DETAILED ACTION
POLISHING HEAD AND POLISHING APPARATUS
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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-2,6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Du Fong-Jie (WO2018180170A1).
Regarding claim 1, Du Fong-Jie teaches a polishing head (10, figure 2) for polishing a substrate, comprising: a pressing member (11, figures 3 6,8,16) configured to press a polishing tape (7, figures 3-4) against the substrate;
an actuator (25, figures 3-4)configured to move the pressing member in a predetermined pressing
direction and apply a pressing force to the pressing member; and
a tilt adjustment mechanism (69, figure 6) configured to adjust tilt of the pressing member with respect to the pressing direction, the tilt adjustment mechanism being configured to tilt the pressing member with respect to the pressing direction and maintain an angle of the tilted pressing member.
Regarding claim 2, Du Fong-Jie teaches wherein the tilt adjustment mechanism (69, figure 6) has a first support shaft (62, figure 6) perpendicular to an advancing direction of the polishing tape and is configured to tilt the pressing member about the first support shaft.
Regarding claim 6, Du Fong- Jie teaches a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate (“. The substrate holding unit 1 includes a substrate stage 2 that can hold a substrate W,”); and a polishing head (“ The polishing apparatus has a polishing head 10 provided with a pressing member 11 that presses the polishing tape 7 against the peripheral edge of the substrate W. The pressing member 11 is disposed above the substrate stage “) of claim 1 configured to polish the substrate.
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Du Fong-Jie (WO2018180170A1) cited in IDS in view of Narahara (JP2012232358A) cited in IDS.
Regarding claims 3, Du Fong-Jie teaches all limitations stated above, but fails to teach wherein the tilt adjustment mechanism comprises:
a base member supporting the first support shaft;
a tilt member coupled to the first support shaft and tiltable about the first support shaft;
and a plurality of screws that are screwed into a plurality of threaded holes formed in the tilt member, the plurality of screws being in contact with the base member.
Narahara discloses cutting apparatus that has a cutting method for a wafer that includes adjustment mechanism with a base member (13, figure 1) supporting a first support shaft (33, figure 2);
a tilt member (32, figure 2)coupled to the first support shaft and tiltable about the first support shaft;and a plurality of screws (34, figure 2) that are screwed into a plurality of threaded holes formed in the tilt member, the plurality of screws configured to be in contact with the base member. ( Narahara discloses “the adjusting means 17a includes a first connecting member 31 bonded to the base member 13, a second connecting member 32 bonded to the holding member 16, a shaft body 33, and an angle adjusting screw member 34 (hereinafter referred to as a screw member 34). The first connecting member 31 and the second connecting member 32 include a through hole, and the periphery of the through hole is a bearing portion 35 including a bearing (not shown). The first connecting member 31 and the second connecting member 32 are combined so that the through holes provided in each communicate with each other, and the shaft body 33 is inserted into the through hole. A plurality of screw members 34 (two in the example shown in FIG. 2) are arranged with the shaft 33 interposed therebetween, and are inserted into screw holes provided in the first connection member 31. The screw member 34 can adjust the amount of protrusion from the first connecting member 31 by changing the amount of rotation, and can adjust the amount of protrusion of the plurality of screw members 34 provided across the shaft body 33. The posture of the holding member 16a with respect to the base member” )
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Du Fong-Jie to have the tilt adjustment mechanism comprises: a base member supporting the first support shaft;
a tilt member coupled to the first support shaft and tiltable about the first support shaft;
and a plurality of screws that are screwed into a plurality of threaded holes formed in the tilt member, the plurality of screws being in contact with the base member, based on the teachings of Narahara. This modification would provide a structure that can be easily manipulated to adjust the angle of the tilt with high accuracy (see abstract of Narahara).
Regarding claim 4, modified Du-Fong-Jie teaches wherein the plurality of screws are disposed at both sides of the first support shaft. (see Narahara 34, figure 2).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Du Fong-Jie (WO2018180170A1) cited in IDS in view of Narahara (JP2012232358A) cited in IDS as applied to claim 3 further in view of Kashiwagi (US2019/0184519A1) cited in IDS.
Regarding claim 5, modified Du Fong-Jie teaches all limitations stated above, but fails to teach a pressing-member holder that holds the pressing member, the tilt adjustment mechanism further including a second support shaft that is perpendicular to the first support shaft, the pressing-member holder being tiltable about the second support shaft.
Kashiwagi discloses a polishing head (10, figure 1) that includes pressing member (27, figure 1; para 0038) that has a pressing-member holder (12, figure 1) that holds the pressing member, and tilt adjustment mechanism (60, figure 6) that has first support shaft (61, figure 6) and second support shaft (65, figure 6) that is perpendicular to the first support shaft, the pressing-member holder being tiltable about the second support shaft.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to have further modified Du Fong-Jie to have a pressing-member holder that holds the pressing member, the tilt adjustment mechanism further including a second support shaft that is perpendicular to the first support shaft, the pressing-member holder being tiltable about the second support shaft based on the teachings of Kashiwagi. This modification would help provide stabilization and prevent a reduction in the polishing rate (see para 0048 and 0078 of Kashiwagi).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH AKYAA FORDJOUR whose telephone number is (571)272-0390. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm and Friday 6:00am-3:00pm.
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/SARAH AKYAA FORDJOUR/ Examiner, Art Unit 3723
/MONICA S CARTER/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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