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 .
Response to Amendment
The Examiner acknowledges the amending of claims 1, 4, 8, 10, 12, 26, 32-34, 36, the addition of claims 37-39, and the cancellation of claims 2, 3, and 27.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
The Examiner notes are is newly applied which is found to read on the claims in their updated form.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 36 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 36 refers to “a first port” and “a second port” while depending from claims 1, and 8, which already define the first/second ports. This is confusing as it appears to be defining new ports with the same names.
For purposes of examination the claim will be understood to be referring to “the first port” and “the second port”.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 4-6, 8-10, 13, 26, 28-36 and 39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Kwon (KR 10-2008-0035344, Applicant submitted prior art; note italicized portions are copy/paste from included English translation).
With respect to claim 1, Kwon discloses a light source apparatus (fig.1) comprising: a gas discharge stage (fig.1 #110) including: a three-dimensional body defining a cavity (fig.1 chamber within #110, abstract) that is configured to interact with an energy source (“A laser gas containing an inert gas and a halogen gas introduced into the discharge chamber is excited by an electrical discharge from an electrode provided inside the discharge chamber. ”), the body including first (fig.1 connection from #110 to #140) and second (fig.1 connection from #110 to #130) ports that are transmissive to a light beam (“The discharge chamber 110 may have a window (not shown) for passing the laser beam through sidewalls facing in the X direction.”) having a wavelength in the deep ultraviolet range (“The excimer laser may be classified into an XeCl excimer laser (308 nm wavelength), a KrF excimer laser (248 nm wavelength), or an ArF (193 nm wavelength). Here, KrF excimer laser is used as an exposure light source of an exposure apparatus in the production field of a semiconductor element.”) and that define a longitudinal axis (fig.1 axis extending between #140 to #110 to #130); and first optical module (fig.1 #140) at a first end of the body (fig.1 left side) at which the first port is positioned and a second optical module (fig.1 #130) at a second end of the body (fig.1 right side) at which the second port is positioned, with an X axis of an XYZ coordinate system being defined between the first optical module and the second optical module of the gas discharge stage (fig.1 see “X” with arrow); a sensor system comprising a plurality of sensors (fig.2 #124s), each sensor fixedly mounted within the XYZ coordinate system (fig.2 each #124 mounted in XYZ coordinate system; note use of X axis in fig.1), each sensor configured to directly measure a displacement (direct position measurement; “It may include position detection sensors 124 disposed.”) of a respective distinct region of the body of the gas discharge stage from that sensor (measurement at each of 4 corners); a measurement system (fig.1 #150) configured to measure one or more performance parameters of a light beam that is generated from the gas discharge stage, the one or more performance parameters comprising a spectral feature of the light beam (“The measurement unit 150 measures parameters related to the laser beam. The parameters include a generated voltage applied to electrodes (not shown) of the discharge chamber 110 to generate the laser beam, a bandwidth and an energy sigma of the output laser beam emitted from the out coupler 130.”): an actuation system (fig.2 #122s) physically coupled to the body of the gas discharge stage (fig.2 connected physical to bottom of #110), configured to adjust a position of the body of the gas discharge stage (“As shown in FIG. 2, the driving unit 120 is disposed at one side of each of the linear driving units 122 and the linear driving units 122 disposed at a predetermined interval on the bottom surface of the discharge chamber 110.”) and a control apparatus (fig.1 #160) in communication with the sensor system, the measurement system, and the actuation system, the control apparatus configured to analyze the measured displacements from the sensor system, and the one or more performance parameters of the light beam from the measurement system, and, based on the analysis to thereby determine whether to adjust a position of the body of the gas discharge stage relative to the X axis of the XYZ coordinate system, and to provide a signal to the actuation system based on the determination (“The controller 160 is configured to control the driver 120 and the bandwidth driver 142 using the measured parameters as input data. In detail, the controller 160 calculates an optimal position of the discharge chamber 110 and an optimal bending shape of the bandwidth reducing unit 148 using the parameters as input data. The controller 160 controls the driving unit 120 to move the discharge chamber 110 to the optimum position or the bandwidth driving unit 142 to control the bandwidth reducing unit 148 to the optimal bending shape.”; also note that position data is used to determine if alignment is optimal or needs to be moved to optimal position: “Subsequently, the controller 160 calculates a first optimal position among the first measurement positions by using the measured parameters as input data. (S420) Specifically, the optimization of the parameters includes the generated voltage and the bandwidth. And all of the energy sigma have minimum values or have values close to the minimum values. The controller 160 calculates a first optimal position having the optimized parameters among the first measurement positions. The linear driving units 122 move the discharge chamber 110 to the first optimal position (S430). As described above, the movement control of the discharge chamber 110 is performed by the controller 160.”).
