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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species A (Fig. 3A, claims 13-22) in the reply filed on 07/08/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that Applicant submits that all the claims are generic to species A and all claims are directed to a lid or substrate support. This is not found persuasive because only claim 22 is directed to a lid or substrate support, and claims 13-21 are directed to a substrate support only; claims 1-12 are directed to a lid only, thus will be withdrawn, as a lid and a substrate support are mutually exclusive from each other, despite Applicant’s arguments stating otherwise.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 1-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Species B through Species I, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 07/08/2026.
Applicant is reminded that upon the cancelation of claims to a non-elected invention, the inventorship must be corrected in compliance with 37 CFR 1.48(a) if one or more of the currently named inventors is no longer an inventor of at least one claim remaining in the application. A request to correct inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(a) must be accompanied by an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by his or her legal name and by the processing fee required under 37 CFR 1.17(i).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 13-15, 17-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20160111315 to Parkhe.
Claims 1-12: (Withdrawn).
Claim 13: Parkhe discloses a substrate support, comprising: a top plate (230 [upper puck plate], Fig. 4) comprising a first dielectric material (para. [0035]) having a first thermal conductivity; a bottom plate (232 [lower puck plate]) comprising a second dielectric material (para. [0046]) having a second thermal conductivity; and a bond (450 [metal bond]) that bonds the top plate (230) and the bottom plate (232).
However Parkhe does not explicitly disclose wherein the first thermal conductivity is greater than the second thermal conductivity. Yet Parkhe teaches that the upper puck and the lower puck can comprise materials that include Aluminum, for example AlN or Al2O3 (respectively, para. [0046]), and in para. [0050] the upper puck is disclosed as including AlN, and the lower puck can be made of a different material, thus interpreted as including Al2O3 as earlier disclosed (para. [0046], [0026]); for the purpose of being used as a material in reactive etch environments or in inert environments (para. [0026]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the limitations above as taught by Parkhe with motivation to be used as a material in reactive etch environments or in inert environments.
Claim 14: Parkhe discloses wherein the first dielectric material comprises aluminum nitride, boron nitride, silicon carbide, beryllium oxide, sapphire, gallium nitride, zinc oxide, or combinations thereof (in para. [0050] the upper puck is disclosed as including AlN, Parkhe) and the second dielectric material comprises aluminum oxide (the lower puck can be made of a different material, thus interpreted as including Al2O3 as earlier disclosed, para. [0046], [0026]).
Claim 15: Parkhe discloses wherein the top plate (230, Fig. 4, Parkhe) comprises one or more functional elements comprising at least one of a clamp electrode, a heating
electrode, a zone heater, a pixelated heater, a radio frequency (RF) electrode, or a gas channel (176 [one or more heating elements] which can be zoned, para. [0028-0028]).
Claim 17: Parkhe discloses further comprising: one or more terminal wires (not referenced but shown in Fig. 4, Parkhe) connecting the one or more functional elements (176) to at least one of a power source connection (178 [heater power source]) or a ground connection.
Claim 18: Parkhe discloses wherein the bond (450, Fig. 4, Parkhe) comprises at least one of flexible graphite, an organic elastomer, Al, In, Ni, Ti, or an alloy comprising Ni-Ti or Mo-Mg or Cu-Ag or Al alloy (para. [0017]).
Claim 19: Parkhe discloses wherein the top plate (230, Fig. 4, Parkhe) has a top portion having a first diameter (top portion of 230) and a bottom portion (bottom portion of 230) having a second diameter (Fig. 4), wherein the second diameter is greater than the first diameter (Fig. 4).
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Parkhe as applied to claims 13-15, 17-19 above, and further in view of US 20220319818 to Chen.
Claim 16: Parkhe discloses wherein the one or more functional elements (176, Fig. 4, Parkhe) are one or more zone heaters (para. [0029]).
However Parkhe does not disclose the one or more zone heaters are concentric, wherein the one or more concentric zone heaters are individually controlled.
