Appeal 2006-2725
Application 09/982,406
1 8. An apparatus for supporting a substrate, comprising:
2 a chamber body having at least one substrate access port;
3 at least one support member disposed in the chamber body;
4 at least one socket disposed in the support member and having a ball
5 support surface and a formed end; and
6 a ball rotatably disposed on the ball support surface and retained in the
7 socket by the formed end, the ball adapted to contact and support the
8 substrate in a spaced-apart relation to the support member.
9
10 THE REFERENCES
11 Hansson US 4,621,936 Nov. 11, 1986
11 Okayama (as translated) JP 2-121347 May 9, 1990
12
13 Toshio1 (as translated) JP 2000-353737 Dec. 19, 2000
14 Young US 6,677,594 B1 Jan. 13, 2004
15
16 THE REJECTIONS
17 The following rejections are before us on appeal:2 claims 8 and 15 under
18 35 U.S.C. § 102(a) as anticipated by Toshio; claims 14, 47 and 51 under
19 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over Toshio in view of Young and Hanson; claims 8,
20 15, and 17-19 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over the combined disclosures of
21 Okayama and Young; and claims 14, 47 and 51 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious
22 over the combined disclosures of Okayama, Young and Hansson.
1The Examiner and the Appellants refer to this reference as “Toshio,” the1
inventor’s first name. For consistency, we likewise do so.
2 The Appellants state that nine additional rejections involving only dependent
claims (17-21, 48, 49, 50 and 52), all but one of the additional rejections relying
upon US 5,955,858 to Kroeker or US 4,706,793 to Masciarelli, are not under
review on appeal (Br. 8; Reply Br. 3). The Appellants state that those claims are
patentable if the independent claim (8 or 47) from which they depend is patentable
(Reply Br. 3).
2
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