With respect to claim 4, Kwon teaches the actuation system includes a plurality of actuators, each actuator configured to be in physical communication with a region of the body of the gas discharge stage (fig.2 actuators physically connected to each corner).
With respect to claim 5, Kwon teaches the control apparatus is configured to determine the position of the body of the gas discharge stage relative to the XYZ coordinate system by determining one or more of a translation of the longitudinal axis of the body of the gas discharge stage from the X axis and/or a rotation of the longitudinal axis of the body of the gas discharge stage from the X axis (“In another embodiment, the parameters can be measured while rotating the discharge chamber to a plurality of second measurement positions.”, fig.6, thereby including X).
With respect to claim 6, Kwon teaches the translation of the body of the gas discharge stage from the X axis includes one or more of a translation of the body of the gas discharge stage along the X axis, a translation of the body of the gas discharge stage along a Y axis that is perpendicular with the X axis, and/or a translation of the body of the gas discharge stage along a Z axis that is perpendicular with the X axis and the Y axis (see fig.6).
With respect to claim 8, Kwon teaches the second optical modules comprises a beam coupler and the first optical modules comprises a beam turning device (“An out coupler 130 is disposed at one side of the discharge chamber 110. The out coupler 130 includes partial reflectors (not shown), a portion of the laser beam emitted from one side of the discharge chamber 110 by the partial reflectors is emitted to the output laser beam to the outside, The rest may be discharged back to the discharge chamber 110.The line width limiting module 140 may be disposed on the other side of the discharge chamber 110. The line width limiting module 140 may receive the laser beam re-emitted into the discharge chamber 110 to reduce the line width of the laser beam.”).
With respect to claim 9, Kwon teaches the light beam is an amplified light beam (necessarily amplified within gain region) having a wavelength in the deep ultraviolet range (see above citation).
With respect to claim 10, Kwon teaches the beam turning device includes a plurality of optics (fig.3) for selecting and adjusting a wavelength of the light beam (“The line width limiting module 140 may be disposed on the other side of the discharge chamber 110. The line width limiting module 140 may receive the laser beam re-emitted into the discharge chamber 110 to reduce the line width of the laser beam. As shown in FIG. 3, the line width limiting module 140 reflects the scattered laser beam by prisms 144 for dispersing the laser beam emitted from the other side of the discharge chamber 110. A tuning mirror 146 for generating a laser beam and a bandwidth reducing unit 148 for reducing the bandwidth of the laser beam reflected from the tuning mirror 146. The bandwidth reducing unit 148 may include, for example, a diffraction grating, and may be concave or convexly curved with respect to the direction in which the laser beam is incident. ”) and the beam coupler includes a partially reflecting mirror (“The out coupler 130 includes partial reflectors (not shown),”).
With respect to claim 13, Kwon teaches each sensor includes a contact-less sensor that does not contact the body of the gas discharge stage (fig.2 each #124 connected to #122 not #110).
With respect to claim 26, Kwon teaches the control apparatus is further configured to: determine whether a modification to the position of the body of the gas discharge stage would improve one or more of the one or more measured performance parameters (“The controller 160 calculates a first optimal position having the optimized parameters among the first measurement positions. The linear driving units 122 move the discharge chamber 110 to the first optimal position (S430). As described above, the movement control of the discharge chamber 110 is performed by the controller 160.”).
With respect to claim 28, Kwon teaches each actuator includes one or more of an electro-mechanical device, a servomechanism, an electrical servomechanism, a hydraulic servomechanism, and/or a pneumatic servomechanism (“The linear driving units 122 may use a ball screw using a linear motor or a stepping motor.”).
With respect to claim 29, Kwon teaches the rotation of longitudinal axis of the body of the gas discharge stage from the X axis includes one or more of a rotation of the body of the gas discharge stage about the X axis, a rotation of the body of the gas discharge stage about a Y axis that is perpendicular with the X axis, and/or a rotation of the body of the gas discharge stage along a Z axis that is perpendicular with the X axis and the Y axis (see fig.6 rotation about C).
