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.
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) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Schaller et al. US 2018/0096874.
Schaller discloses a method (see fig. 8) of controlling a vacuum processing apparatus that comprises a processing container (30) configured to be capable of maintaining an inside of the processing container in a vacuum atmosphere, a stage (108) provided in the processing container and having a substrate placed on the stage, a support member (90) passing through a hole (29) in a bottom of the processing container to support the stage from a bottom side of the stage, a base member (130) configured to be engaged with the support member located outside the processing container and move integrally with the stage, and a plurality of actuators (131, 132) provided in parallel with each other between the bottom of the processing container and the base member and configured to adjust a position and an inclination of the stage by moving the base member relative to the bottom of the processing container (¶0026), wherein the method comprises: moving the stage (108) to a delivery position for the substrate by controlling the plurality of actuators (¶0024-29, step 810); delivering the substrate in a state where the stage is disposed at the delivery position (step 810); moving the stage from the delivery position to a processing position for the substrate by controlling the plurality of actuators (¶0025); and adjusting an inclination of a placement surface of the stage, by controlling the plurality of actuators, before delivering the substrate (step 820, ¶0025), or during a period after delivering the substrate and until the stage moves from the delivery position to the processing position (step 820-850, ¶0028-29 and ¶0037).
As for claim 2, Schaller discloses wherein in the adjusting the inclination of the placement surface of the stage includes adjusting the inclination of the placement surface of the stage to deviate from an original inclination, by controlling the plurality of actuators (131, 132), before the delivering the substrate, and wherein the delivering the substrate is performed in a state where the inclination of the placement surface of the stage is deviated from the original inclination (¶0025). System controller (199) causes the servo motors (138, 131, 132) to drive the carrier plate in a linear direction and to position the pedestal at a desired processing location relative to a showerhead (36) or wafer transfer location relative to slit valve opening (38, ¶0025). In the alternative it would have been obvious to modify the method steps such that the inclination of the placement surface deviates from the original inclination (0º) while delivering the substrate to the placement surface for processing as eliminating an additional step of having the placement surface at a 0º angle considering the placement surface would have been positioned at a 1st orientation before processing.
As for claim 3, Schaller discloses wherein the adjusting the inclination of the placement surface of the stage further includes adjusting the inclination of the placement surface of the stage to the original inclination (level plane, ¶0025), by controlling the plurality of actuators (131, 132, 138), while the stage after the delivering the substrate moves from the delivery position to the processing position (¶0025-31 and ¶0037). The inclination is adjusted (several orientations, steps 820-50) to provide a prescribed number of uniform deposited layers thus the inclination would return to its original inclination to be positioned between the several orientations.
As for claim 4, Schaller discloses wherein the delivering the substrate is performed in a state that the inclination of the placement surface of the stage is not adjusted, and wherein the adjusting the inclination of the placement surface of the stage includes: adjusting the inclination of the placement surface of the stage to be deviated from an original inclination, by controlling the plurality of actuators, while the stage after the delivering the substrate moves from the delivery position to the processing position(steps 820-850); and adjusting the inclination of the placement surface of the stage to the original inclination, by controlling the plurality of actuators, after the stage is moved to the processing position (step 860).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TYRONE V HALL JR whose telephone number is (571)270-5948. The examiner can normally be reached Mon.-Fri. 7:30am-3:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Carter can be reached at (571) 272-4475. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TYRONE V HALL JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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