DETAILED ACTION
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on May 6, 2026 has been entered.
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.
Claims 2 and 21 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.
Claims 2 and 21 recite the limitation "the feeder". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. It is unclear if “the feeder” is recalling the “first feeder” or the “feeder”.
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.
Claims 1-3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 13-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu et al. [CN 102323719] in view of Choi et al. [US 2010/0055401], Kitamoto et al. [US 2010/0269366], and Luo [CN 110586421].
For claim 1, Lu teaches a substrate treatment apparatus (see Figs. 1, 7, and 8), the apparatus comprising:
a coater (802, see [0039]) the coater includes a first feeder to guide the feeding direction in the coater to be a vertical direction (vertical component formed by feed direction of the support rollers 803 and 804 at coater 802, see Fig. 8) to coat a substrate while in a vertical state along the vertical direction (substrate on wheel, 807), which is conveyed at a first speed in a feeding direction (speed of substrate along path from roll 801 to roll 819), with a material (coating material) such that dust falls off of the substrate under gravity (inherently falling from bottom facing surface);
a dryer (816, see [0040]) to receive the substrate, which is coated by the coater, at the first speed and dry the material;
an exposer (808 and 824) to receive the substrate at the first speed and continuously convey a mask (808) at the first speed in the feeding direction, the mask being used for regional shading during exposure of the material by exposer (patterned exposure, see [0039] and Fig. 5 and 6), so that the material is subjected to continuous and regional exposure at the first speed by the exposer (see [0039]); and
an etcher (815) configured to receive the substrate, which is exposed by the exposer, at the first speed and etch the material and a portion of the substrate in an unexposed region of the substrate (see [0036]-[0038], and negative resist, see [0050]).
Lu fails to teach the dryer is positioned between the coater and the exposer in the feeding direction in order to provide for the exposer configured to receive the substrate, which is dried by the dryer.
Choi teaches a dryer is positioned between the coater and the exposer in the feeding direction in order to provide for the exposer configured to receive the substrate, which is dried by the dryer (drying and pre-baking at station 2 before the exposer 3, see Fig. 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the drying station and exposer arrangement as taught by Choi in the apparatus arrangement as taught by Lu in order to harden the coating material prior to exposure to ensure accurate exposure of the resist.
Lu fails to teach a dryer includes a plurality of heating tubes and a plurality of air knives arranged at intervals on two sides of the substrate in the feeding direction the plurality of heating tubes and the plurality of air knives are interleaved such that pairs of air knives alternate with pairs of heating tubes along the feeding direction.
Kitamoto teaches a dryer (a drying device that follows coating, see Figs. 1A and 1B and [0056]) includes a plurality of heating tubes (32) and a plurality of air knives (33) arranged at intervals on two sides of the substrate in the feeding direction the plurality of heating tubes and the plurality of air knives are interleaved such that pairs of air knives alternate with pairs of heating tubes along the feeding direction (see the arrangement group 31 shown in Figs. 1A and 1B).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the dryer configuration as taught by Kitamoto in the dryer as taught by Lu or Choi in order to sufficiently dry the substrate without using a large amount of energy.
Lu fails to teach a coater including a first feeder to guide a feeding direction in the coater to be a vertical direction, a flexible scraper, and a material tray to coat a substrate while in a vertical state along the vertical direction, which is conveyed at a first speed in the feeding direction, with a material such that dust falls off of the substrate under gravity.
Luo teaches a coater (see Fig. 1) including a first feeder (8 and 35) to guide a feeding direction in the coater to be a vertical direction (vertical orientation, see Fig. 1), a flexible scraper (blade 31, movable along movable rod direction 28, see Fig. 5), and a material tray (two coating roller 9 submerged in the slurry 10, see Fig. 1) to coat a substrate while in a vertical state along the vertical direction (see Fig. 1), which is conveyed at a first speed in the feeding direction (speed conveyed by motor 37), with a material such that dust falls off of the substrate under gravity (inherent to a vertical orientation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the coater configuration as taught by Luo in the coater as taught by Lu in order provide for more uniform coating of the material and efficient collection of excess material.
For claim 2, Lu teaches a feeder (wind up roll wheel 819, see [0040]) to convey the substrate at the first speed in the feeding direction, the coater, wherein the coater, the exposer, and the etcher are integrated into one apparatus (see Fig. 8) to continuously convey the substrate at the first speed via the feeder sequentially through the coater, the exposer, and the etcher in the feeding direction (coater 802 followed by mask 808 and source 824, followed by etching device 815, see Fig. 8), and
in the combination, Choi teaches the coater, the dryer, and the exposer are integrated into one apparatus (see Fig. 7) to continuously convey the substrate at the first speed via the feeder sequentially through the coater, the dryer, and the exposer in the feeding direction (coating 1, drying 2, and exposure 3, see Fig. 7).
