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)(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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Honma (US 20240254628 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Honma teaches a cover module (FIG. 8, the assembly of first maintenance door 371, second maintenance door 372, exhaust section 4, and gas supply 5) comprising: a base portion (FIG. 8, processing module 3); a cover portion (FIG. 8, the assembly of first maintenance door 371, second maintenance door 372, exhaust section 4, and gas supply 5) disposed on an upper portion of the base portion (FIG. 8, the assembly is on an upper portion of the processing module 3), the cover portion including an upper plate (FIG. 8, the assembly of the exhaust section 4 and the gas supply 5, which has an extended, plate-like shape), a first cover (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371) disposed at a first end of the upper plate to be openable and closable (FIG. 8), and a second cover (FIG. 8, second maintenance door 372) disposed at a second end of the upper plate to be openable and closable (FIG. 8); and a gas supply unit (FIG. 8, gas supply 5) including a first supply portion (FIG. 8, first supply portion 51a) disposed on the upper plate and a second supply portion (FIG. 8, second supply portion 52a and second exhaust box 42a) disposed on at least one of the first cover and the second cover (FIG. 8, second supply portion 52a and second exhaust box 42a are disposed against the FIG. 8, second maintenance door 372).
Regarding claim 2, Honma teaches that the first cover and the second cover are disposed to oppose each other (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371 and second maintenance door 372 are disposed opposite from one another).
Regarding claim 3, Honma teaches that the first cover is rotatably connected to the first end of the upper plate in a first rotation direction, and the second cover is rotatably connected to the second end of the upper plate in a second rotation direction (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371 and second maintenance door 372 both rotate).
Regarding claim 4, Honma teaches that the first cover rotates in the first rotation direction such that an outer end of the first cover comes into contact with the base portion, and the second cover rotates in the second rotation direction such that an outer end of the second cover comes into contact with the base portion (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371 and second maintenance door 372 both contact the rest of the processing module 3).
Regarding claim 5, Honma teaches that the upper plate ascends and descends above the base portion (FIG. 8, the assembly of the exhaust section 4 and gas supply 5, as their interior parts move, are above the processing module 3).
Regarding claim 6, Honma teaches that a plurality of the first supply portions are provided, and the plurality of first supply portions are disposed on the upper plate in a distributed manner (FIG. 8, a pair of supply boxes 51a are distributed evenly across the assembly).
Regarding claim 7, Honma teaches that a plurality of second supply portions are provided, and the plurality of second supply portions are disposed on the first cover and the second cover in a distributed manner (FIG. 8, a pair of supply boxes 52a are distributed evenly across the assembly, and abutting the maintenance doors).
Regarding claim 8, Honma teaches a substrate treatment apparatus (the assembly of FIG. 8) comprising: a first processing chamber (FIG. 8, substrate processing apparatus 1E) having a first internal space (FIG. 8, the interior volume of substrate processing apparatus 1E), a first opening (FIG. 8, a loading port 21 of apparatus 1E) connected to the first internal space, and a first opening/closing portion (FIG. 8, cassette C fills the loading port 21) opening and closing the first opening; a cover module (FIG. 8, the assembly of first maintenance door 371, second maintenance door 372, exhaust section 4, and gas supply 5) disposed on one side of the first processing chamber, the cover module including a base portion (FIG. 8, processing module 3), a cover portion (FIG. 8, the assembly of first maintenance door 371, second maintenance door 372, exhaust section 4, and gas supply 5) disposed on an upper portion of the base portion (FIG. 8, the assembly is on an upper portion of the processing module 3), the cover portion including an upper plate (FIG. 8, the assembly of the exhaust section 4 and the gas supply 5, which has an extended, plate-like shape), a first cover (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371) disposed at a first end of the upper plate to be openable and closable (FIG. 8), and a second cover (FIG. 8, second maintenance door 372) disposed at a second end of the upper plate to be openable and closable (FIG. 8), the second cover opposing the first cover in a first direction (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371 and second maintenance door 372 are disposed opposite from one another), and a gas supply unit (FIG. 8, gas supply 5) including a first supply portion (FIG. 8, first supply portion 51a) disposed on the upper plate and a second supply portion (FIG. 8, second supply portion 52a and second exhaust box 42a) disposed on at least one of the first cover and the second cover (FIG. 8, second supply portion 52a and second exhaust box 42a are disposed against the FIG. 8, second maintenance door 372).
Regarding claim 9, Honma teaches a transport unit (FIG. 8, substrate transfer device 23) disposed on the base portion to be reciprocatable in a second direction (FIG. 8, the device 23 may move).
Regarding claim 10, Honma teaches that the cover portion closes the upper portion of the base portion to form a transport space, using the first cover and the second cover (FIG. 8, the first maintenance door 371 closes the assembly, after which it may be transported).
Regarding claim 11, Honma teaches that the first cover is rotatably connected to the first end of the upper plate in a first rotation direction, and the second cover is rotatably connected to the second end of the upper plate in a second rotation direction (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371 and second maintenance door 372 both rotate).
Regarding claim 12, Honma teaches that the first cover rotates in the first rotation direction to close one side surface (FIG. 8, the surface of the assembly that first maintenance door 371 contacts when closed) of the transport space such that an outer end of the first cover comes into contact with the base portion, and the second cover rotates in the second rotation direction to close the other side surface of the transport space (FIG. 8, the surface of the assembly that second maintenance door 372 contacts when closed) such that an outer end of the second cover comes into contact with the base portion (FIG. 8).