Chen discloses the one or more zone heaters (101 [heater zones], Fig. 2) are concentric (para. [0033]), wherein the one or more concentric zone heaters (101) are individually controlled (para. [0033]) for the purpose of maintaining the support surface of the substrate support assembly at temperatures about 0° C. to 80° C. above the cooling plate temperature (para. [0033]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the limitations above as taught by Chen with motivation to maintain the support surface of the substrate support assembly at temperatures about 0° C. to 80° C. above the cooling plate temperature.
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Parkhe as applied to claims 13-15, 17-19 above, and further in view of US 20180122633 to Leeser.
Claim 20: Parkhe does not disclose wherein: a bottom surface of the top plate comprises a cavity having a third diameter that is less than the first diameter; a top surface of the bottom plate comprises a projection approximately having the third diameter that fits inside the cavity; and an outermost diameter of the bottom plate corresponds to the second diameter.
Leeser discloses wherein: a bottom surface of the top plate (bottom of 200 [carrier plate], Fig. 5A) comprises a cavity (cavity of 200) having a third diameter that is less than the first diameter (Fig. 5A); a top surface of the bottom plate (top surface of 140 [pedestal]) comprises a projection (steps of 140, para. [0056]) approximately having the third diameter that fits inside the cavity (Fig. 5A, para. [0057]); and an outermost diameter of the bottom plate corresponds to the second diameter (Fig. 5A), for the purpose of having such a profile that enables the carrier plate to sit on the pedestal (para. [0057]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the limitations above as taught by Leeser with motivation to have such a profile that enables the carrier plate to sit on the pedestal.
Claim(s) 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Parkhe as applied to claims 13-15, 17-19 above, and further in view of US 20100163403 to Kitada.
Claim 21: Parkhe does not disclose wherein: the bottom plate comprises a plurality of holes; and the top plate comprises a plurality of projections that fit into the plurality of holes.
Kitada discloses wherein: the bottom plate (307 [plate], Fig. 5) comprises a plurality of holes (holes of 307); and the top plate (251 [block]) comprises a plurality of projections (303 [insulating boss]) that fit into the plurality of holes (307) for the purpose of suppressing contamination of reaction products and deposits and hence form alien substances or contaminations so that the surfaces of members in the processing chamber thus improving reliability of the vacuum processing apparatus (para. [0113]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the limitations above as taught by Kitada with motivation to suppress contamination of reaction products and deposits and hence form alien substances or contaminations so that the surfaces of members in the processing chamber thus improve reliability of the vacuum processing apparatus.
Claim(s) 22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20160111315 to Parkhe.
Claim 20: Parkhe discloses a method comprising: forming a first disc of a lid or a substrate support (230 [upper puck plate], Fig. 4) comprising a first dielectric material (para. [0035]) having a first thermal conductivity; forming a second disc of the lid or the substrate support (232 [lower puck plate]) comprising a second dielectric material (para. [0046]) having a second thermal conductivity; and bonding the first disc to the second disc (para. [0046]).
However Parkhe does not explicitly disclose wherein the first thermal conductivity is greater than the second thermal conductivity. Yet Parkhe teaches that the upper puck and the lower puck can comprise materials that include Aluminum, for example AlN or Al2O3 (respectively, para. [0046]), and in para. [0050] the upper puck is disclosed as including AlN, and the lower puck can be made of a different material, thus interpreted as including Al2O3 as earlier disclosed (para. [0046], [0026]); for the purpose of being used as a material in reactive etch environments or in inert environments (para. [0026]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the limitations above as taught by Parkhe with motivation to be used as a material in reactive etch environments or in inert environments.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20240055289 discloses an upper plate (430a) and lower plate (430b) which can be made of insulative dielectric materials (para. [0040]) and are bonded together by a metallic interlayer (para. [0040]). US 20080089001 discloses a puck (27, Fig. 1-2) comprising a dielectric (para. [0014]) and a baseplate (42) having a material having thermal properties suitably matched to the puck (27, para. [0018]) having good thermal conductivity (para. [0004]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Charlee J. C. Bennett whose telephone number is (571)270-7972. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 10am-6pm.
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, Gordon Baldwin can be reached at 5712725166. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Charlee J. C. Bennett/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718
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