For claim 3, Lu teaches a cleaner (etcher can further comprise a cleaning for removing the residual material mixture, see [0036]) configured to receive the substrate, which is etched of the etcher, at the first speed and clean the substrate.
For claims 5 and 6, Lu fails to teach the coater performs coating by a gravure coating process, and that the substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and the coater coats the first surface and the second surface with the material.
Choi teaches the coater performs coating by a gravure coating process (see [0071]), and that the substrate has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and the coater coats the first surface and the second surface with the material (coating and exposing both sides, see Fig. 5, [0062]-[0065], and example 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the opposite side coating by gravure as taught by Choi in the coating as taught by Lu, because the double sided gravure allows for providing efficient high speed coating on both sides of the substrate simultaneously in order to provide for two side exposure of the exposure, increasing throughput.
For claim 8, Lu teaches the exposer comprises a mask conveyer (820-823) configured to continuously convey the mask at the first speed in the feeding direction, to maintain the mask stationary relative to the substrate in an exposure region during the continuous and regional exposure (substrate 809 and mask 808 at the same speed, see [0039]).
For claim 9, Lu teaches the mask is an endless mask (flexible mask, see [0039]), and the mask conveyer rotates the endless mask at the first speed such that an exposure pattern on the endless mask is used repeatedly in cycles (substrate 809 patterned by exposure through mask 808 moving at the same speed, see [0039]).
For claims 13, 20, and 21, in the combination above, Lu teaches the exposer to receive the substrate at the first speed (see Fig. 8) and continuously convey the mask at the first speed in the feeding direction in the exposer along the horizontal direction (by a flexible mask, see Fig. 8 and [0039]), a feeder (wind up roll wheel 819, see [0040]) to convey the substrate at the first speed in the feeding direction, the coater, wherein the coater, the exposer, and the etcher are integrated into one apparatus (see Fig. 8) to continuously convey the substrate at the first speed via the feeder sequentially through the coater, the exposer, and the etcher in the feeding direction (coater 802 followed by mask 808 and source 824, followed by etching device 815, see Fig. 8);
Kitamoto teaches the dryer guides the feeding direction in the dryer to be a horizontal direction perpendicular to the vertical direction (see Fig. 1B and 5 and [0066], air from below on floor part 24 floats the substrate W); and
Choi teaches the exposer to receive the substrate, which is dried by the dryer, at the first speed (see Fig. 7), wherein the coater, the dryer, and the exposer are integrated into one apparatus (see Fig. 7) to continuously convey the substrate at the first speed via the feeder sequentially through the coater, the dryer, and the exposer in the feeding direction (coating 1, drying 2, and exposure 3, see Fig. 7).
For claim 14, in the combination, Luo teaches the first feeder further comprises: an upper feeder (8) and a lower feeder (35), wherein the upper feeder is positioned above the lower feeder in the vertical direction, and the substrate is located between the upper feeder and the lower feeder (see Fig. 1).
For claim 15, in the combination, Luo teaches the coater further comprises: a coating roller (9) located between the upper feeder and the lower feeder in the vertical direction; and the coating roller coats the substrate with the material in vertical state along the vertical direction (see Fig. 1).
For claim 16, in the combination, Kitamoto teaches the plurality of heating tubes and the plurality of air knives are interleaved within the dryer such that at least one pair of air knives among the plurality of air knives on the two sides of the substrate is positioned between two pairs of heating tubes among the plurality of heating tubes on the two sides of the substrate (see the interleaved positional relationship of heaters 32 and nozzles 33 shown in Fig. 1B).
For claim 17, in the combination, Kitamoto teaches at least one pair of heating tubes among the plurality of heating tubes on the two sides of the substrate is positioned between two pairs of air knives among the plurality of air knives on the two sides of the substrate (see the interleaved positional relationship of heaters 32 and nozzles 33 shown in Fig. 1B).
For claims 18 and 19, in the combination, Kitamoto teaches the plurality of heating tubes includes at least three pairs of heating tubes, the plurality of air knives includes at least three pairs of air knives, and the at least three pairs of heating tubes are interleaved with the at least three pairs of air knives (at least three groups 31 of heaters 32 and nozzles 33 shown in Fig. 1B), and the exposer includes a mask conveyor to continuously convey the mask at the first speed in the feeding direction to maintain the mask stationary relative to the substrate in an exposure region during the continuous and regional exposure.
