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 U.S.C. 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(s) 1, 2, 4, 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dorf et al. (2013/0278141).
Regarding Claim 1, Dorf et al. (2013/0278141) discloses a direct drive system for providing RF power to a substrate processing system, comprising:
a direct drive enclosure (166) including:
a first direct drive circuit (166-1) located in the direct drive enclosure (166) and operating at a first frequency (frequency of the RF source power) (fig. 3A); and
a first connector (A) connected to the first direct drive circuit (166-1);
a junction box (162) arranged adjacent to the direct drive enclosure and including:
a first capacitive circuit (162-2) connected to the first direct drive circuit (166-1);
a first connector (B) located on one side of the junction box (162), connected to one terminal (C1) of the first capacitive circuit (162-2) and mating with the first connector of the direct drive enclosure;
second connector (D) connected to another terminal (C2) of the first capacitive circuit; and
a coil enclosure (Coils, in fig. 1A) arranged adjacent to the junction box and including:
first and second coils (120, 122) (fig. 1A); and
first connector (E) mating with the second connector (D) of the junction box (162).
As discussed above, Dorf essentially discloses the claimed invention but does not explicitly disclose the junction box including a third connector and a coil enclosure including a second connector.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provide additional connectors in any desired enclosure (e.g. junction box, coil enclosure) in Dorf in order to secure the connectivity from the circuit.
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Regarding Claim 2, as discussed above, Dorf essentially discloses the direct drive system of claim 1, wherein the first and second connectors of the coil enclosure and the second and third connectors of the junction box allow movement of the first and second coils. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided second connector of the coil enclosure and third connector of the junction box in order to secure connectivity of the coil.
Regarding Claim 4, Dorf discloses the direct drive system of claim 1, wherein the first and second coils are interwound in opposite directions (Fig. 1A).
Regarding Claim 5, Dorf discloses the direct drive system of claim 1, wherein the direct drive enclosure further includes: a second direct drive circuit (166-2) located in the direct drive enclosure and operating at a second frequency (frequency of the RF source power) (fig. 3A); and a second connector (connected to 162-3) connected to the second direct drive circuit.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dorf et al. (2013/0278141) in view of Long et al. (2019/0287764).
Regarding Claim 3, Dorf essentially discloses the claimed invention but does not explicitly disclose the direct drive system of claim 1, wherein the first direct drive circuit includes: a clock generator generating a clock signal at the first frequency; a gate driver connected to an output of the clock generator; a DC supply; and a half bridge connected to the gate driver and the DC supply.
However, Long et al. (2019/0287764) discloses the direct drive system of claim 1, wherein the first direct drive circuit includes: a clock generator (114) generating a clock signal at the first frequency; a gate driver (gate driver) connected to an output of the clock generator; a DC supply (Vdc); and a half bridge connected to the gate driver (half bridge 108) and the DC supply (Vdc) (Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have provided a drive circuit of Long in Dorf in order to operate the circuit at desired frequency as taught by Long.
Allowable subject matter
Claims 6-13 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.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner Wilson Lee whose telephone number is (571) 272-1824. Proposed amendment and interview agenda can be submitted to Examiner’s direct fax at (571) 273-1824.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, examiner’s supervisor, Alexander Taningco can be reached at (571) 272-8048. Papers related to the application may be submitted by facsimile transmission. Any transmission not to be considered an official response must be clearly marked "DRAFT". The official fax number is (571) 273-8300.
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/WILSON LEE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845
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