DETAILED ACTION
The Applicant’s amendment filed on May 21, 2026 was received.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action issued March 3, 2026.
Claim Objections
The objections to the claims 8 and 10 are withdrawn because the claims have been amended.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xiang on claim 5 is withdrawn because applicants was sufficient to show Xiang did not meet the standard for anticipation.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiang and Armstrong on claim 6 is withdrawn because applicants was sufficient to show Xiang did not meet the standard for anticipation.
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiang and White on claims 7 and 9 are withdrawn because applicants was sufficient to show Xiang did not meet the standard for anticipation.
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiang and Griffiths on claims 8 and 10 are withdrawn because applicants was sufficient to show Xiang did not meet the standard for anticipation.
The claim rejections under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiang and Morita on claims 22-23 are withdrawn because applicants was sufficient to show Xiang did not meet the standard for anticipation.
Please consider the following.
Claims 5 and 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morita (US 2021/0118706) in view of Xiang (US 2017/0009342).
In regards to claim 5, Morita teaches a processing unit comprising a heated chuck plate (312, wafer chuck) with a plurality of electric heaters (314/316, heating element) which provides rotationally divided heat zones, to heat a wafer (W) at different zones (fig. 2, 4, 7; para. 30-37).
Morita teaches the chuck plate is connected to a rotary stage 310 which is driven to rotate by a rotary driver (350) (fig. 2; para. 28-29).
Morita teaches a temperature controller (420) which controls temperature of the chuck plate (fig. 2; para. 60-61).
Morita does not explicitly teach a cooling element, and the at least one rotationally divided heat zone located adjacent a first portion of a wafer supported on the rotating wafer chuck, and at least one rotationally divided cool zone in communication with the cooling element, the at least one rotationally divided cool zone located adjacent a second, different portion of the wafer supported on the rotating wafer chuck, the programmable logic controller is in communication with the cooling element, the heating element, and the rotating wafer chuck, and the programmable logic controller includes a processor and a memory storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, control a temperature of the rotating wafer chuck utilizing at least one of the heating element or the cooling element.
However, Xiang teaches a system for controlling temperature comprising:
a pedestal (wafer chuck) (fig. 4; para. 56-57);
a cooling unit (15, cooling element) (fig. 5-6; para. 58-59);
a heating rod (13) (fig. 5-6; para. 58-60);
a temperature controller (16, controller) (fig. 5-6; para. 57-61),
where a plurality of temperature sensors (14) are connected to the temperature controller to measure the temperature of the pedestal (fig. 5-6; para. 57-61).
Xiang teaches the pedestal has a plurality of heat zones provided in subbases (11), that are rotationally divided, and also has a plurality of cool zones provided in the subbases (11), that are rotationally divided, where the temperature controller controls the cooling units and the heating rods in each of the subbases, to provide control of the temperature distribution of the pedestal (fig. 4-6; para. 57-62).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the system for controlling temperature of the pedestal of Xiang onto the processing unit of Morita because Xiang teaches it will provide fine temperature control (para. 22).
In regards to claims 22-23, Morita and Xiang as discussed, where Morita teaches two temperature sensors (52/54) that detect the temperature of a top surface of the chuck plate (312) or wafer. Morita teaches the temperature is controlled based on measurements from the two temperature sensors (fig. 2; para. 60-62).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morita and Xiang as applied to claims 5 and 22-23 above, and further in view of Armstrong (US 6,072,163).
In regards to claim 6, Morita and Xiang as discussed above, but do not explicitly teach the instructions, when executed by the processor, controls a temperature of the rotating wafer chuck utilizing the heating element and the cooling element simultaneously.
However, Armstrong teaches a process where a bakeplate (20) is provided simultaneous heating and cooling to achieve a desired equilibrium temperature (col. 10, lines 40-55).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the claimed invention, to incorporate the process of simultaneous heating and cooling of Armstrong onto the temperature controller of Morita and Xiang because Armstrong teaches it will provide the desired equilibrium temperature.
Claims 7 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Morita and Xiang as applied to claims 5 and 22-23 above, and further in view of White (US 2015/0364350).
In regards to claim 7, Morita and Xiang as discussed above, but do not explicitly teach a process of setting the cooling element to a constant temperature or constant power setting and modulates the heating element with enough power to overcome the cooling effect of the cooling element.
However, White teaches a controller (290) with a process of maintaining a constant flow of cooling material at a constant temperature around 16° C, and operating heating elements to overcome cooling and maintaining the temperature of a substrate support surface constantly around 150° C (para. 72, 77).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the claimed invention, to incorporate the process of constant temperature for cooling flow of Armstrong onto the temperature controller of Morita and Xiang because White teaches it will provide a surface temperature uniformity within 2° C (para. 77).
In regards to claim 9, Xiang as discussed above, but does not explicitly teach the cooling element is a cooling plate.
However, White teaches a cooling structure comprising two conductive plates with cooling passages (310a, 310b, 310c) (fig. 4; para. 65-70).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the claimed invention, to incorporate the cooling plates of White onto the subbase of Morita and Xiang because White teaches it will provide better temperature control during substrate processing (para. 65).
Claims 8 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiang as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Griffiths (US 6,133,550) (supported by US-20170051406).
In regards to claims 8 and 10, Morita and Xiang as discussed above to teach the heating rods comprises a plurality of zones , but does not explicitly teach the rotating wafer chuck comprises graphite coated with silicon carbide (SiC) and the heating element comprises a graphite heater coated with SiC.
However, Griffiths teaches a heated block (504) comprising silicon carbide (SiC) coated graphite and a resistive heater (510) formed from silicon carbide coated graphite (fig. 5; col. 12, lines 5-20).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the claimed invention, to incorporate the silicon carbide coated graphite used for the heater and substrate support of Griffiths onto the pedestal and heating rods of Morita and Xiang because using silicon carbide provides good heat conductivity (see para. 6 in US-20170051406).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 7 to 8, filed May 21, 2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 5 under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xiang, have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Morita and Xiang as expressed above.
With regards to the argued Xiang identifies the substrate-supporting structure as an immovable pedestal, not as a rotating wafer chuck, it is noted immovable does not mean not movable in all directions. The prior art of Xiang could provide rotational movement while not provide movement along a vertical or horizontal directions. Therefore the paragraph 53 of Xiang does not criticize, discredit, or otherwise discourage the combination discussed above (MPEP 2145-X-D-1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Binu Thomas whose telephone number is (571)270-7684. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Thursday, 8:00AM-5:00PM PT.
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/Binu Thomas/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1717
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