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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group I, claims 1-9, in the reply filed on 6/29/2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claim 10 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/29/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites limitations “a cylindrical-target mounting section configured to mount a cylindrical target to be bombarded with first ions making the ECR plasma generated in the first plasma generating section” (emphasis added) and “a disk-target mounting section configured to mount a disk target to be bombarded with second ions making the plasma generated in the second plasma generating section” (emphasis added). It is unclear as to the intended relationships or correlations from the emphasized portions of the limitations. Claims 2-9 are also rejected as depending on claim 1.
Claims 1, 5, and 9 each recite the phrase “to be”, rendering each of the claims indefinite as to whether any act or function proceeding the phrase is affirmatively being required. Claims 2-9 are also rejected as depending on one of claims 1, 5, and 9.
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 1-5 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Akazawa et al (JP 2012077359, machine translation cited below).
With respect to claim 1, Akazawa discloses in fig. 3 a film forming apparatus comprising: a first plasma generating section configured to generate ECR plasma via “ECR plasma source” [302] and a cylindrical target mounting section configured to mount “cylindrical target” [303] to be bombarded with first ions of the ECR plasma (para 0030); and a “RF magnetron plasma generation unit” (i.e. claimed “second plasma generating section”) [304] comprising a disk target mounting section configured to mount a “disc-shaped target” [305] to be bombarded with second ions from plasma of the second plasma generating section (para 0031-0032), wherein the ECR plasma of Zn and O atoms is different density than the plasma of Eu and O atoms (fig. 3; para 0030-0031). Fig. 3 also depicts a “substrate stand” (i.e. claimed “sample stage”) [310] configured to place a substrate [W] on which first target particles emitted by the cylindrical target [303]via the first ions and second target particles emitted by the disk target [305] via the second ions are deposited thereon (para 0036-0037).
With respect to claim 2, Akazawa further depicts in fig. 3 in a cross-section view: a central axis of the cylindrical target mounting section with the cylindrical target [303] is aligned with a normal axis of a surface of the sample stage [310] to a first angle of zero (i.e. finite value) (para 0034-0037), and a central axis of the disk target mounting section with the disc-shaped target [305] is tilted to form a second angle of a finite value between the normal axis and the central axis of the disk target mounting section (para 0034-0035). In addition Akazawa teaches a “line passing through the center of the hollow portion of the [cylindrical] target 303 is in the direction in which the [ECR] plasma from the ECR plasma source 302 flows” (para 0034), with “the direction in which the plasma flows from the ECR plasma source 302 is aligned with the normal direction to the substrate W” (para 0037) so that “the [first] angle between the direction of the plasma flow from the ECR plasma source [302] and the normal direction of the substrate W should not be too large” (para 0037), meaning the first angle is capable of being greater than zero; thus Akazawa teaches the cylindrical target mounting section is capable of being tilted to have the first angle be greater than zero, with the disk target mounting section opposite to the cylindrical target mounting section across the normal axis.
With respect to claim 3, Akazawa further discloses a first power supplying section supplies a high-frequency (HF) power of a first power value of 500 W to the cylindrical target [303] (fig. 3; para 0027), and a second power supplying section supplies a radio frequency (RF) power of a second power value to the disc-shaped target [305] (fig. 3; para 0032). The claim requirement of “a first power value of the power supplied from the first power supplying section is smaller than a second power value of the power supplied from the second power supplying section” relates to the intended functioning of the claimed apparatus, with the apparatus of Akazawa fully capable of functioning in the claimed manner by merely switching OFF/ON (i.e. pulsing) the first power supplying section with the second power supplying section being constantly ON.
With respect to claim 4, Akazawa further discloses in fig. 3 the disk target mounting section includes a magnetron (i.e. claimed “magnetic-field generating section”) (para 0031).
With respect to claim 5, Akazawa further discloses a film to be deposited onto the substrate [W] is a film with a doping material added to a base material (para 0033), wherein the film forming apparatus is capable of the first target particles of the cylindrical target [303] being the doping material and the second target particles of the disc-shaped target [305] being the base material (para 0033 and 0037-0039).
