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
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.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Vellaikal et al (US Publication No. 20100297347).
Regarding claim 1, Vellaikal teaches an electrostatic chuck (i.e., ESC 26; fig. 1) comprising: a dielectric substrate (dielectric substrate 32) including a placement surface (placement surface 28) on which an object (object 24) to be attracted is placed (implicit, as seen in fig. 1); and a base plate (base plate 48) joined (i.e., joined via layer 38) to the dielectric substrate, wherein the dielectric substrate is provided with a flange section (flange section 40) that is a part protruding outward (part protruding outward from numeral 59 ends by numeral 40) along an entire periphery (entire periphery of numeral 40) of a part (boundary part between numeral 59 and 40) of a side surface (side surface of dielectric substrate 32 ends in numeral 40) of the dielectric substrate on a base plate side (base plate side 48), the base plate includes a flat surface (flat surface 39) which is closest to a dielectric substrate side (dielectric substrate side/bottom face of 32) and a part (boundary part 39) of which is joined to the dielectric substrate (implicit, as seen in fig. 1), and a part (boundary part between numeral 40 and numeral 42) of the flat surface, which is not joined to the dielectric substrate (implicit, as seen in fig. 1), surrounds the flange section along the entire periphery when viewed from a direction perpendicular (i.e., Y-axis/Top-view) to the placement surface (implicit, as seen in fig. 1).
Regarding claim 2, Vellaikal teaches the electrostatic chuck of claim 1; wherein an outer shape (outer circle shape of diameter 39/40) of the flat surface (the bottom face of puck 32) matches (i.e., the same circle/ring boundary/diameter) an outer shape (the top face of baseplate 48) of the base plate when viewed from the direction perpendicular to the placement surface (implicit, as seen in fig. 1).
Regarding claim 3, Vellaikal teaches the electrostatic chuck of claim 1; wherein a coolant flow path (coolant flow path 58) for allowing coolant to pass through is formed inside the base plate (implicit, as seen in fig. 1)., and a part (part within the boundary/diameter 39/40) of the coolant flow path is formed to overlap (inside the circle/ring) the flange section and extend along the flange section when viewed from the direction perpendicular to the placement surface (implicit, as seen in fig. 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is 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:
Regarding claim 4, Vellaikal teaches the invention set forth above. However, Vellaikal does not particularly teach wherein a length of the flange section along a radial direction is shorter than a length of the part of the flat surface, which is not joined to the dielectric substrate, along the radial direction.
Hence claim 4 will be deemed allowable if rewritten in an independent form.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MUAAMAR Q AL-TAWEEL whose telephone number is (571)270-0339. The examiner can normally be reached 0730-1700.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Thienvu V Tran can be reached at (571) 270- 1276. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MUAAMAR QAHTAN AL-TAWEEL/Examiner, Art Unit 2838
/THIENVU V TRAN/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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