Appeal 2007-1228
Application 10/150,458
1 The Examiner suggests that the combination of Collins 1 with the
2 teachings of Tomoyasu or Imahashi would have led one of ordinary skill in
3 the art to use the element of the heater coils embedded within the RF
4 insulator. Answer 4-5.
5 It is true that Tomoyasu describes a plasma treatment device that
6 includes a heater 306 made by inserting a conductive resistance heating unit
7 into an insulating sintered body made of aluminum nitride for use in a
8 suscepter 305 used to heat a wafer. Tomoyasu, col. 10:44-50. It is also true
9 that Imahashi describes a heating means 76 made of “a conductive resisting
10 heat generating body… inserted in an insulating sintered body of, e.g.,
11 aluminum nitride” used to heat a wafer. Imahashi, col. 11:20-25. Lastly, we
12 can agree that Niori describes a wafer heating device 1 with a heat
13 generating resistive element 3 embedded within a ceramic substrate 2.
14 Niori, 4:11-17.
15 While Tomoyasu and Imahashi each disclose heating elements
16 disposed within aluminum nitride, the aluminum nitride is not being used as
17 an RF insulating layer for the ceiling of the chamber. The devices taught by
18 Tomoyasu and Imahashi are both utilized for heating a wafer within the
19 chamber, which is an entirely different purpose when compared to what
20 Collins 1 seeks to accomplish with layer 1110 or 1112. In particular, the RF
21 insulating layer of Collins is disposed above the ceiling, i.e., outside of the
22 chamber area where the substrate is heated, and is said to aid in maintaining
23 a particular temperature of the ceiling to prevent polymer deposition.
24 Collins 1, 37:20-22.
25 As in Tomoyasu and Imahashi, Niori teaches a heating element
26 disposed within a material (ceramic) to be used for heating the wafer itself
27 and not within an RF insulating layer to be used outside of the chamber area
9
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