With respect to claim 7, the claim requirement of “a first deposition speed at which the first target particles are deposited on the substrate is lower than a second deposition speed at which the second target particles are deposited on the substrate” relates to the intended functioning of the claimed film forming apparatus, with the film forming apparatus of Akazawa fully capable of functioning in the claimed manner by adjusting the first and second angles as suggested at para 0035 and 0037, in addition to adjusting other sputtering parameters such as power applied to the cylindrical target [303] and disc-shaped target [305] and pressure.
With respect to claim 8, Akazawa further teaches in fig. 3 simultaneously performing a first operation of depositing the first target particles on the substrate [W] and a second operation of depositing the second target particles on the substrate W (para 0029-0031). In addition the claim requirement of “a first operation of depositing the first target particles on the substrate and a second operation of depositing the second target particles on the substrate are simultaneously performed” relates to the intended functioning of the claimed film forming apparatus, with the film forming apparatus of Akazawa fully capable of functioning in the claimed manner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akazawa et al (i.e. REF1; JP 2012077359, machine translation cited below) as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Akazawa (i.e. REF2; JP 2017008370, machine translation cited below.
With respect to claim 6, the reference is cited as discussed for claim 1.
However REF1 is limited in that while material of the cylindrical target [303] is ZnO and material of the disc-shaped target [305] is EuO, the material the cylindrical target [303] comprising gallium nitride (GaN) and the material of the disc-shaped target [305] comprising silicon (Si), magnesium (Mg), or aluminum (Al) is not specifically suggested.
REF2 teaches in fig. 1 a film forming apparatus [10] of a cylindrical target [11] and disk target of magnetron gun [14] for forming a ”luminescent film” (p. 2-3), similar to the film forming apparatus of REF1 for forming a film of “high luminescence”. REF2 further teaches the cylindrical target [11] comprises ZnOEu and the disk target comprises Ga or Al (p. 2-3; Claims, p. 5-6), in addition to suggesting “Zinc oxide ZnO, gallium nitride GaN, and the like” (i.e. ZnO-GaN) are interchangeable (p. 1), and different sputtering sources (i.e. cylindrical target [11] and disk target) are either ZnO and GaO (p. 1-2). As such, REF2 reasonably suggests for the cylindrical target [11] to comprise Al and the disk target to comprise GaN.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate GaN and Al as taught by REF2 respectively into the disc-shaped target [305] of Eu and cylindrical target [303] of ZnO of REF1 for forming a luminescent film since the “selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obviousness determination” (MPEP 2144.07).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Akazawa et al (JP 2012077359, machine translation cited below) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Jin et al (US 8,088,644).
With respect to claim 9, the reference is cited as discussed for claim 1. Akazawa further discloses first plasma generating section comprising the ECR plasma source [302] is equipped with a microwave generator for sputtering the cylindrical target [303] (para 0023 and 0030).
However Akazawa is limited in that ECR plasma source [302] comprising microwave waveguides and windows for introducing microwaves into a plasma chamber is not specifically suggested.
Jin teaches in fig. 5 an “ECR sputtering apparatus” with “ring-shaped target” (i.e. cylindrical target) [505] connected to a HF power supply [522] (col. 21, lines 20-38), similar to the ECR plasma source [302] with cylindrical target [303] connected to a HF power supply of Akazawa. Jin further depicts the ECR sputtering apparatus comprises an ECR plasma source including: a microwave generator configured to generate microwave, paired microwave waveguides [508] configured to propagate the microwave generated and then branched to “quartz window” (i.e. claimed “microwave introducing windows”) [507], to which the microwave is introduced from the microwave introducing windows [507] into a “plasma production chamber” [502] via side surfaces of the plasma production chamber [502] (col. 21, lines 20-56). Jin cites the advantages of the ECR plasma source comprising the paired microwave guides [508], microwave introducing windows [507], and plasma introduction chamber [502] as “adhesion of scattering particles from the target 505 to the quartz window 507 can be prevented, and the running time can largely be prolonged”.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the ECR plasma source of Jin as the ECR plasma source [302] of Akazawa to gain the advantages of preventing adhesion of scattered particles from the cylindrical target [303] to the microwave introducing windows in order to prolong running time of the film forming apparatus.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL A BAND whose telephone number is (571)272-9815. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm EST.
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/MICHAEL A BAND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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