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 27, 2025. In virtue of this communication, claims 1-20 are currently presented in the instant application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 06/27/2025 and 12/09/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “a first capacitance is produced between the electrode and the substrate”, “a second capacitance is produced between the electrode and the edge ring” and “at least one balance capacitor” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). 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 § 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 1-3 and 14-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being Cui et al. by (US 2021/0320022).
With respect to claim 1, Cui discloses in figures 1 and 4A a processing chamber (101, e.g., a plasma chamber), comprising: an electrode (109, 111 or E, e.g., electrodes) driven by a power source (110, e.g., a power source) coupled to a substrate (105, e.g., a substrate), wherein a first capacitance (C7, e.g., a first capacitor) is produced between the electrode (E) and the substrate (105); an edge ring (106, e.g., an edge ring) disposed adjacent the substrate (see figure 4A), wherein a second capacitance (C2, e.g., a second capacitor) is produced between the electrode (E) and the edge ring (see figure 4A); and at least one balance capacitor (C1, C8, 112, 155, e.g., formed as a matching, balancing or tuning circuit) disposed within the processing chamber to match the second capacitance to the edge ring to the first capacitance to the substrate (paragraph 0023, e.g., “a matching network 112 and a resonant edge tuning circuit 155 including variable capacitors”).
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With respect to claim 2, Cui discloses that wherein the balance capacitor is a fixed capacitor (figure 1A shows capacitors C1 and C8 are fixed capacitors).
With respect to claim 3, Cui discloses that wherein the balance capacitor is a variable capacitor (paragraph 0023, e.g., “a tuning circuit 155 including variable capacitors”.
With respect to claim 14, Cui discloses in figures 1 and 4A a processing chamber (101, e.g., a plasma chamber), comprising: an electrode (109, 111 or E, e.g., electrodes) driven by a power source (110, e.g., a power source) coupled to a substrate (105, e.g., a substrate), wherein a first capacitance (C7, e.g., a first capacitor) is produced between the electrode (E) and the substrate (105); an edge ring (106, e.g., an edge ring) disposed adjacent the substrate (see figure 4A), wherein a second capacitance (C2, e.g., a second capacitor) is produced between the electrode (E) and the edge ring (see figure 4A); and at least one variable balancing capacitor (paragraph 0023, e.g., “a resonant edge tuning circuit 155 including variable capacitors”) disposed within a junction box (155, e.g., a tuning circuit formed as a junction box thereof) to match the second capacitance to the edge ring to the first capacitance to the substrate (see figure 4A).
With respect to claim 15, Cui discloses that wherein the edge ring is fixed in place and free of coatings (see figure 4A, e.g., where the ring is fixed and free of coatings).
With respect to claim 16, Cui discloses that wherein the variable balancing capacitor includes a single variable capacitor in series with the edge ring (see figure 4A and paragraph 0023, e.g., “a resonant edge tuning circuit 155 including variable capacitors”).
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 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cui et al. (US 2021/0320022) in view of Vishwanath (US 2020/0234928).
With respect to claim 4, Cui discloses all claimed limitations, as expressly recited in claim 1, except for specifying that wherein the balance capacitor includes a single capacitor in series with a cooling plate of the processing chamber.
Vishwanath discloses in figures 1-2 a plasma chamber (102), a substrate (112) and a electrode (118), wherein the balance capacitor includes a single capacitor (330, 332, e.g., capacitive coupling elements) in series with a cooling plate (218, e.g., a cooling plate) of the processing chamber (see figure 2A).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the chamber of Cui with a cooling plate as taught by Vishwanath for the purpose of reducing heat of the plasma chamber thereof since this configuration for the stated purpose would have been deemed obvious to a person skilled in the art.
With respect to claim 6, the combination of Cui and Vishwanath disclose that wherein the balance capacitor includes a first capacitor (330) in series with the edge ring (230) and a second capacitor (332) in series with a cooling plate (218) of the processing chamber (see figure 2A of Vishwanath).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-20 are allowed.
Claims 5, 7, 11-13 and 17 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 8-10 are also objected as being dependent upon objected claim 7).
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 processing chamber, comprising: … “at least one capacitor in series with the edge ring to match the second capacitance to the edge ring to the first capacitance to the substrate; and a sliding ring disposed adjacent the edge ring to adjust capacitive coupling characteristics resulting from the at least one capacitor”, in combination with the remaining claimed limitations as claimed in independent claim 18 (claims 19-20 would be allowable as being dependent on claim 18).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Prior art Sato et al. – US 2026/0074163
Prior art Shoer et al. – US 2023/0352272
Prior art Yoshida et al. – US 2022/0157564
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TUNG X LE whose telephone number is (571)272-6010. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Alexander H. Taningco can be reached at 571-272-8048. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TUNG X LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2845 July 20, 2026
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