DETAILED ACTION
Non-Final Rejection
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 of Invention I in the reply filed on 12 May 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 22 June 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Emoto (U.S. Patent Publication 2017/0182515) in view of Miyazaki (U.S. Patent 10,281,210).
Regarding claim 1, Emoto discloses a substrate processing method, comprising:
a liquid film forming step (Paragraph 9, 101) of supplying a processing liquid to an upper surface of a substrate W horizontally held and forming a liquid film of the processing liquid on the upper surface of the substrate (Paragraph 9, 101);
a liquid film heat retaining step (Paragraph 107) of keeping the liquid film warm by heating the entire substrate to a temperature lower than a boiling point of the processing liquid;
a gas phase layer forming step (Paragraph 107) of evaporating the processing liquid in contact with a center portion of the upper surface of the substrate and forming a gas phase layer which is in contact with the upper surface of the substrate and holds the processing liquid on a center portion of the liquid film by irradiating an irradiation region set on the center portion of the upper surface of the substrate, while the liquid film heat retaining step is performed;
an opening forming step (Paragraph 14, 15, 34, 107, 119) of forming an opening in the center portion of the liquid film by excluding the processing liquid held by the gas phase layer;
a substrate rotating step (Paragraph 20-22, 38) of rotating the substrate around a rotation axis which passes through the center portion of the upper surface of the substrate and extends in a vertical direction; and
an opening expanding step (Paragraph 14, 34) of expanding the opening, while a state in which the gas phase layer is formed on an inner circumferential edge of the liquid film is maintained, by moving the irradiation region toward a circumferential edge portion of the substrate while the liquid film heat retaining step and the substrate rotating step are performed (FIG. 1-7; Paragraph 9, 14-15, 20-22, 34, 38, 107, 119).
Emoto is silent regarding the irradiating occurs with light from a radiation unit which faces the upper surface of the substrate to heat the center portion of the upper surface of the substrate
However, Miyazaki teaches a substrate processing method including:
irradiating an irradiation region set on the center portion of the upper surface of the substrate W with light from a radiation unit 10A which faces the upper surface of the substrate to heat the center portion of the upper surface of the substrate, the radiation unit being moveable with respect to the substrate in the vertical direction (FIG. 1-2; Col. 4 ln 30-48).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing, to modify Emoto by adding a radiation unit in the form of a light producing radiation unit above the center of the substrate, as taught by Miyazaki, for the purpose of providing an easily manipulated means by which one can heat the irradiation region of the substrate.
Regarding claim 2, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 1.
Emoto/Miyazaki further teaches the opening expanding step comprises a step of moving the irradiation region (Miyazaki via 11) according to expansion of the opening so that the irradiation region is disposed to straddle a liquid film forming region in which the liquid film is formed on the upper surface of the substrate and an opening forming region in which the opening is formed in the upper surface of the substrate (Miyazaki FIG. 1; Col. 4 ln 30-48).
Regarding claim 3, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 1.
Emoto further discloses the liquid film heat retaining step comprises a heater 11 heating step of keeping the liquid film warm by heating the substrate with a heater unit which faces a lower surface of the substrate at a position at which the heater unit is separated from the lower surface of the substrate (FIG. 1; Paragraph 107).
Regarding claim 4, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 1.
Emoto further discloses the liquid film heat retaining step comprises a fluid heating step of keeping the liquid film warm by supplying a heating fluid (via 11) to a center portion of the lower surface of the substrate and heating the substrate (FIG. 1; Paragraph 107).
Regarding claim 5, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 1.
Emoto/Miyazaki further discloses the opening expanding step comprises a step of forming the opening in the center portion of the liquid film by maintaining the irradiation region on the center portion of the upper surface of the substrate after the gas phase layer is formed (Emoto Paragraph 14, 34, 109; Miyazaki FIG. 1; Col. 4 ln 30-48).
Regarding claim 6, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 5.
Emoto further discloses an opening formation promoting step of promoting formation of the opening by spraying a gas toward the center portion of the liquid film on which the gas phase layer is formed (Paragraph 107).
Regarding claim 7, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 1.
Emoto further discloses an expansion promoting step of promoting expansion of the opening by spraying a gas (Paragraph 107) onto an inside of the inner circumferential edge of the liquid film on the upper surface of the substrate when the inner circumferential edge of the liquid film reaches the circumferential edge portion of the upper surface of the substrate (Paragraph 107).
Regarding claim 8, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 1.
Emoto/Miyazaki further teaches in the opening forming step, the opening is formed in a state in which a height position of the radiation unit is set to a separation position (Miyazaki FIG. 1; Col. 4 ln 30-48), and
the substrate processing method further comprises:
a radiation unit proximity step of changing the height position of the radiation unit to a proximity position closer to the upper surface of the substrate than the separation position is after the opening is formed (Miyazaki FIG. 1; Col. 4 ln 30-48), and
a proximity movement step of moving the irradiation region toward the circumferential edge portion of the substrate by moving the radiation unit toward the circumferential edge portion of the substrate, while the height position of the radiation unit is maintained at the proximity position, in the opening expanding step (Miyazaki FIG. 1; Col. 4 ln 30-48).
Regarding claim 9, Emoto, as modified above, discloses the claimed invention substantially as claimed, as set forth above from claim 1.
Emoto/Miyazaki further teaches the light radiated from the radiation unit has a wavelength which is transmitted through the processing liquid (Miyazaki FIG. 1).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Emoto (U.S. Patent 9,259,758) discloses a substrate processing method similar to the one disclosed in the present application.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER D BALLMAN whose telephone number is (571)272-9984. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 6:00-3:00.
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, Craig M Schneider can be reached at 571-272-3607. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/CHRISTOPHER D BALLMAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3753
/CRAIG M SCHNEIDER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3753
Prosecution Insights