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 .
This Office Action is in response to the Applicant’s communication filed on June 17, 2025. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-20 are currently presented in the instant application.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 6/17/2025 and 2/5/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
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 1 and 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Takayoshi (US 2021/0351019) in view of Collins et al. (US 2019/0051496).
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With respect to claim 1, Takayoshi discloses in figure 1 a plasma processing apparatus, comprising: a chamber (1, e.g., a chamber) defining a plasma processing space (S, e.g., a plasma space); a substrate support (ST, e.g., a substrate support) in the chamber (see figure 1), the substrate support being configured to support a substrate (W, e.g., a wafer or substrate); an upper electrode (3, e.g., an upper electrode) located above the substrate support (see figure 1), the upper electrode being a part of a ceiling (3a, e.g., a ceiling plate) extending above the plasma processing space and closing an opening (having an opening formed by 3a-3b) of the chamber (see figure 1), the upper electrode being configured to receive radio-frequency power (71-72, e.g., a power supply applied thereof); a first insulating member (95, e.g., an insulating member) being a part of the ceiling (see figure 1), the first insulating member being located between the upper electrode and the chamber to electrically isolate the upper electrode from the chamber (figure 1, e.g., where the insulating member 95 located between the upper electrode 3 and the chamber 1 thereof); and a shield (86, e.g., a shield) being another part of the ceiling (see figure 1), the shield extending from a peripheral edge (figure 1 shows being extended and located at a peripheral edge of the upper electrode thereof) of the upper electrode to the chamber, wherein the ceiling includes a portion (3a-3c, e.g., formed as a portion of the ceiling thereof) exposed to the plasma processing space (see figure 1), and the portion includes a conductor (3b, e.g., an electrode) including the upper electrode and the shield (see figure 1).
Takayoshi does not explicitly disclose that the shield being conductive and comprising a silicon-containing material.
Collins discloses in figure 2A a plasma processing apparatus, comprising a ceiling (200), a substrate (112) and a shield (168, e.g., an electrode shield), wherein the shield being conductive and comprising a silicon-containing material (paragraph 0055, e.g., having the shield formed by a conductive silicon material thereof).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the apparatus of Takayoshi with a conductive silicon shield as taught by Collins for the purpose of preventing particle contamination of the process chamber substrate due thereof since this configuration for the stated purpose would have been obvious as evidenced by the teaching of Collins (see paragraph 0055).
With respect to claim 8, the combination of Takayoshi and Collins disclose that further comprising a direct current (DC) power supply (72) electrically coupled to at least one of the upper electrode or the shield (see figure 1 of Takayoshi).
With respect to claim 9, the combination of Takayoshi and Collins disclose that wherein the shield is electrically floating (figure 2A of Collins shows the shield 168 being electrically floating thereof).
With respect to claim 10, the combination of Takayoshi and Collins disclose that further comprising a radio frequency power supply (351) electrically coupled to the upper electrode (165, e.g., upper electrodes), the radio frequency power supply being configured to generate the radio frequency power (see figure 4A of Collins).
With respect to claim 11, Takayoshi discloses in figure 1 a plasma processing apparatus, comprising: a chamber (1, e.g., a chamber) defining a plasma processing space (S, e.g., a plasma space); a substrate support (ST, e.g., a substrate support) in the chamber (see figure 1), the substrate support being configured to support a substrate (W, e.g., a wafer or substrate); an upper electrode (3, e.g., an upper electrode) located above the substrate support (see figure 1), the upper electrode being a part of a ceiling (3a, e.g., a ceiling plate) extending above the plasma processing space and closing an opening (having an opening formed by 3a-3b) of the chamber (see figure 1), the upper electrode being configured to receive radio-frequency power (71-72, e.g., a power supply applied thereof); a first insulating member (95, e.g., an insulating member) being a part of the ceiling (see figure 1), the first insulating member being located between the upper electrode and the chamber to electrically isolate the upper electrode from the chamber (figure 1, e.g., where the insulating member 95 located between the upper electrode 3 and the chamber 1 thereof); and a shield (86, e.g., a shield) being another part of the ceiling (see figure 1), the shield extending from a peripheral edge (figure 1 shows being extended and located at a peripheral edge of the upper electrode thereof) of the upper electrode to the chamber and the shield from a peripheral edge of the first insulating member to the chamber (see figure 1), wherein the ceiling includes a portion (3a-3c, e.g., formed as a portion of the ceiling thereof) exposed to the plasma processing space (see figure 1), and the portion includes a conductor (3b, e.g., an electrode) including the upper electrode and the shield (see figure 1).
Takayoshi does not explicitly disclose that the shield being conductive and comprising a silicon-containing material.
Collins discloses in figure 2A a plasma processing apparatus, comprising a ceiling (200), a substrate (112) and a shield (168, e.g., an electrode shield), wherein the shield being conductive and comprising a silicon-containing material (paragraph 0055, e.g., having the shield formed by a conductive silicon material thereof).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the apparatus of Takayoshi with a conductive silicon shield as taught by Collins for the purpose of preventing particle contamination of the process chamber substrate due thereof since this configuration for the stated purpose would have been obvious as evidenced by the teaching of Collins (see paragraph 0055).
With respect to claim 12, the combination of Takayoshi and Collins disclose that wherein the upper electrode includes a ceiling plate (3a, e.g., a ceiling plate) facing the plasma processing space and being conductive (figure 1 and paragraph 0026 of Takayoshi); and a first support (95, e.g., formed as a support for the ceiling plate thereof) supporting the ceiling plate and defining at least one gas-diffusion compartment (figure 1 of Takayoshi shows a gas diffusion compartment 3c-3e thereof).
With respect to claim 13, the combination of Takayoshi and Collins disclose that wherein the ceiling plate is formed of aluminum and has a surface covered with an anticorrosive film, and the first support supports the ceiling plate in a detachable manner (see figure 1 and paragraphs 0020, 0026, e.g., “the ceiling plate 3a is made of a conductive material, for example, aluminum …”).
With respect to claim 14, the combination of Takayoshi and Collins disclose that wherein the chamber includes a sidewall (SW), and the plasma processing apparatus further comprises a second support (S2) disposed on the sidewall and outward from the first insulating member (see figure 1 of Takayoshi).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 20 is allowed.
Claims 2, 5, 15 and 18 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.
Claims 3-4, 6-7, 16-17 and 19 are also objected as being dependent upon objected claims 2, 5, 15 and 18, respectively.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Prior art of record fails to disclose or fairly suggest the following limitations:
A plasma processing apparatus, including: “at least one second insulating member located outward from the first insulating member, on the shield, and between the chamber and the shield, wherein the upper electrode includes: a ceiling plate facing the plasma processing space and being conductive; and a first support supporting the ceiling plate and defining at least one gas-diffusion compartment, and the ceiling includes a portion exposed to the plasma processing space, and the portion includes a conductor including the upper electrode and the shield”, in combination with the remaining claimed limitations as claimed in independent claim 20.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Prior art Ikeda et al. – US 2021/0142983
Prior art Doan et al. – US 2015/0001180
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/TUNG X LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 July 8, 2026
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