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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This action is responsive to application No. 18622694 filed on 03/29/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
Acknowledgment is made of Applicant’s Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) form PTO-1449. These IDS has been considered.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election with traverse of claims 1-6, 11-12 in the reply filed on 7/6/2026 is acknowledged.
The traversal is on the ground(s) that search and examination of the entire application can be made without serious burden. This is not found persuasive because the species require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources or non-patent language, or deploying different search queries); and/or the prior art applicable to one species would not likely be applicable to another species. The restriction requirement is maintained.
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 1-2, 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Schepis et al. (US 2023/0326767).
Regarding independent claim 1, Schepis et al. teach an apparatus, comprising:
a semiconductor structure holding device (Figs. 4A-4C, paragraph 0097-0098 discloses wafer chuck) configured to hold a semiconductor structure (Figs. 4A-4C, paragraph 0097-0098 discloses wafer); and
a heating device (Figs. 4A-4C, element 400a, paragraph 0097-0098) configured to generate a certain pattern of heat (Figs. 4A-4C disclose different heat zones, paragraph 0097-0101),
wherein the heating device is integrated with the semiconductor structure holding device such that when the semiconductor structure holding device is holding the semiconductor structure, the certain pattern of heat generated by the heating device is applied to the semiconductor structure (Figs. 4A-4C, paragraph 0097-0101).
Regarding claim 2, Schepis et al. teach wherein the certain pattern of heat generated by the heating device is transferred through the semiconductor structure holding device and applied to the semiconductor structure (Figs. 4A-4C paragraph 0097-0101).
Regarding claim 5, Schepis et al. teach wherein the heating device includes a plurality of heating units that are controlled to generate heat independently (paragraph 0098 discloses “In some embodiments, the heat array 400A includes an array of resistors. Each resistor can be configured to generate a respective amount of heat based on a respective current flowing through”).
Regarding claim 6, Schepis et al. teach wherein the heating units are arranged in a matrix (paragraph 0098).
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 of this title, 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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schepis et al. (US 2023/0326767) in view of Jones et al. (US 2024/0157821).
Regarding claim 3, Schepis et al. teach all of the limitations as discussed above.
Schepis et al. do not explicitly disclose wherein the semiconductor structure holding device is a gripper.
Jones et al. teach that a support structure 122 for a wafer 124 can be a chuck or a gripper (paragraph 0032).
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use a gripper as a gripper is an art recognized alternative to a chuck for providing support to a wafer. MPEP 2144.06. II (SUBSTITUTING EQUIVALENTS KNOWN FOR THE SAME PURPOSE).
Claims 4, 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schepis et al. (US 2023/0326767) in view of Jones et al. (US 2024/0157821) and further in view of Tomizawa et al. (US 2020/0152499).
Regarding claim 4, Schepis et al. modified by Jones et al. teach all of the limitations as discussed above.
Schepis et al. modified by Jones et al. do not explicitly disclose wherein the gripper includes aluminum nitride (AlN) or siliconized silicon carbide (SiSiC).
Tomizawa et al. teach an ESC plate comprising AlN (paragraph 0017).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the teachings of Schepis et al. and Jones et al. according to the teachings of Tomizawa et al. with the motivation to prevent warpage (paragraph 0004).
Regarding claim 11, Schepis et al. modified by Jones et al. and Tomizawa et al. teach further comprising cooling units surrounding the heating units to localize heat transferring (paragraph 0033 of Tomizawa).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schepis et al. (US 2023/0326767) in view of Chadha et al. (US 2025/0226255).
Regarding claim 12, Schepis et al. teach all of the limitations as discussed above.
Schepis et al. do not explicitly disclose wherein the heating device further includes a heat sink that is thermally coupled to the heating units.
Chadha et al. teach a heating device (Fig. 1, paragraph 0028 discloses element 150 being used as a heater) further includes a heat sink (Fig. 1, paragraph 0043 discloses a heat sink) that is thermally coupled to the heating units.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to modify the teachings of Schepis et al. according to the teachings of Chadha et al. with the motivation to optimize thermal performance.
Cited Prior Art
The Examiner has pointed out particular references contained in the prior art of record within the body of this action for the convenience of the Applicant.
Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAHED AHMED whose telephone number is (571)272-3477. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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/SHAHED AHMED/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2813
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