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 without traverse of the method claims in the reply filed on 3/23/26 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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) 1-12, 21-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Mikhaylichenko et al. (US 2022/0281070 A1).
With respect to claims 1, 21, Mikhaylichenko describes a slurry-based temperature control method for CMP comprising: providing a substrate 10 to a polishing carrier head 50 in a processing chamber; dispensing a slurry onto a polishing pad; polishing the substrate by pressing against the polishing pad with a slurry mixture on the polishing pad (abs.; fig. 1; para 8, 23). The slurry is heated by injected a heated fluid into the slurry and controlled by a temperature control system 100 having a heating system or claimed a slurry heating component, before the slurry is dispensed (para 32, 37). A slurry mixture on the polishing pad would include the heated slurry, heated fluid, the polished material.
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With respect to claims 4, 24 Mikhaylichenko teaches, in fig. 1 above, dispensing a heated fluid 122 through nozzles 120 proximate the slurry mixture on the polishing pad (para 33).
With respect to claims 7, 25 Mikhaylichenko teaches “a temperature sensor measures the temperature of the polishing process, e.g., of the polishing pad or polishing liquid on the polishing pad or the substrate, and the controller 90 executes a closed loop control algorithm to control the temperature control system, e.g., the flow rate or temperature of the coolant or heating fluid relative, so as to maintain the polishing process at a desired temperature.”
With respect to claim 8, Mikhaylichenko further teaches in-situ monitoring a temperature of the slurry mixture on the polishing pad for adjustment of its temperature as he describes “moderating the temperature of the slurry and polishing pad during polishing of a layer allows for increased interaction between charge-carrying abrasives such as cerium oxide. By using temperature control, the material rate of removal can be beneficially increased by both modulating the physical parameters of the polishing pad as well as altering the chemical interaction characteristics between the charged ceria and filler layer” and “In some implementations, the in-situ monitoring system measures the polishing rate for the substrate, and the controller 90 executes a closed loop control algorithm to control the temperature control system, e.g., the flow rate or temperature of the coolant or heating fluid relative, so as to maintain the polishing rate at a desired rate” (para 38-40).
With respect to claim 9, the temperature adjustment is adjusted with the temperature control system 100 and the heated fluid is injected into the slurry to provide heated slurry (para 36, 37).
With respect to claims 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 22, 23, 26 the method further comprises using a temperature control system 100 or claimed an electro-thermal heating component to receive a measured temperature of the substrate, polishing pad, and/or polishing mixture/slurry 42 on the polishing pad to adjust or raise the heated fluid being supplied proximate to the slurry mixture on the polishing pad and in addition injected into the polishing liquid/slurry 42 providing the heated slurry for the polishing (para 28, 30-32, 37). This provides claimed adjusting the controller a setting that controls a temperature of the heated slurry based on the information related to a temperature of the slurry mixture on the polishing pad and adjusting a setting of an electro-thermal heating component of a slurry heating component that provides the heated slurry.
With respect to claim 11, the method further includes in-situ monitoring system 70 to control polishing parameters including adjusting a pressure applied to the substrate from the carrier head 50 (para 9, 23, 25, 53).
With respect to claim 12, Mikhaylichenko teaches a controller 90 stored a desired temperature or temperature range, e.g. as part of a polishing recipe and operates to maintain the polishing temperature from the acquired data and the action is taken can also depend on the charge of the abrasive ceria particles and “this data can be stored and accessed by the controller 90, e.g., as control logic or a lookup table, in order to determine how to adjust the temperature if the removal rate deviates from the desired polishing rate (212)” (para 40-42). The controller, e.g. control logic that determines how to adjust the temperature would provide a machine learning model to determine at least one parameter related for adjustment.
With respect to claim 27, the heating fluid is injected into the polishing liquid/slurry 42 before being dispensed onto the pad (para 37), which would generate the heated polishing liquid/slurry while the slurry is in a conduit of a slurry dispense arm 40, (see fig. 1 above).
Claim(s) 1, 21, 23, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Choi et al. (KR 101722555 B1).
