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
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending in the current application.
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, 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) 1, 9-11, 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawakami (US 6558508) in view of Lin (US 20200051848).
As to claim 1, Kawakami discloses a substrate support unit comprising:
A chuck having an upper surface to mount a substrate an including a heater for heating the substrate (figure 2: substrate mount 3 with plate/chuck 5 for substrate [wafer] W and heaters 42/52 embedded; abstract);
A shaft assembly supporting a lower portion of the chuck including electric line connected to the heater (figure 2: support shaft 33 under chuck/plate 5 with power lines 57 to heaters);
A support assembly having an accommodation space surrounding and accommodating a portion of the shaft assembly and supporting the shaft assembly (figure 10: cooling portion [support assembly] 31 surrounding central shaft with power lines, containing passageway 32 [accommodation space] between 31 and central shaft area);
A seal ring sealing a lower portion of the accommodation space (figure 11: showing sealing of passageway 85 with walls and o-ring seals 83/84).
Cooling gas supplied to the accommodating space to cool the electric line (col 4 line 58-col 5 line 10: coolant provided to passage 32 [adjacent the power lines as illustrated in figure 2], use of heat exchange gases as coolant).
Kawakami, while disclosing a substrate support with a support shaft having heating lines and cooling structure which necessarily has an inlet and outlet to effect fluid flow, is silent as to inlet and outlets and their locations.
Lin discloses a substrate support in which a support chuck with resistive heaters is provided an underlying shaft (figure 2: body 205 [chuck] with underlying support shaft and heater 210; paragraph 35) and providing cooling gas to surrounding structure of the shaft (figure 8a: cooling channels 730 in tube 705 surrounding shaft 715; paragraph 40: use of liquid or gas coolant). Lin also discloses knowledge in the art of providing the inlets and outlets through the support structure and seals (figure 8a: inlets outlets to lines 730 through tube 705 and o-ring seals 720).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide inlets through the desired cooled structure and seals, as disclosed by Lin, in the structure of Kawakami, because this allows for effective coolant flow to the structure desired to be cooled without leakage.
As to claim 9, Lin discloses multiple inlets and outlets at different heights (figure 8a). Although Lin does not which is the inlet and outlet, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to choose as one must be an inlet, and one must be an outlet and therefore place the inlet and outlet in the orientation as required by the instant claim.
As to claim 10, Lin discloses a lifting drive to raise and lower the support assembly (figure 1: power box 103 with drive system to control elevation of the pedestal; paragraph 28).
As to claim 11, Kawakami discloses a treatment apparatus comprising:
A chamber and gas injection unit above a substrate support (figure 1: chamber 2 with gas source 28 and substate support 3);
The substrate support comprising:
A chuck having an upper surface to mount a substrate an including a heater for heating the substrate (figure 2: substrate mount 3 with plate/chuck 5 for substrate [wafer] W and heaters 42/52 embedded; abstract);
A shaft assembly supporting a lower portion of the chuck including electric line connected to the heater (figure 2: support shaft 33 under chuck/plate 5 with power lines 57 to heaters);
A support assembly having an accommodation space surrounding and accommodating a portion of the shaft assembly and supporting the shaft assembly (figure 10: cooling portion [support assembly] 31 surrounding central shaft with power lines, containing passageway 32 [accommodation space] between 31 and central shaft area);
A seal ring sealing a lower portion of the accommodation space (figure 11: showing sealing of passageway 85 with walls and o-ring seals 83/84).
Cooling gas supplied to the accommodating space to cool the electric line (col 4 line 58-col 5 line 10: coolant provided to passage 32 [adjacent the power lines as illustrated in figure 2], use of heat exchange gases as coolant).
Kawakami, while disclosing a substrate support with a support shaft having heating lines and cooling structure which necessarily has an inlet and outlet to effect fluid flow, is silent as to inlet and outlets and their locations.
Lin discloses a substrate support in which a support chuck with resistive heaters is provided an underlying shaft (figure 2: body 205 [chuck] with underlying support shaft and heater 210; paragraph 35) and providing cooling gas to surrounding structure of the shaft (figure 8a: cooling channels 730 in tube 705 surrounding shaft 715; paragraph 40: use of liquid or gas coolant). Lin also discloses knowledge in the art of providing the inlets and outlets through the support structure and seals (figure 8a: inlets outlets to lines 730 through tube 705 and o-ring seals 720).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide inlets through the desired cooled structure and seals, as disclosed by Lin, in the structure of Kawakami, because this allows for effective coolant flow to the structure desired to be cooled without leakage.
As to claim 15, Kawakami and Lin both disclose a small internal cooling channel with inlet provided cooling gas, as discussed above, within a vacuum chamber environment (Kawakami at abstract, figure 1; Lin at figure 1; paragraph 43: operation of gas channel at higher pressure than chamber). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the small confined space directly provided cooling fluid would operate at a higher pressure than the larger vacuum pumped space.
As to claim 16, Lin discloses a lifting drive to raise and lower the support assembly (figure 1: power box 103 with drive system to control elevation of the pedestal; paragraph 28).
Claim(s) 2-5 and 12-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawakami in view of Lin, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Mustafa (US 20190390337).
As to claim 2 and 12, Kawakami discloses a substrate support structure, but is silent as to rotation structure.
