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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The Terminal Disclaimer filed 9/3/2026 has been approved.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 5-7, 14, 15, 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Keil et al. (USP 9,644,271).
Regarding claim 1, Keil et al.’s figure 5 discloses A radiofrequency (RF) signal supply system for a plasma processing system, comprising: a first RF signal generator (501 (1)) set to generate a first RF signal having a first frequency (base frequency); a second RF signal generator (501(2)) set to generate a second RF signal having a second frequency two times the base frequency), the second frequency being a specified harmonic of the first frequency (even harmonic of the base frequency); and a third RF signal generator (501(3) or 501(4)) set to generate a third RF signal having a third frequency, the third frequency being at least two orders of magnitude larger than the first frequency (output frequency of 501(3)) or 501(4) are three to four times the base frequency, respectively), wherein the first RF signal, the second RF signal, and the third RF signal are supplied to the plasma processing system (102) as called for in claim 1.
Regarding claim 4, the second RF signal generator (502(2)) is connected as a slave of the first RF signal generator so that the second frequency tracks in real-time as an integer multiple of the first frequency (the second frequency is two times of the base frequency).
Regarding claim 5, further comprising: an impedance matching system (match network 1 to N; notch filters 1 to N) connected between the plasma processing system and each of the first RF signal generator, the second RF signal generator, and the third RF signal generator, the impedance matching system configured to combine the first RF signal, the second RF signal, and the third RF signal onto an output of the impedance matching system connected to the plasma processing system.
Regarding claims 6-7, wherein the impedance matching system includes a first impedance control circuit connected to an output of the first RF signal generator, a second impedance control circuit connected to an output of the second RF signal generator, and a third impedance control circuit connected to an output of the third RF signal generator (column 12, lines 35-40 discloses that the impedance match networks configures of capacitors and inductors that can be adjusted, thus, the adjustment are performed by respective impedance control circuits).
Regarding claim 14, a control module (110, 503) configured to control a phase difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal, the control module configured to control a voltage difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal.
Regarding claim 15, the control module is configured to control the phase difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal and the voltage difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal so as to control a plasma sheath voltage as a function of time within the plasma processing system (column 12, lines 10-27).
Regarding claim 17, wherein the control module is configured to control the phase difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal and the voltage difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal so as to control an etch rate uniformity across a substrate within the plasma processing system (column 11, lines 35-45).
Regarding claims 18-20, wherein the control module is configured to control the phase difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal and the voltage difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal so as to increase a plasma sheath voltage within the plasma processing system over a larger percentage of a cycle of the first RF signal (column 11, lines 35-45; column 14, lines 19-67; column 15, lines 1-50).
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.
Claim(s) 2-3, 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Keil et al. (USP 9,644,271).
Regarding claim 2, Keil et al.’s figure 5 discloses the first RF signal (13.56Mhz) and the second RF signal (27.12 MHz) and third RF signal is a multiple times of the first RF signal instead of the first RF is within a range extending from about 330 kilohertz (kHz) to about 440 kHz, and the third RF signal is within a range extending from about 54 megaHertz (MHz) to about 63 MHz as called for in claim 2. However, Keil et al. also suggests that the frequency of the first RF, second RF and third RF signals can be other than the suggested ranges as mentioned above (see column 18, lines 59-61) to perform the uniformity wafering. Therefore, outside of any non-obvious results, the obviousness of choosing specific frequencies of the first RF, second RF and third RF signals for providing uniformity wafering will not be patentable under 35USC 103.
Regarding claim 3, Keil et al.’s figure 5 discloses the first RF signal (13.56Mhz) and the second RF signal (27.12 MHz) and third RF signal is a multiple times of the first RF signal instead of the first frequency is about 400 kilohertz (kHz), and the second frequency is about 1.2 megaHertz (MHz), and the third frequency is about 60 MHz as called for in claim 3. However, Keil et al. also suggests that the frequency of the first RF, second RF and third RF signals can be other than the suggested ranges as mentioned above (see column 18, lines 59-61) to perform the uniformity wafering. Therefore, outside of any non-obvious results, the obviousness of choosing specific frequencies of the first RF, second RF and third RF signals for providing uniformity wafering will not be patentable under 35USC 103.
Regarding claim 16, Kiel et al. does not disclose the control module is configured to control the phase difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal to be about thirty degrees, and wherein the control module is configured to control the voltage difference between the first RF signal and the second RF signal so that a power of the second RF signal is within a range extending from about 17% to about 20% of a power of the first RF signal as called for in claim 16. However, Kiel et al. suggests that the variation/control of the phase angle relationship between the multiple RF generators enable uniformity formation (see column 11, lines 35-40). Therefore, outside of any non-obvious results, the obviousness of controlling/manipulating the phase different between RF generators in order to produce an optimum results will not be patentable under 35USC 103.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8-13 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: Keil et al. does not disclose the first impedance control circuit has an output node connected to a pre-output node of the impedance matching system, and the second impedance control circuit has an output node connected to the pre-output node of the impedance matching system, wherein the pre-output node of the impedance matching system is electrically connected through an output inductor to the output of the impedance matching system, and wherein the third impedance control circuit has an output node connected directly to the output of the impedance matching system as called for in claims 8-13.
Conclusion
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/TUAN T LAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2836 9/10/2026
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