With respect to claims 1, 21 Choi describes providing a substrate to a carrier head 120; dispensing a slurry that is heated by a slurry temperature controller 300 or claimed slurry heating component of an electro-thermal heating component through nozzles on slurry supply unit 200 having supply channel, which would include dispense nozzle; polishing by pressing the substrate with a slurry mixture on the polishing pad wherein the slurry mixture would include the heated slurry on the pad (abs.; page 3, 4; fig. 4).
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With respect to claim 23, adjusting a temperature includes using the measured temperature through the controller 400 to control the temperature of the slurry by increasing a temperature of the slurry as needed through the slurry temperature controller 300 (page 5) and a typical thermoelectric element is used (page 13, 14) or claimed adjusting a setting of a heated supply system or an electro-thermal heating component of a slurry heating component that provides the heated slurry.
With respect to claim 28, fig. 4 above shows the slurry is heated in the slurry supply unit 200 or slurry dispense arm with temperature control unit 300.
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) 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mikhaylichenko as applied to claim 21 above.
With respect to claim 28, Mikhaylichenko is silent about heating the slurry prior the slurry entering conduit. However, it would have been obvious and within the knowledge of one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the heated slurry prior to entering the conduit of the slurry dispense arm 40 as long as it provides the heated polishing liquid/slurry before being dispensed onto the polishing pad with expected results.
Claim(s) 2, 3, 8, 9, 12, 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi et al. (KR 101722555 B1) as applied to claims 1 and 21 above.
With respect to claims 2 and 8, Choi, described above, teaches providing a substrate to a carrier head 120; dispensing a slurry that is heated by a slurry temperature controller 300 or claimed slurry heating component of an electro-thermal heating component through nozzles on slurry supply unit 200 having supply channel, which would include dispense nozzle; polishing by pressing the substrate with a slurry mixture on the polishing pad wherein the slurry mixture would include the heated slurry on the pad (abs.; page 3, 4; fig. 4, 12).
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Unlike claimed invention, Choi doesn’t describe monitoring, using a temperature sensor, a temperature of the mixture slurry on the polishing pad and adjusting the polishing parameters including a temperature of the heated slurry based on the date from the temperature sensor. However, Choi teaches “during the chemical mechanical polishing process, the temperature of the polishing pad 111 is continuously measured and monitored by the temperature measuring unit 500, and the measured temperature value is transmitted to the control unit 400)” and the temperature measuring step using a plurality temperature sensors and using the data from the temperature measuring unit 500 to adjust a temperature of the slurry (page 5, 20-22). It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to monitoring the slurry temperature on the polishing pad because the slurry mixture is on the pad and would also affect a temperature of the pad; therefore, knowing a temperature of the slurry mixture on the pad and the pad temperature would provide a more accurate temperature of the polishing process in order to correctly adjust the temperature of the heated slurry for the polishing process with expected results.
With respect to claims 3, 9, adjusting a temperature includes using the measured temperature through the controller 400 to control the temperature of the slurry by increasing a temperature of the slurry as needed through the slurry temperature controller 300 (page 5) and a typical thermoelectric element is used (page 13, 14) or claimed adjusting a setting of a heated supply system or an electro-thermal heating component of a slurry heating component that provides the heated slurry.
With respect to claim 12, a controller 400 determines adjustment to the temperature when the measured temperature value exceeds or is less than a predetermine range (page 20), in which the controller 400 would provide a machine learning model that determining at least one parameter including a temperature of the heated slurry.
With respect to claim 28, Choi is silent about heating the slurry prior the slurry entering conduit. However, it would have been obvious and within the knowledge of one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to provide the heated slurry prior to entering the conduit of the slurry supply unit 200 or slurry dispense arm as long as it provides the heated polishing liquid/slurry before being dispensed onto the polishing pad with expected results.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUY VU NGUYEN DEO whose telephone number is (571)272-1462. The examiner can normally be reached 9-5 M-F.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joshua Allen can be reached at 571-272-3176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUY VU N DEO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1713
4/27/26
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