet opening (fig. 3, 4 the 1st outer step of 42 near the 45) to cause a part of the cooling gas flowing through the first turbulence element to flow toward an edge area of the cooling space (step causes gas flow from 45 to impinge across/thru the step and flow outwards to edge of 41); and a second turbulence element (one of the grooves 46 below 42 fig. 3 4 [22-31]) arranged at a position near the outlet opening (fig. 3, the central grooves 46 near the 44) to cause a part of the cooling gas flowing through the second turbulence element to flow toward a center area of the cooling space (gas flowing pass/thru the 46 is swirled/accelerated to the upper center and exit area of 41 fig. 3 4).
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.
Claim(s) 10-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshida (JP 2004063663) in view of Ye (US 20200219698).
Regarding claim 10. Yoshida teaches the coil device according to claim 9, but does not teach further comprising a connection structure including: a first connection assembly electrically connected to the first ends of the plurality of first plane coils of the first sub-coil set; and a second connection assembly electrically connected to the first ends of the plurality of second plane coils of the second sub-coil set, wherein: one of the first connection assembly and the second connection assembly is electrically connected to an input end of the RF source; and the other one of the first connection assembly and the second connection assembly is electrically connected to the output end of the RF source. However, Ye teaches in the drawings a connection structure (eg 430 fig. 4c) including: a first connection assembly (eg 434 437) electrically connected to the first ends of the plurality of first plane coils of the first sub-coil set (fig. 4c the metal overhang connects the outer first ends of the coils of a set of coils);
and a second connection assembly (eg 442 433 fig. 4c) electrically connected to the first ends of the plurality of second plane coils of the second sub-coil set (the overhang connects the inner ends of a plurality of inner coils of the inner coil set), wherein: one of the first connection assembly and the second connection assembly is electrically connected to an input end of the RF source (fig. 5 [43] the input end of the RF generator is connected to one of the ends of the assemblies such as the inner end); and the other one of the first connection assembly and the second connection assembly is electrically connected to the output end of the RF source (fig. 5, the output end is the same as that of the coil connector assemblies as the RF source since both are the ground end, eg 506, eg outer end). It would be obvious to those skilled in the art at invention time to modify Yoshida to reduce coil interference and non-concentric field patterns [4].
Regarding claim 11. Yoshida in view of Ye teaches the coil device according to claim 10,wherein; the first connection assembly includes N/2 first connection bars (fig. 4c 2 bars eg 434 437) and a first parallel element (eg 435 which is parallel to the coils below), one end of each of the N/2 first connection bars being electrically connected to a first extension segment of the N/2 first connection bars (fig. 4c each bar 434 437 connected to outer end/extension of the bars themselves, eg the lower end), the other end of each of the N/2 first connection bars being detachably and electrically connected to the first parallel element (fig. 4c each of said bars connected to 435 at least indirectly and RF current flows thru them; regarding detachability it would have been obvious to make them detachable to enhance maintenance as it would allow cleaning of individual pieces, see MPEP 2144.04 regarding making separable) located on a side of the first fixed ring (if applied to Yoshida, they at the side, eg below of the upper/1st fixed ring since they would be held inside the chamber as part of the coil) away from the cooling space through
the first fixed ring (at least a portion of the connectors would be outside and away from the cooling space/thru the lid/1st fixed ring to connect to the RF power supply outside); the second connection assembly includes N/2 second connection bars (eg 433 442 fig. 4c) and a second parallel element (fig. 4c the lateral bar above them), one end of each of the N/2 second connection bars being electrically connected to a second extension segment of the N/2 second coil pairs (same as w/ the first connection assembly, fig. 4c), the other end of each of the N/2 second connection bars being detachably and electrically connected to the second parallel element located on a side of the first fixed ring away from the cooling space through the first fixed ring (same concept/duplicated from the 1st connection assembly, fig. 4c); and one of the first parallel element and the second parallel element is connected to an inlet end of the RF source (all the parallel elements are part of the power supply mechanism, ie. Transferring RF current in the coils hence all are connected to the RF feed of the source), and the other one of the first parallel element and the second parallel element is connected to an outlet end of the RF source (same concept, since all are interconnected as an unitary current flowing coil, they are also connected to ground, as prev discussed).
Regarding claim 12. Yoshida in view of Ye teaches the coil device according to claim 11, wherein the first parallel element and the second parallel element each includes N/2 bar-shaped branching sections (fig. 4c, all the said flat/lateral parallel sections have branched arrangement in a circular/curve shape), wherein: first ends of the N/2 bar-shaped branching sections are connected together at a position near a center position of the cooling space (if the coil fig. 4c is applied to Yoshida’s coil 13, it is located in cooling space 41 and the interconnected central branch parts also are located in the center of the coil thus also center of 41, fig. 4c) and are conductive to each other (as prev discussed, the entire coil system fig. 4c conducts power); second ends of the N/2 bar-shaped branching sections extend along different radial directions of the cooling space relative to the first ends (fig. 4c, all other ends of the lateral branch parts spread in different radial and arcuate directions relative to each other, which are located in 41); the second ends of the N/2 bar-shaped branching sections of the first parallel element are detachably and electrically connected to the other ends of the N/2 first connection bars (as prev discussed, to improve maintenance); and the second ends of the N/2 bar-shaped branching sections of the second parallel element are detachably and electrically connected to the other ends of the N/2 second connection bars (as prev discussed, to improve maintenance).
Conclusion
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/YUECHUAN YU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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