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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/21/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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, 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Pan (
Pub. No.: US 20250364215 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Pan teaches a substrate processing apparatus (FIG. 1, 100, FIG. 2, 200), comprising:
a chamber (FIG. 1 & 2, chamber 102) in which a substrate processing process is performed;
a substrate support (FIG. 1 & 2, chuck 106) disposed in the chamber and configured to support a substrate (FIG. 1 & 2, substrate 108);
a radio frequency (RF) power source (FIG. 1 RF power generator 114) configured to provide an RF power to the substrate support (paragraph [0025], “RF power is directed to a coil, creating an electromagnetic field inside the chamber (102)”);
an RF power transmission line (FIG. 1, Transmission line 126) configured to electrically connect the substrate support to the RF power source (FIG. 1); a driven element disposed in the chamber (FIG. 1, a plasma source 104) ;
a driving source configured to provide a driving signal to the driven element (paragraph [0026] “both 104 and 106 serve as electrodes for the capacitor, accepting RF power from either the top or bottom”);
a connection line configured to electrically connect the driven element to the driving source (FIG. 1 and paragraph [0026], “accepting RF power from either the top or bottom. For this disclosure, the ICP source combined with the bias unit (112) serves as the primary example to elucidate the inventive concept across varied embodiments without constraining the scope of the invention”);
a resonator (FIG. 1, Resonator 124) disposed on the connection line; and a resonance control circuit including a resonator controller that controls a resonance frequency of the resonator (paragraph [0031], “RF controller (132) produces a new operating frequency, for expedite the frequency's convergence to the desired resonating frequency”), wherein the RF power transmission line and the connection line have different paths (FIG. 1).
Regarding claim 8, Pan teaches the driven element includes an adsorption electrode (FIG. 1 & 2, 106) disposed in the substrate support, and wherein the driving source includes an adsorption electrode power source that applies a power to the adsorption electrode (FIG. 2).
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.
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Nishiyama et al. (Pub. No.: KR 20220157958 A, machine translation included), hereafter Nishiyama.
Regarding claim 4, Pan teaches the resonator comprises: a casing configured to surround at least a part of the connection line (FIG. 1 & 2) but does not discloses a dielectric configured to fill a space between the connection line and the casing, and wherein the casing includes an inlet through which the dielectric flows in and an outlet through which the dielectric flows out.
Nishiyama teaches a dielectric configured to fill a space (FIG, 1 & 2, dielectric chamber 2) between the connection line and the casing, and wherein the casing includes an inlet (FIG. 1, inlet 21) through which the dielectric flows in and an outlet (FIG. 1, outlet 2) through which the dielectric flows out (paragraph [0064]).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Pan in view of Nishiyama to incorporate dielectric chamber for confined plasma generation.
Regarding claim 5, Pan as modified above further teaches the resonator controller is configured to control the resonance frequency of the resonator by adjusting inflow and outflow of the dielectric (Nishiyama, paragraph [0160]).
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kitsukawa et al. (Pub. No.: JP 2008306359 A, machine translation attached), hereafter Kitsukawa.
Regarding claim 6, Pan teaches limitations of claim 1but does not disclose the resonator comprises: a plurality of capacitors connected in parallel on the connection line; and a plurality of switches disposed between the connection line and the plurality of capacitors, respectively.
Kitsukawa teaches a plurality of capacitors connected in parallel (FIG. 8, capacitors 42a and 42b) on the connection line; and a plurality of switches (FIG. 8, switches 31a and 31b) disposed between the connection line and the plurality of capacitors, respectively (FIG. 8, 7 an 4a).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Pan in view of Kitsukawa to incorporate resonator structure with parallel capacitors and switches work as a variable resonator whose resonance frequency is variable can be realized (Kitsukawa, paragraph [0037]).
Regarding claim 7, Pan as modified above further teaches the resonator controller is configured to control the resonance frequency of the resonator by controlling operations of the plurality of switches (Kitsukawa , paragraph [0024]).