Mustafa discloses a substrate support with a chuck body with resistive heaters and underlying support shaft with electrical wiring and cooling structure (figure 1: chuck 110 with resistive heater 144, support shaft 116 and wiring to source 142, cooling structure 138). Mustafa also discloses knowledge in the art of rotating the substrate support to reduce non-uniformity during processing (paragraph 19), the rotation effected by a fixed cylinder, rotating cylinder inside the fixed cylinder, and a rotation drive below and attached to the rotation cylinder (paragraph 24: rotation module with fixed components and rotatable components with seal therebetween; figure 1: rotation drive 136 underlying fixed hub 134 for rotating shaft outer component tube 132).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide rotational mechanisms, as disclosed by Mustafa, in the system of Kawakami in view of Lin, because this allows for increased uniformity during substrate processing.
As to claim 3 and 13, Mustafa discloses a slip ring connected to the rotation driver surrounding and accommodating the feeds to the shaft (figure 1: slip ring 140; paragraph 27).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the slip ring in a location so as to contain the accommodation space of Kawakami and include sealing structures as disclosed by Kawakami (figure 11) to prevent leakage of cooling and other fluids.
As to claim 4-5, Lin discloses inlets and outlets passing through sealing structure and into the surrounding and central support structure (figure 8a). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the inlets and outlets would both pass through the rotation cylinder and seals when the rotation structure of Mustafa is combined with the structure of Kawakami and Lin to allow for feeding cooling gas to the rotating support shaft.
Claim(s) 17, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kawakami in view of Lin and Mustafa.
As to claim 17, Kawakami discloses a treatment apparatus comprising:
A chamber and gas injection unit above a substrate support (figure 1: chamber 2 with gas source 28 and substate support 3);
The substrate support comprising:
A chuck having an upper surface to mount a substrate an including a heater for heating the substrate (figure 2: substrate mount 3 with plate/chuck 5 for substrate [wafer] W and heaters 42/52 embedded; abstract);
A shaft assembly supporting a lower portion of the chuck including electric line connected to the heater (figure 2: support shaft 33 under chuck/plate 5 with power lines 57 to heaters);
A support assembly having an accommodation space surrounding and accommodating a portion of the shaft assembly and supporting the shaft assembly (figure 10: cooling portion [support assembly] 31 surrounding central shaft with power lines, containing passageway 32 [accommodation space] between 31 and central shaft area);
A seal ring sealing a lower portion of the accommodation space (figure 11: showing sealing of passageway 85 with walls and o-ring seals 83/84).
Cooling gas supplied to the accommodating space to cool the electric line (col 4 line 58-col 5 line 10: coolant provided to passage 32 [adjacent the power lines as illustrated in figure 2], use of heat exchange gases as coolant).
Kawakami, while disclosing a substrate support with a support shaft having heating lines and cooling structure which necessarily has an inlet and outlet to effect fluid flow, is silent as to inlet and outlets and their locations.
Lin discloses a substrate support in which a support chuck with resistive heaters is provided an underlying shaft (figure 2: body 205 [chuck] with underlying support shaft and heater 210; paragraph 35) and providing cooling gas to surrounding structure of the shaft (figure 8a: cooling channels 730 in tube 705 surrounding shaft 715; paragraph 40: use of liquid or gas coolant). Lin also discloses knowledge in the art of providing the inlets and outlets through the support structure and seals (figure 8a: inlets outlets to lines 730 through tube 705 and o-ring seals 720).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide inlets through the desired cooled structure and seals, as disclosed by Lin, in the structure of Kawakami, because this allows for effective coolant flow to the structure desired to be cooled without leakage.
Kawakami discloses a substrate support structure, but is silent as to rotation structure.
Mustafa discloses a substrate support with a chuck body with resistive heaters and underlying support shaft with electrical wiring and cooling structure (figure 1: chuck 110 with resistive heater 144, support shaft 116 and wiring to source 142, cooling structure 138). Mustafa also discloses knowledge in the art of rotating the substrate support to reduce non-uniformity during processing (paragraph 19), the rotation effected by a slip ring connected to the rotation driver surrounding and accommodating the feeds to the shaft (figure 1: slip ring 140; paragraph 27).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide rotational mechanisms, as disclosed by Mustafa, in the system of Kawakami in view of Lin, because this allows for increased uniformity during substrate processing.
As to claim 19, Kawakami and Lin both disclose a small internal cooling channel with inlet provided cooling gas, as discussed above, within a vacuum chamber environment (Kawakami at abstract, figure 1; Lin at figure 1; paragraph 43: operation of gas channel at higher pressure than chamber). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the small confined space directly provided cooling fluid would operate at a higher pressure than the larger vacuum pumped space.
As to claim 20, Lin discloses a cylindrical portion containing the shaft portion, the cylindrical portion having a bellows surrounding it (figure 1: bellows [unlabelled, zig-zag structure] surrounding outer cylindrical portion of pedestal cylinder 128).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-8, 14 and 18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
These claims require further structure defining the rotation mechanism and accommodation space with connections and relative locations of the inlet/outlet that the prior art does not teach nor suggest without impermissible hindsight combination.
Correspondence Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON BERMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5265. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday 8-4.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James Lin can be reached on (571) 272-8902. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JASON BERMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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