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 .
Status of Application
Claims 1-15 are pending. Claim 15 is withdrawn. Claims 1-14 are presented for examination.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-14 in the reply filed on 6/18/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 15 is withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/18/2026.
Drawings
Figure 1 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112(b)
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.
1. Claims 1-14 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.
Claims 6, 7, 13 and 14 recite the limitation "the purge gas". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. There is no initial recitation of a purge gas and it is unclear as to what the purge gas is or where it is being supplied from. Therefore, claims 6, 7, 13 and 14 are indefinite.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted structural cooperative relationships are: Claim 1 recites a first supply line configured to supply a first source gas into the processing chamber and a second supply line configured to supply the first source gas into the processing chamber. However, as disclosed in the specification and in the drawings these supply lines are not distinct. Rather, the supply lines join and then are combined as they connect to the processing chamber (see Figure 2 where between G1 and the processing chamber the first supply line and the second supply line are a single supply line, and also between the Gas A and point P1 the first supply line and second supply line are common with each other). The claims omit this structural branching relationship which is critical to the invention and the manner in which the cleaning steps are conducted. Therefore, claim 1 is indefinite. Claims 2-14 depend from claim 1 and are indefinite for the same reasons.
Claim 1 additionally recites cleaning the other of the first supply line and the second supply line. However, this is not consistent with the disclosure. As noted above, the supply lines have a common section, so it’s unclear what is meant by cleaning the other of the first and second supply line as cleaning one of the supply lines would necessarily clean a portion of the other supply line. Therefore, it is unclear as to what is intended by the language of “cleaning the other of the first supply line and the second supply line”. Thus, claim 1 is indefinite. Claims 2-14 depend from claim 1 and are indefinite for the same reasons.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Mizusawa (U.S. PGPUB No. 2007/0175391) cited for teaching a substrate processing apparatus including a branching supply line such that there are first and second supply lines configured to supply a first source gas into the processing chamber (see Figure 1).
Shinriki et al. (U.S. PGPUB No. 2006/0032445) cited for teaching a substrate processing apparatus including vent and exhaust lines for source material (see Figures 5A and 6A).
Conclusion
Claims 1-15 are pending.
Claim 15 is withdrawn.
Claims 1-14 are rejected.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROBERT S WALTERS JR whose telephone number is (571)270-5351. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8-5.
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, Dah-Wei Yuan can be reached at 571-272-1295. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROBERT S WALTERS JR/
September 5, 2026Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1717
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