Claims 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pan as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Kitsukawa et al. (Pub. No.: JP 2008306359 A, machine translation attached), hereafter Kitsukawa.
Regarding claim 9, Pan teaches limitations of claim 1, but does not disclose a heater configured to discharge heat when a power is applied, and wherein the driving source includes a heater power source that applies a power to the heater.
Watanabe teaches a heater (FIG. 2, heating element 23) configured to discharge heat when a power is applied, and wherein the driving source includes a heater power source (FIG. 1, heater power supply 45) that applies a power to the heater (paragraph [0041], “The heating element 23 generates heat by Joule heat generated by electric power supplied from the heater power supply 45 via the power supply member 44”).
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Pan in view of Kitsukawa to incorporate a heater as the substrate support 20 can block the electric field generated by the plasma electrode 22, with use of the heating element (Watanabe, paragraph [0050]).
Regarding claim 10, Pan as modified above, further teaches a shower head (Watanabe, FIG. 1, shower head) disposed in the chamber and facing the substrate support (Watanabe,FIG. 1), wherein the heater is disposed in the shower head (Watanabe,FIG. 1).
Regarding claim 11, Pan as modified above, further teaches the heater is disposed in the substrate support (Watanabe, FIG. 2, The heating element 23 deposed in the substrate support 20).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16-20 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding claim 16, the prior art fails to teach or reasonably suggest a substrate processing apparatus comprising “an edge ring in a ring shape disposed on the substrate support; an edge ring control signal source configured to apply an impedance control signal to a region adjacent to the edge ring via a second connection line; a second resonator disposed on the second connection line; and a resonance control circuit configured to control a resonance frequency of at least one of the first resonator and the second resonator”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Dependent claims 17-19 are allowed by virtue of its dependency.
Regarding claim 20, the prior art fails to teach or reasonably suggest a substrate processing apparatus comprising “an edge ring in a ring shape disposed on the substrate support; an edge ring control signal source configured to apply an impedance control signal to a region adjacent to the edge ring via a third connection line; a third resonator disposed on the third connection line; and a resonance control circuit including a resonator controller configured to control a resonance frequency of at least one of the first resonator, the second resonator, and the third resonator, wherein the RF power transmission line, the first connection line, the second connection line, and the third connection line have different paths”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Claims 2-3, 12-15 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:
Regarding claim 2, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the substrate processing apparatus according to Claim 1, comprising “the connection line penetrates through the first end surface and the second end surface, and wherein the first end surface is closer to the driving source than the second end surface”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Dependent claim 3 is also objected by virtue of its dependency
Regarding claim 12, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the substrate processing apparatus according to Claim 1, comprising “the driven element includes an edge ring in a ring shape disposed on the substrate support, and wherein the driving source includes an edge ring control signal source that applies an impedance control signal to a region adjacent to the edge ring via the connection line”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Regarding claim 13, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the substrate processing apparatus according to Claim 1, comprising “an impulse generator configured to apply an impulse to the chamber through the RF power transmission line connected to the substrate support; and a response analyzer configured to receive an impulse response for the impulse applied to the chamber, and analyze a resonance impedance of the chamber based on the received impulse response”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Dependent claim 14 is also objected by virtue of its dependency.
Regarding claim 15, prior arts whether stand alone or in combination fail to teach or reasonably suggest the substrate processing apparatus according to Claim 1, comprising “a response analyzer configured to detect the RF power applied to the substrate support, and analyze a resonance impedance in the chamber, and wherein the resonator controller is configured to control the resonance frequency of the resonator based on the analyzed resonance impedance”, as required in combination with the other limitations of the claim.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYED M KAISER whose telephone number is (571)272-9612. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 a.m.-6 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abdullah Riyami can be reached at 571-270-3119. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SYED M KAISER/ Examiner, Art Unit 2831 /ABDULLAH A RIYAMI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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