DETAILED ACTION
The communication dated 12/30/2024 has been entered and fully considered.
Claims 1-9 and 17-20 were canceled. Claims 10-16 are currently pending.
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 .
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.
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.
Claims 10, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee et al. U.S. Publication 2023/0111149 (henceforth referred to as Lee).
As for claim 10, Lee teaches a substrate (Fig. 2: part W) processing method, the method comprising: a pressurizing step (paragraph [0076]) of pressurizing a treatment space provided in a chamber (Fig. 2: part 400) by supplying treatment fluid to the treatment space; a substrate treatment step (paragraphs [0056]-[0057]) of treating a substrate in the treatment space using a fluid supplied to the treatment space; and a depressurizing step (paragraph [0078]) of exhausting the fluid from the treatment space, wherein the pressurizing step comprises a volume expansion step, and a space to which the treatment fluid supplied to the treatment space diffuses in the volume expansion step is wider than a space to which the fluid supplied to the treatment space diffuses in the treatment step (paragraph [0085]).
As for claim 14, Lee further teaches that the pressurizing step further comprises a supplying step before the volume expansion step, and the supplying step is a step of supplying the treatment fluid to the treatment space through a supply line connected with the treatment space (paragraph [0076]; Fig. 4).
As for claim 16, Lee further teaches that the treatment fluid is fluid in a supercritical state, and the treatment of a substrate is a process of drying the substrate using the fluid in a supercritical state (paragraphs [0050]-[0052]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-13 and 15 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Lee et al. U.S. Publication 2023/0111149, the closest prior art, differs from the instant claims in failing to teach that a buffer valve is opened in the volume expansion step, and the buffer valve is a valve that is installed on an exhaust line connected with the treatment space and controls an atmosphere of the treatment space to be able to flow into a buffer chamber connected to the exhaust line. Furthermore, it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method taught by Lee as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEVON J SHAHINIAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1384. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 9:30am-6:00pm.
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/LEVON J SHAHINIAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1711
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