Regarding claim 13, Honma teaches that the upper plate has a width narrower than that of the base portion (FIG. 8, gas supply 5 is narrower than the processing module 3).
Regarding claim 14, Honma teaches that the upper plate ascends and descends above the first opening/closing portion (FIG. 8, the assembly of the exhaust section 4 and gas supply 5, as their interior parts move, are above the processing module 3).
Regarding claim 15, Honma teaches that a plurality of the first supply portions and a plurality of second supply portions are provided, and the plurality of first supply portions are disposed on the upper plate in a distributed manner (FIG. 8, a pair of supply boxes 51a are distributed evenly across the assembly), and the plurality of second supply portions are disposed on the first cover and the second cover in a distributed manner (FIG. 8, a pair of supply boxes 52a are distributed evenly across the assembly, and abutting the maintenance doors).
Regarding claim 16, Honma teaches that the base portion has an accommodation space formed to be concave inwardly from an upper surface of the base portion (FIG. 8, the interior of the processing module 3 has a concave volume).
Regarding claim 17, Honma teaches that the first opening/closing portion descends and is inserted into the accommodation space to allow the first internal space and the transport space to communicate with each other (FIG. 8, the cassette C is in a space continuous with the interior cavities of the assembly).
Regarding claim 18, Honma teaches that the first cover and the second cover rotate to close opposite side surfaces of the base portion (FIG. 8), when the first opening/closing portion descends (FIG. 8, the doors may actuate while interior portions of the gas supply 5 move).
Regarding claim 19, Honma teaches that the first supply portion supplies nitrogen gas into the transport space before the first cover and the second cover close opposite side surfaces of the transport space, and the second supply portion supplies nitrogen gas into the transport space when the first cover and the second cover close the opposite side surfaces of the transport space (paragraph 36, the gas supply 5 may supply any inert gas (e.g., N3) as the doors actuate).
Regarding claim 20, Honma teaches a substrate treatment apparatus (the assembly of FIG. 8) comprising: a first processing chamber (FIG. 8, substrate processing apparatus 1E) having a first internal space (FIG. 8, the interior volume of substrate processing apparatus 1E), a first opening (FIG. 8, a loading port 21 of apparatus 1E) connected to the first internal space, and a first opening/closing portion (FIG. 8, cassette C fills the loading port 21) opening and closing the first opening; a second processing chamber (FIG. 8, substrate processing apparatus 1F) disposed to be spaced apart from one side of the first processing chamber (FIG. 8); a cover module (FIG. 8, the assembly of first maintenance door 371, second maintenance door 372, exhaust section 4, and gas supply 5) between the first processing chamber and the second processing chamber (FIG. 8, the assembly lies between an upper edge of 1E and 1F), the cover module including a base portion (FIG. 8, processing module 3) having an accommodation space formed to be concave inwardly from an upper surface thereof (FIG. 8, the interior of the processing module 3 has a concave volume), a cover portion (FIG. 8, the assembly of first maintenance door 371, second maintenance door 372, exhaust section 4, and gas supply 5)disposed on an upper portion of the base portion (FIG. 8, the assembly is on an upper portion of the processing module 3), the cover portion including an upper plate (FIG. 8, the assembly of the exhaust section 4 and the gas supply 5, which has an extended, plate-like shape), a first cover (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371) disposed at a first end of the upper plate to be rotatable in a first rotation direction(FIG. 8), and a second cover (FIG. 8, second maintenance door 372) disposed at a second end of the upper plate to be rotatable in a second rotation direction (FIG. 8), the second cover opposing the first cover in a first direction (FIG. 8, first maintenance door 371 and second maintenance door 372 are disposed opposite from one another), and a gas supply unit(FIG. 8, gas supply 5) including a first supply portion (FIG. 8, first supply portion 51a) disposed on the upper plate and a second supply portion (FIG. 8, second supply portion 52a and second exhaust box 42a) disposed on at least one of the first cover and the second cover (FIG. 8, second supply portion 52a and second exhaust box 42a are disposed against the FIG. 8, second maintenance door 372); and a transport unit (FIG. 8, substrate transfer device 23) disposed on the base portion (FIG. 8), the transport unit being reciprocatable in a length direction of the base portion (FIG. 8, the device 23 may move), between the first processing chamber and second processing chamber (FIG. 8, the device 23 lies between an upper edge of 1E and 1F), wherein the cover portion closes the upper portion of the base portion to form a transport space using the first cover and the second cover (FIG. 8, the first maintenance door 371 closes the assembly, after which it may be transported), between the first processing chamber and the second processing chamber (FIG. 8, see above), and the first cover rotates to close one side surface of the transport space (FIG. 8, the surface of the assembly that first maintenance door 371 contacts when closed) such that an outer end of the first cover comes into contact with the base portion (FIG. 8), and the second cover rotates to close the other side surface of the transport space (FIG. 8, the surface of the assembly that second maintenance door 372 contacts when closed) such that an outer end of the second cover comes into contact with the base portion (FIG. 8), the first opening/closing portion descends and is inserted into the accommodation space to allow the first internal space and the transport space to communicate with each other (FIG. 8, the cassette C is in a space continuous with the interior cavities of the assembly), and the first cover and the second cover start to rotate to close opposite side surfaces of the base portion, when the first opening/closing portion descends (FIG. 8, the doors may actuate while interior portions of the gas supply 5 move).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM C. WEINERT whose telephone number is (571)272-6988. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:00 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Helena Kosanovic can be reached at (571) 272-9059. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WILLIAM C WEINERT/Examiner, Art Unit 3762
/Allen R. B. Schult/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762
Prosecution Insights