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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Gupta et al. (10294584).
Regarding claim 1, Gupta discloses a precursor vessel comprising: a housing (70) comprising an interior volume; a capsule support (bottom wall of 70) within the interior volume; and one or more precursor capsules (80) for holding a precursor (82) for a vapor deposition process (col. 5, line 41).
Regarding claim 2, the one or more precursor capsules each comprise a shell (80) configured to define a precursor space (Fig. 7), and wherein the shell is vapor-permeable to allow precursor in vapor form to leave the precursor capsule under vaporization conditions (Fig. 7).
Regarding claim 3, the capsule support is gas permeable (col. 9, lines 29-32).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-14 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 15-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art to the claimed invention is Gupta. Gupta fails to teach or suggest a lower gas space below a part of the interior volume containing the precursor capsules.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DONNELL ALAN LONG whose telephone number is (571)270-5610. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Fri 8AM-5PM.
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/DONNELL A LONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3754
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