For claim 22, in the combination, Kitamoto teaches the dryer comprises the plurality of heating tubes and the plurality of air knives (see Figs. 1A and 1B).
Lu fails to teach the dryer performs pre-curing of the material to stabilize the material prior to the regional exposure; the dryer is disposed directly downstream of a roller of the first feeder that transitions the feeding direction from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction to minimize a travel distance of the substrate in an un-cured state.
Choi teaches the dryer performs pre-curing of the material to stabilize the material prior to the regional exposure (dry and pre-bake 2 prior to exposure 3, see Fig. 7), the dryer is disposed directly downstream of a roller of the first feeder that transitions the feeding direction from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction to minimize a travel distance of the substrate in an un-cured state (drying device 2 arranged horizontally downstream from the intervening feed roller and coating device 1, see Fig. 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the horizontal dryer immediately after the feed roller changing the plane of the vertical substrate as taught by Choi in the arrangement as taught by Lu in order to harden the resist prior to exposure to ensure exposure accuracy of the exposure and reduce the likelihood of the hardened resist deforming from the horizontal exposure.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu in view of Choi, Kitamoto, and Luo as applied to claim 9 above, and further in view of Dunn et al. [US 6,018,383].
For claim 10, Lu teaches the mask conveyer comprises: a first drive roller rotating at the first speed as a linear velocity, and the plurality of rollers being disposed on the inside of the endless mask to rotate the endless mask (rotation of the roller, directly or indirectly drives the motion of the flexible mask 808 to produce movement through a rotating transfer wheel 820, 821, 822, 823, see [0039]) synchronously with the substrate to maintain pattern consistency during the continuous and regional exposure (substrate 809 patterned by exposure through mask 808 moving at the same speed, see [0039]).
Lu fails to explicitly teach which of the rollers are a first drive roller and a driven roller.
Dunn teaches a first drive roller (roller 32, see Figs. 2 and 7) and a driven roller (30 and 31.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the roller arrangement as taught by Dunn in the mask conveying as taught by Lu in order to ensure that substrate and mask move at the same speeds and reduce the likelihood of slippage by multiple drive wheels.
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lu in view of Choi, Kitamoto, and Luo as applied to claims 1 and 3 above, and further in view of Senge et al. [US 4,859,298].
For claims 11 and 12, Lu fails to teach the etcher comprises: a conductive roller, a first electrode and an etching tank, the conductive roller and the first electrode being disposed in the etching tank, and the etching tank holding an electrolyte solution, wherein the conductive roller and the first electrode have opposite polarities, and the conductive roller comes into contact with the exposed substrate and conveys the substrate to the etching tank at the first speed, and the cleaner comprises: a spray rod and a cleaning tank, the spray rod sprays a cleaning liquid to the etched substrate, and the cleaning tank collects and discharges a waste liquid after cleaning the substrate.
Senge teaches the etcher (see Fig. 1) comprises: a conductive roller (18), a first electrode (28) and an etching tank (11), the conductive roller and the first electrode being disposed in the etching tank, and the etching tank holding an electrolyte solution (7), wherein the conductive roller and the first electrode have opposite polarities (anode 25 and cathode 26), and the conductive roller comes into contact with the exposed substrate and conveys the substrate to the etching tank at the first speed (see Fig. 1), and the cleaner (36) comprises: a spray rod (spray bar headers 45) and a cleaning tank (36), the spray rod sprays a cleaning liquid to the etched substrate, and the cleaning tank collects and discharges a waste liquid after cleaning the substrate (water waste falling from substrate inherent to the system, see Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the etcher and cleaner arrangements as taught by Senge in the etching and cleaning of a substrate as taught by Lu in order to continuously remove protective coatings of substrates to provide for patterning of the substrate.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 19, and 21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Luo, in combination with Lu, is relied upon to each the salient features of the coater in claims 1, 19, and 21.
Choi, in combination with Lu and Kitamoto, is relied upon to teach the salient features of claim 2, 21, and 22.
The applicant argues on pages 9-11, regarding claims 8-10 and 19, that Lu teaches exposure in a relaxed state tension and does not teach motion to maintain the mask stationary relative to the substrate in an exposure region during the continuous and regional exposure.
The examiner respectfully disagrees. Lu describes in paragraph [0039] that flexible mask 808 is moved at the same speed as flexible substrate 809 during exposure of the pattern onto the substrate. Therefore, the mask is stationary relative to the substrate. It is not clear how the tension state hampers the movement of the mask and substrate at the same speed.
Conclusion
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/Steven H Whitesell/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
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