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 1-15 are pending in the current application.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 11 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 1 and 11 requires “the area of the first probe and the area of the second probe are different sizes.” While not rising to the level of indefiniteness, this phrasing appears to contain at least partially redundant concepts of different areas for the probes, and different sizes for the probes.
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-8 and 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Amimaya (JP H0711992 B2, name obtained from machine translation) in view of Chung (KR 20120049510 A).
As to claim 1, Amimaya discloses a device measuring plasma state with a dual probe with asymmetric area comprising:
A first and second probe (English translation abstract; figure 1: probes P1 and P2);
A voltage applicator to apply a preset voltage to the first and second probe (figure 1: HF power source 1; English translation paragraph 4: applying varying voltage to the probes);
A current measuring part to measure the current flowing through the first and second probe (figure 1: detection circuit 5; English translation paragraph 4: measuring the current from the probes);
A plasma analysis part that calculates electron temperature of the plasma in a chamber based on results from the current measuring part (English translation ‘problems to be solved’ first paragraph: calculating/monitoring electron temperatures in real time from the system);
The area of the first and second probes are different (English translation first paragraph: different size probes).
Amimaya, while disclosing a probe for plasma with two asymmetric probes provided a voltage with the current measured to determine plasma properties, is silent as to determination of plasma density.
Chung discloses a probe for determining plasma properties with two different sized probes provided a voltage (English translation abstract; figure 3) and knowledge in the art of using the probe to measure plasma states including electron temperature and density (English translation description of embodiments description of paragraph 3: measured plasma state includes electron temperature and plasma density).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a plasma probe to determine various plasma characteristics including density, as disclosed by Chung, with the probe of Amimaya, because this allows for monitoring and control of the plasma generated.
As to claim 2, Chung discloses probes with the same shape but having different areas/sizes (figure 3: probe 120 vs 140).
As to claim 3, Amimaya and Chung both disclose use of any desired shape for the probe (Amimaya at English translation abstract; Chung English translation ‘description of embodiments’ paragraph 5: shape and size of probe selected as desired). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to select the probe shape, based upon result effective determinations, including cylindrical or cube shapes, in order to effectively obtain plasma information from the probe.
As to claim 4, both Amimaya and Chung disclose using the same shape but different size probes, as discussed above. Chung illustrates a probe with one direction of the shape elongated to obtain a size difference (figure 3). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use probes with different vertical lengths and the same heights to obtain the size differentials required by Amimaya and Chung to obtain effective plasma monitoring.
As to claim 5, Amimaya discloses a surface area ratio of 2:1 to 10:1 of the probes (English translation ‘operation’ section, third from last paragraph – ‘When the probe surface area ratio k is…’).
As to claim 6, Amimaya discloses the two probes connected to respective ends of the voltage source (figure 1: showing probes P1 and P2 connected to respective ends of voltage source circuit).
As to claim 7, Amimaya discloses voltage outputs including a sinusoidal voltage (figure 2c: sinusoidal output wave).
As to claim 8, Amimaya discloses analysis of plasma characteristics using current, area ratio, and power measurements/information (English translation ‘operation’ section with calcuations including current, voltage and area ratios ).
As to claim 11, Amimaya discloses a device generating plasma and a plurality of asymmetric probes comprising:
A first and second probe (English translation abstract; figure 1: probes P1 and P2);
A voltage applicator to apply a preset voltage to the first and second probe (figure 1: HF power source 1; English translation paragraph 4: applying varying voltage to the probes);
A current measuring part to measure the current flowing through the first and second probe (figure 1: detection circuit 5; English translation paragraph 4: measuring the current from the probes);
A plasma analysis part that calculates electron temperature of the plasma in a chamber based on results from the current measuring part (English translation ‘problems to be solved’ first paragraph: calculating/monitoring electron temperatures in real time from the system);
The area of the first and second probes are different (English translation first paragraph: different size probes).
Amimaya, while disclosing a probe for plasma with two asymmetric probes provided a voltage with the current measured to determine plasma properties, is silent as to a chamber and determination of plasma density.
Chung discloses a probe for determining plasma properties with two different sized probes provided a voltage within a processing chamber (English translation abstract; background section paragraphs 1-2; figure 3) and knowledge in the art of using the probe to measure plasma states including electron temperature and density (English translation description of embodiments description of paragraph 3: measured plasma state includes electron temperature and plasma density).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a plasma probe in a chamber to determine various plasma characteristics including density, as disclosed by Chung, with the probe of Amimaya, because this allows for monitoring and control of the plasma generated.
As to claim 12, Amimaya discloses a method of measuring plasma state using a dual probe with asymmetric area comprising:
A voltage application step of applying a preset voltage to a first and second probes having different areas (figure 1: HF power source 1; English translation paragraph 4: applying varying voltage to the probes; English translation first paragraph: different size probes);
A current measuring step measuring current flowing through the first and second probes (figure 1: detection circuit 5; English translation paragraph 4: measuring the current from the probes);
A plasma analysis step of calculating electron temperature of the plasma based on the measured current (English translation ‘problems to be solved’ first paragraph: calculating/monitoring electron temperatures in real time from the system).
Amimaya, while disclosing a probe for plasma with two asymmetric probes provided a voltage with the current measured to determine plasma properties, is silent as to a chamber and determination of plasma density.
Chung discloses a probe for determining plasma properties with two different sized probes provided a voltage within a processing chamber (English translation abstract; background section paragraphs 1-2; figure 3) and knowledge in the art of using the probe to measure plasma states including electron temperature and density (English translation description of embodiments description of paragraph 3: measured plasma state includes electron temperature and plasma density).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a plasma probe in a chamber to determine various plasma characteristics including density, as disclosed by Chung, with the method of Amimaya, because this allows for monitoring and control of the plasma generated.
As to claim 13, Chung discloses probes with the same shape but having different areas/sizes (figure 3: probe 120 vs 140).
As to claim 14, Amimaya discloses analysis of plasma characteristics using current, area ratio, and power measurements/information (English translation ‘operation’ section with calcuations including current, voltage and area ratios ).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-10 and 15 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.
Claims 9 and 15 require calculation based upon frequency information and current that is not taught nor made obvious by the prior art.
Correspondence Information
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/JASON BERMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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