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 . 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 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.
This office action is in response to the application filed on 09/11/2024.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Drawing
The drawings filed on 09/11/2024 are acceptable.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/11/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 C.F.R. § 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has been 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Maeta et al. (US 10,153,192 B2), hereinafter ‘Maeta.
In re to claim 1, Maeta disclose an electrostatic chuck member (i.e. 2, fig. 1, see col. 5, lines 22-28) comprising: a plate-shaped base body that has a placement surface on which a sample is placed (i.e. 11, see col. 5, lines 28-34) and a lower surface located (i.e. 12) on an opposite side of the placement surface (i.e. 11) and that includes an electrode layer (i.e. 13, col. 5, lines 29-31) located between the placement surface (i.e. 11) and the lower surface(i.e. 12) and extending along the placement surface and a columnar power feeding portion (i.e. 15, see col. 6, lines 63-65) extending from the electrode layer (i.e. 13) to a lower surface side (i.e. 12); and a terminal member connected to an end surface of the power feeding portion (i.e. 15, see col. col. 6, lines 63-65), wherein an outer diameter of the power feeding portion is 2 mm or more in terms of a circle-equivalent diameter (i.e. see col. 5, line 65 to col. 6, line 2) the power feeding portion (i.e. 15) and the terminal member are connected by brazing at a brazed portion (i.e. 13 and 15 are connected, see fig. 1), and the brazed portion is located on the lower surface side (i.e. 12) with respect to a halfway position between the lower surface of the base body and the electrode layer (i.e. 12, see fig. 1, and col. 8, lines 53-57).
In re to claims 2-4, Maeta disclose an electrostatic chuck member (i.e. 2, fig. 1, see col. 5, lines 22-28) according to claim 1, wherein the base body is a ceramic bonded body in which two or more plate bodies made of ceramics are bonded in a thickness direction (i.e. see col. 7, line 20-26); wherein the power feeding portion (i.e. 15) is a composite sintered body (i.e. see col. 5, lines 45-54) and the power feeding portion (i.e. 16) and the base body (i.e. 3) are integrally bonded (i.e. 16 and 3 are bonded , see fig. 1); wherein an outer peripheral surface of the power feeding portion (i.e. 16) and the base body (i.e. 3) are densely bonded at a boundary therebetween (i.e. see fig. 1).
In re to claim 6, Maeta disclose an electrostatic chuck member (i.e. 2, fig. 1, see col. 5, lines 22-28) according to claim 1, wherein a recess is provided on an end surface of the power feeding portion, and the brazed portion is disposed in the recess (i.e. see col. 1, lines 58-67).
In re to claims 8-10, Maeta disclose an electrostatic chuck device (i.e. 1, fig. 1, see col. 5, lines 22-28) comprising the electrostatic chuck member (i.e. 2) according to claim 1; and a base member (i.e. see col. 6, line 61 to col. 7, line 4) that supports the electrostatic chuck member (i.e. 2) from the opposite side of the placement surface (i.e. 30, fig 1); wherein the brazed portion is located between the lower surface (i.e. 12) of the base body (i.e. 12) and the electrode layer (i.e. (i.e. 13, col. 5, lines 29-31) wherein the brazed portion is located on the lower surface of the base body (i.e. see col. 5, lines 22-28).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Maeta et al. (US 10,153,192 B2), hereinafter ‘Maeta.
In re to claim 5, Maeta disclose an electrostatic chuck member (i.e. 2, fig. 1, see col. 5, lines 22-26) according to claim 1. Except, Maeta fail to explicitly disclose that wherein an electrical resistance of the brazed portion is 1 Ω or lower. However, Maeta disclose the claimed invention except for the electrical resistance of the brazed portion. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to implement the required of resistance range for the brazed portion, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges of the resistance involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 7 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claims but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In re to claim 7, None of the cited prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach the claimed inventions in which “wherein a recess is provided on the lower surface, the power feeding portion is exposed on a bottom surface of the recess, and the brazed portion is disposed in the recess”.
The art of record does not disclose the above limitations, nor would it be obvious to modify the art of record to include either of the above limitations.
Remarks
The examiner has cited columns, line numbers, paragraph numbers, references, or
figures in the references applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses to fully consider the reference in entirety, as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2141.02 and § 2123.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YEMANE MEHARI whose telephone number is (571)270-7603. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM TO 6 PM.
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, Thienvu V. Tran can be reached at 5712701276. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YEMANE MEHARI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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