DETAILED ACTION
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 .
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on August 21, 2024. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-20 are currently presented in the instant application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/21/2024 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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-2, 5, 10 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Takahashi et al. (US 2023/0377844).
PNG
media_image1.png
819
786
media_image1.png
Greyscale
With respect to claim 1, Takahashi discloses in figures 1-2 a plasma processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body (12, e.g., a chamber body) comprising a chamber (10, e.g., a plasma chamber); an electrostatic chuck (20, e.g., an electrostatic chuck) supporting a substrate (W, e.g., a substrate) within the chamber body (see figure 2) and comprising a lower electrode (18, 21, e.g., lower electrodes); a high-frequency power supply device (88, e.g., a power supply) configured to supply high-frequency power to generate plasma with gas (having a gas port 36c) supplied to the chamber (paragraphs 0072-0073, e.g., applying the power supply 88 to an upper electrode 30 for generating plasma thereof); and a bias power supply device (61, e.g., a bias power supply) configured to supply pulse power (figures 4-5, e.g., pulse signals applied thereof) configured for ion acceleration to the lower electrode (see figure 1), wherein the bias power supply device is configured to apply a positive voltage pulse (figure 3 and paragraph 0093, e.g., “the bias power supply 61 may set the duty ratio DP in the process period PP) having a duty ratio of (1-D) to the lower electrode (see figure 3), where D is a real number between 0 and 1 (paragraph 0093, e.g., having a ratio around 30% or 0.3 thereof), when a target duty ratio D of an acceleration period (see figures 3-5) for accelerating ions in the plasma during a process cycle is greater than a threshold (paragraph 0093, e.g., “the duty ratio DP in the process PP is equal to or larger than a threshold value”).
With respect to claim 2, Takahashi discloses that wherein the bias power supply device is configured to apply a negative voltage pulse (figure 5 shows a negative voltage pulse VBW applied thereof) having the target duty ratio D to the lower electrode when the target duty ratio D is less than or equal to the threshold (see paragraphs 0067 and 0093).
With respect to claim 5, Takahashi discloses that wherein the threshold is 0.5 (paragraph 0093, e.g., having a ratio around 30% or 0.3 thereof and however, the threshold value can be selected to a predetermined number that depends on a particular application or environment of use).
With respect to claim 10, Takahashi discloses that wherein the plasma processing apparatus further includes: an upper electrode (30) on an upper portion or a side portion of the chamber body (see figure 2); and an induction electrode (ER, 22a-22b, e.g., induction electrodes) disposed between the upper electrode (30) and the lower electrode (18), and provided inside the chamber (see figure 1).
With respect to claim 20, Takahashi discloses in figures 1-2 a plasma processing apparatus comprising: a chamber body (12, e.g., a chamber body) comprising a chamber (10, e.g., a plasma chamber); an electrostatic chuck (20, e.g., an electrostatic chuck) supporting a substrate (W, e.g., a substrate) within the chamber body (see figure 2) and comprising a lower electrode (18, 21, e.g., lower electrodes); a high-frequency power supply device (88, e.g., a power supply) configured to supply high-frequency power to generate plasma with gas (having a gas port 36c) supplied to the chamber (paragraphs 0072-0073, e.g., applying the power supply 88 to an upper electrode 30 for generating plasma thereof); and a bias power supply device (61, e.g., a bias power supply) configured to supply non-sinusoidal power (figures 4-5, e.g., pulse signals applied thereof) to the lower electrode for ion acceleration (see figure 1), wherein the bias power supply device is configured to control a direct current level of the non-sinusoidal power (figure 1 shows the bias power 61 providing a direct current level applied thereof), such that a zero voltage is applied to the lower electrode during a longest period (figures 3-4 and paragraph 0050, e.g., having a voltage pulse signals VBW applied thereof) among one or more acceleration periods (see figure 4, e.g., BW signal) for accelerating ions in the plasma and a rest period excluding the one or more acceleration periods during one process cycle (see figures 3-4).
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.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takahashi et al. (US 2024/0162007) in view of Li et al. (US 2024/0162007).
With respect to claim 9, Takahashi discloses all claimed limitations, as expressly recited in claim 1, except for specifying that wherein the plasma processing apparatus is configured to perform an etching operation of the substrate during the acceleration period, and is configured to perform a passivation operation and an exhaust operation during a rest period excluding the acceleration period during the process cycle.
Li discloses in figure 2A a plasma processing apparatus comprising a chamber (250), a lower electrode (214), a substrate (13), a high frequency power supply device (271) and a bias power supply device (210), wherein the plasma processing apparatus is configured to perform an etching operation of the substrate during the acceleration period (figure 3-4, e.g., having an accelerating period thereof and paragraph 0031, e.g., “controls the amount and characteristics of the etching process that occurs on the surface of the substrate”), and is configured to perform a passivation operation (paragraph 0040, e.g., “activity 504 is generally used to enable the passivation of the exposed surfaces of the substrate that were etched during activity 502”) and an exhaust operation (figure 2A shows a gas process thereof) during a rest period excluding the acceleration period during the process cycle (see figures 3-4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the apparatus of Takahashi etching and passivation operations as taught by Li for the purpose of improving the etching profile results and reducing the micro-loading effect found within features formed in the surface of the substrate after plasma processing since this configuration for the stated purpose would have been obvious as evidenced by the teaching of Li (see paragraph 0034).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-19 are allowed.
Claims 3 and 6 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 4 and 7-8 are objected as being dependent on claims 3 and 6, respectively).
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest the following limitations:
A plasma processing apparatus comprising: …. “wherein the bias power supply device is configured to control a direct current level of the non-sinusoidal power using a ratio of a first acceleration period during a process cycle, in which ions in the plasma are accelerated to have a first energy, a ratio of a second acceleration period during which ions in the plasma are accelerated to have a second energy, and a ratio of a rest period excluding the first acceleration period and the second acceleration period”, in combination with the remaining claimed limitation as claimed in independent claim 11 (claims 12-19 would be allowable as being dependent on claim 11).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Prior art Li et al. – US 2025/0201538
Prior art Nagami et al. – US 2023/0411128
Prior art Ichino et al. – US 2009/0321391
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUNG X LE whose telephone number is (571)272-6010. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm.
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, Alexander H. Taningco can be reached at 571-272-8048. 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.
/TUNG X LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 July 24, 2026
Prosecution Insights