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 Objections
Claims 7 and 9 are objected to, because of the following informalities:
Claims 7 and 9, “the pocket” should read --the respective pocket--.Appropriate correction is required.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin-fang (CN 110993553 A) in view of Nakamura (US 7248456 B2).
Regarding claim 1, Lin-fang teaches (reproduced and annotated Figs. below) a substrate support comprising: at least three pockets defined along a perimeter of the substrate support, each pocket comprising a narrow portion and a wide portion located radially outward from the narrow portion; an edge gas groove located on a top surface of the substrate support, the edge gas groove being concentric with the substrate support, the edge gas groove intersecting the narrow portion of each pocket, (radial square shaped holes for passage of rods 5); and a first clamping groove located radially inward from the edge gas groove on the top surface of the substrate support.
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Nakamura teaches (reproduced and annotated Figs. below) a substrate support comprising: an edge gas groove (annular gas groove 9) located on a top surface of the substrate support, the edge gas groove being concentric with the substrate support, wherein at least thirty through holes (gas inlets 5) are within the edge gas groove; “ resulting in even temperature distribution on the processing surface of the wafer” (col. 4, line 55-col. 5, line 2).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention to use through holes in edge gas groove of Lin-fang as taught by Nakamura. Doing so would make it possible to have even temperature distribution on the processing surface of the wafer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-25 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.
Conclusion
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MAHDI H. NEJAD
Examiner
Art Unit 3723
/MAHDI H NEJAD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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