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 § 103
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 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.
1. Claims 1, 3-4, 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Inoue et al (USPN 2023/0317433) in view of Parkhe (USPN 2025/0087468).
Regarding claims 1, 3, Inoue discloses a base (a base 30, see figures 6e, f) comprising:
a first member made (a first member 81, see figure 6e) of a metal matrix composite (see par. 0037);
a second member made (a second member 82) of a metal matrix composite (see par. 0037) and overlapping with the first member (81) (see figures 6e, f); and
an adhesive layer made (an adhesive layer 83) and adhering the first member and the second member (81, 82) to each other,
wherein the first member (81) has a protruding strip portion (protruding portions formed among the cooling grooves 32a) on a side facing the second member (82),
the adhesive layer (83) is sandwiched between a top surface of the protruding strip portion and a surface of the second member (82) facing the first member (81), and
a space (a cavity of 32a) surrounded by a groove portion (32a) formed between adjacent protruding strip portions and the second member is a flow channel through which a refrigerant flows (see par. 0037).
Inoue does not explicitly disclose the adhesive layer made of an organic material as claimed.
Parkhe discloses a base (232, 164, see figure 3) comprises an adhesive layer (404) made of an organic material (see par. 0052), wherein a thickness of the adhesive layer is 30 micrometer or more and 300 micrometer or less (see par. 0052).
It 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 to have modified a metal adhesive layer of Inoue to incorporate an organic adhesive layer as disclosed by Parkhe in order to provide better stress distribution and corrosion resistance.
Regarding claim 4, Inoue discloses wherein the adhesive layer (83) is positioned below an upper end of the flow channel (32a)(see figures 6e, f).
Regarding claim 7, Inoue discloses a manufacturing method of a base (a base 313, see figure 6) comprising a step of:
forming a precursor in which a groove portion (grooves 32a) is formed on at least one of a pair of green sheets (such as pre-formed sheets before a machine processing, see figure 6c);
a step of infiltrating a metal (metal Si, metal Ti) into a sintered body (see par. 0030) obtained by calcining the precursor to manufacture a first member (MMC disk member 81) and a second member (a MMC disk member 82) (see par. 0037, 0038), the first member being made of a metal matrix composite and the second member being made of a metal matrix composite and overlapping with the first member (see par. 0037, and figure 6c); and a step of disposing the first member (81)and the second member (82) to face each other with the groove portion (32a) facing inward and adhering the first member and the second member to each other with a sheet adhesive (83) (see figures 6c-f).
Inoue does not explicitly disclose the adhesive layer made of an organic material as claimed.
Parkhe discloses a base (232, 164, see figure 3) comprises an adhesive layer (404) made of an organic material (see par. 0052), wherein a thickness of the adhesive layer is 30 micrometer or more and 300 micrometer or less (see par. 0052).
It 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 to have modified a metal adhesive layer of Inoue to incorporate an organic adhesive layer as disclosed by Parkhe in order to provide better stress distribution and corrosion resistance.
2. Claims 1-2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koiwa (USPN 2023/0163012) in view of Inoue et al (USPN 2023/0317433).
Regarding claim 1, Koiwa discloses an electrostatic chuck device (an electrostatic chuck 10) comprising: an electrostatic chuck member (20) made of a ceramic material (see par. 0027-0028);
a base (a base 313, see figure 6) comprising:
a bonding layer (a bonding layer 115) bonding the electrostatic chuck member (20) to the base (313);
a first member made (a first member 313a) of a metal composite (see par. 0095);
a second member made (a second member 313b) of a metal composite (see par. 0096) and overlapping with the first member (313a) (see figure 6); and
an adhesive layer (313c) made of an organic material (an adhesive layer 313c made of an organic material such as a resin material, see par. 0097) and adhering the first member (313a) and the second member (313b) to each other,
wherein the first member (313a) has a protruding strip portion (protruding portions formed among the cooling grooves C) on a side facing the second member (313b),
the adhesive layer (313c) is sandwiched between a top surface of the protruding strip portion and a surface of the second member (313b) facing the first member (313a), and
a space (a cavity of the grooves C) surrounded by a groove portion (the grooves C) formed between adjacent protruding strip portions and the second member is a flow channel through which a refrigerant flows (see par. 0104).
Koiwa does not explicitly disclose the first and second metal composites as claimed.
Inoue discloses a base (a base 30, see figures 6e, f) comprising: a first member made (a first member 81, see figure 6e) of a metal matrix composite (see par. 0037); and a second member made (a second member 82) of a metal matrix composite (see par. 0037) (see figures 6e, f).
It 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 to have modified metal composite members of Koiwa to incorporate a metal matrix composite member as disclosed by Inoue in order to improve strength, wear resistance, and thermal conductivity.
Regarding claim 2, Koiwa discloses wherein the adhesive layer (313c) is formed only at a position in contact with the top surface of the protruding strip portion (see figure 6).
3. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koiwa (USPN 2023/0163012) in view of Inoue et al (USPN 2023/0317433), and further in view of Ando et al (USPN 2025/0069930).
Regarding claim 5, Koiwa and Inoue disclose all limitations of claim 1 as discussed above, but do not explicitly disclose wherein the electrostatic chuck member contains 50% by volume or more of aluminum oxide in a case where a total amount of the electrostatic chuck member is taken as 100% by volume as claimed.
Ando discloses an electrostatic chuck member (12) contains 50% by volume or more of aluminum oxide in a case where a total amount of the electrostatic chuck member is taken as 100% by volume (see par. 0047).
It 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 to have modified the chuck member of Koiwa and Inoue to incorporate a chuck member as disclosed by Ando in order to improve adhesive strength between the chuck member and inner electrodes.
4. Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Koiwa (USPN 2023/0163012) in view of Inoue et al (USPN 2023/0317433), and further in view of Ito et al (USPN 2017/0278738).
Regarding claim 6, Koiwa and Inoue disclose the adhesive layer (313c, figure 6 of Koiwa) with high thermal resistance, but do not explicitly disclose the adhesive as claimed.
Ito discloses an eleactrostatic chuck device (100) comprises a bonding layer (30) (see par. 0032), wherein the adhesive layer (30) contains a resin material (such as polyimide resin or silicon resin adhesive, see par 0018, 0031) and a thermally conductive filler (thermally conductive component), and a content rate of the thermally conductive filler in the bonding layer is 50% by mass (see par. 0016)or more and 80% by mass or less (0019).
It 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 to have modified the adhesive layer of Koiwa and Inoue to incorporate an adhesive layer with thermally conductive filler as disclosed by Ito in order to enhance a temperature uniformity of an electrostatic chuck.
Conclusion
5. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANNY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2054. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00AM-4:30PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Monica Lewis can be reached at 571-271-1838. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DANNY NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
Prosecution Insights