With respect to claim 30, Kwon teaches when the body of the gas discharge stage is within a range of acceptable positions, the energy source supplies energy to the cavity of the body, and the beam turning device and beam coupler are aligned, the light beam is generated (fig.1 function of resonator mirrors/reflectors in conjunction with pumped gain medium when producing laser light).
With respect to claim 31, Kwon teaches the beam turning device includes an arrangement of optics (fig.3) that is configured to receive the light beam exiting the body of the gas discharge stage through the first port (fig.1 from #110) and changing a direction of the light beam so that the light beam re-enters the body of the gas discharge stage through the first port (return light from fig.3).
With respect to claim 32, Kwon teaches the gas discharge stage also includes a beam expander (fig.3 beam expansion between #146 and #144) configured to interact with the light beam as it travels between the beam coupler and the cavity (based on the light resonating between the coupler and turner).
With respect to claim 33, Kwon teaches each sensor of the plurality of sensors is configured to be fixed at a distance from another sensor of the plurality of sensors within the XYZ coordinate system (Kwon fig.2).
With respect to claim 34, Kwon teaches each of the plurality of sensors includes a displacement sensor (“Each of the position detection sensors 124 may detect a moved position of the linear driving unit 122 adjacent thereto.”).
With respect to claim 35, Kwon teaches a displacement sensor is an optical displacement sensor (“The position detection sensors 124 may use an optical sensor or an encoder.”), a linear proximity sensor, an electromagnetic sensor, or an ultrasonic displacement sensor.
With respect to claim 36, Kwon teaches when the body is aligned with the XYZ coordinate system (along optical axis left/right direction), the beam turning device (fig.1 #140) is optically coupled with a first port (fig.1 left side) at a first end of the body (fig.1 left side) and the beam coupler (fig.1 #130) is optically coupled with a second port (fig.1 right side) at a second end of the body (fig.1 right side).
With respect to claim 39, Kwon teaches an XY plane of the XYZ coordinate system is orientated perpendicular to a direction of gravity (fig.1 XY to be depicted X direction and Y in the perpendicular, left/right, direction; noting the device would sit such that gravity would then be in the Z, up/down, direction) and wherein each sensor of the plurality of sensors is configured to measure a displacement within or parallel to the XY plane (as seen in fig.2 the sensors are parallel to the defined XY plane, thereby measuring in the parallel XY plane) of a respective distinct region (4 corners) of the body of the gas discharge stage from that sensor.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 12, 37 and 38 are rejection in view of Kwon and Sasaki et al. (JP 2010-050300, Applicant submitted prior art; note a copy of this reference with English translation is included with this action and italicized portions below are copy/pasted from the translation).
With respect to claim 12, Kwon teaches the laser device with sensors, actuators and feedback control outlined above, but does not teach a second gas discharge stage that is optically in series with the gas discharge stage, the second gas discharge stage having a similar arrangement of elements (two optical elements replacing the turning and coupling devices) and sensors with feedback/control as the first. Sasaki further teaches a well-known MOPA configuration involves use of a second gas discharge chamber (fig.8 #61) optically in series with the first chamber (fig.8). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to adapt the system of Kwon to make use of a second discharge chamber with second set of sensors, actuators and feedback control as Sasaki has demonstrated such dual discharge systems are known and provide high output power by amplifying the beam from the first discharge chamber and the additional stability control would isolate the second chamber from vibrations and misalignments in a similar manner to the first chamber.
With respect to claim 37, Kwon teaches the device outlined above but does not teach an additional gas discharge stage configured to receive light from the first discharge stage. Sasaki further teaches a well-known MOPA configuration involves use of a second gas discharge chamber (fig.8 #61) optically in series with the first chamber (fig.8). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to adapt the system of Kwon to make use of a second discharge chamber receiving light from the first as Sasaki has demonstrated such dual discharge systems are known and provide high output power by amplifying the beam from the first discharge chamber.
With respect to claim 38, Kwon teaches the device outlined above, but does not teach the gas discharge stage comprises a master oscillator. Sasaki further teaches a well-known MOPA configuration involves use of a second gas discharge chamber (fig.8 #61) optically in series with the first chamber (fig.8). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the application was filed to adapt the system of Kwon to make use of a second discharge chamber receiving light from the first, the first thereby being a master oscillator, as Sasaki has demonstrated such dual discharge systems are known and provide high output power by amplifying the beam from the first discharge chamber.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TOD THOMAS VAN ROY whose telephone number is (571)272-8447. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8AM-430PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MinSun Harvey can be reached at 571-272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/TOD T VAN ROY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
Prosecution Insights