Appeal 2007-1904
Application 10/790,081
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The subject matter on appeal is directed to an apparatus for coating a
photosensitive material on a substrate, such as a wafer (Specification 1).
The apparatus includes, inter alia, a coater having a discharging unit for
discharging a photosensitive a material to the substrate, a transfer unit for
moving the discharging unit along a surface of the substrate, and a detector
for detecting foreign matters on the substrate, and a remover for removing
the foreign matters from the substrate (Specification 6). According to page
20, paragraph [0077], of the Specification:
[T]he transfer unit 1120 is in danger of colliding with [the]
foreign matters on the unit substrate 1500. The foreign matters
on the unit substrate 1500 cause a fatal process failure during
subsequent process, and particularly, foreign matters of high
hardness cause fracture of the discharging unit 1100 [sic., 1110]
or unit substrate 1500. Furthermore, the foreign matters may
cause a fatal scratch on the unit substrate 1500 in case that the
foreign matters are adhered to the discharging unit 1110 and
dragged along the surface of the unit substrate 1500. Therefore,
a detector 1200 is installed in front of the coater 1100.
Implicit in this disclosure is that the detector is moving in the same direction
as the discharging unit in front of the discharging unit to detect any existence
of foreign matters. Details of the appealed subject matter are recited in
representative claim 34 reproduced below:
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