DETAILED ACTION
The following is a Final Office Action in response to the Amendment/Remarks received on 25 August 2025. Claims 1, 3-5, 11, 13-16, and 19 have been amended. Claims 1-20 are pending in this application.
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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, pg. 9-15, filed 25 August 2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive in light of the claim amendments filed on 25 August 2025. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made as follows:
Claims 1-6, 8, and 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0066141 A1 (hereinafter Phan) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0018692 A1 (hereinafter Yoneda) in further view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0368297 A1 (hereinafter Koga), U.S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0379444 A1 (hereinafter Hu), U.S. Patent No. 11,387,152 B1 (hereinafter Yamamoto), and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0229332 A1 (hereinafter Miyama).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga, Hu, Yamamoto, and Miyama, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0143852 A1 (hereinafter Roover).
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto, Miyama, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0203157 A1 (hereinafter Visweswariah).
Claims 16, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phan in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0010319 A1 (hereinafter Patel) in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto.
Claims 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga, Hu, Yamamoto, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0225048 A1 (hereinafter Hosokawa).
Claim 1 stands objected to, claims 3 and 13 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b), claim 5 and 15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d), and claims 1-20 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as set forth below.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 1 includes the grammatical issue of “… display an indication of a corrective action to perform based on …” in lines 19-21. Suggested claim language: “… display an indication of a corrective action to be perform based on …”; and has been interpreted as such for the purpose of examination.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claims 3 and 13 are 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 1 recites “cause, via a second instruction, a second maintenance stage to be performed” in line 9 and claim 3 recites “provide, to the user device, a third instruction indicating that a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed” in lines 7-8. Claim 3 recites a different method of initiating (i.e. performing) a second maintenance stage per use of a different instruction from claim 1. Hence, claim 3 is rendered indefinite. For the purpose of examination, the Examiner addressed the limitations of each claim.
Claim 11 recites “causing, via a second instruction, a second maintenance stage to be performed” in line 8 and claim 13 recites “providing to the user device a second instruction indicating that a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed” in lines 6-7. Claim 11 recites using a second instruction to perform a second maintenance stage and claim 13 recites using a second instruction to perform a third maintenance stage. Claim 13 is rendered indefinite since the claim is unclear as to whether the same (i.e. a second instruction) or a different instruction is used to perform a third maintenance stage. For the purpose of examination, claim 13 has been interpreted as using a different (i.e. a third) instruction to perform a third maintenance stage.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. The limitation of “data from one or more connected instruments” in claim 5 (line 5) fails to further limit the limitation of “receive second data resulting from a first performance of the second maintenance stage, the second data provided by one or more tools communicatively connected to the system in connection with the second maintenance stage” in claim 1 (lines 13-15; see U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0113095 A1 (instant application): pg. 3, par. [0023]). Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. The limitation of “data from one or more connected instruments” in claim 15 (line 5) fails to further limit the limitation of “receive second data resulting from a first performance of the second maintenance stage, the second data provided by one or more tools communicatively connected to the system in connection with the second maintenance stage” in claim 11 (lines 12-14; see U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0113095 A1 (instant application): pg. 3, par. [0023]). Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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.
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 1-6, 8, and 11-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0066141 A1 (hereinafter Phan) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0018692 A1 (hereinafter Yoneda) in further view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0368297 A1 (hereinafter Koga), U.S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0379444 A1 (hereinafter Hu), U.S. Patent No. 11,387,152 B1 (hereinafter Yamamoto), and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2017/0229332 A1 (hereinafter Miyama).
As per claim 1, Phan substantially teaches Applicant's claimed invention. Phan teaches the limitations of a system, comprising a server (pg. 6, par. [0064]; “The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.”) and manufacturing equipment (pg. 2, par. [0026]: i.e. “metallization performed using an automated fabrication tool such as the thin film metal deposition tools commercially available from Applied Materials®”), wherein the system is configured to:
initiate a process of the manufacturing equipment, the process comprising a plurality of stages that are associated with operation of one or more components of the manufacturing equipment (pgs. 2-3, par. [0034]; i.e. “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”);
cause a first stage to be performed (pgs. 2-3, par. [0034]; i.e. a first individual step of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”);
cause a second stage to be performed (pgs. 2-3, par. [0034]; i.e. a first individual step of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”);
receive first data resulting from a first performance of the first stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”);
receive second data resulting from a first performance of the second stage, the second data provided by one or more tools communicatively connected to the system in connection with a second stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0033], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0033]: “As highlighted above, a thin film metal deposition tool (e.g., a cluster tool having multiple processing chambers) can be used to automate this flow, whereby the workpiece is processed at different stages to sequentially deposit the corresponding material(s) at the appropriate locations. Advantageously, throughout this multi-step process the tool has sensors installed by the tool manufacturer, the user, and/or third-party vendors to collect data (such as temperature, pressure, voltage, etc.) at each step.”; [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”; and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”);
determine a condition (i.e. an anomaly score is greater than a threshold) of the first performance of the first stage or the first performance of the second stage based on the first data or second data (pg. 4, par. [0045] and [0047]; i.e. [0045]: “… the trained prediction model (e.g., two-layer sparse Gaussian mixture model) is used to calculate an anomaly score for each step of the multi-step process using the compressed data representation of the input data (from step 502).” and [0047]: “On the other hand, if the anomaly score calculated for a given step is greater than or equal to the threshold value, then in step 510 remedial action is recommended to correct the anomalies.”); and
cause performance of a corrective action (pg. 4, par. [0047] and [0049]; i.e. [0049]: “The remedial recommendations are then used to implement changes to the multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process. For instance, in step 516 the remedial actions are implemented in the tool under control to improve the quality and yield of subsequent wafers. For example, the voltage, current and/or pressure can be altered in the tool in one or more of the steps for which anomalies were detected. Advantageously, these remedial actions can be implemented in the tool under control in an automated manner whereby the voltage, current and/or pressure parameters of the tool can be automatically adjusted for each step reporting an anomaly based on the feedback from the present anomaly detection process.”).
Not explicitly taught are a maintenance process of the manufacturing equipment, the maintenance process comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages;
provide, to a user device, a first instruction indicating that a first maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed;
cause, via the first instruction, the first maintenance stage to be performed;
cause, via a second instruction, a second maintenance stage to be performed;
the first data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment provided by the user device in connection with the first maintenance stage;
determine that the first performance of the first maintenance stage or the first performance of the second maintenance stage was not satisfactory;
cause the user device to display an indication of a corrective action to perform based on determining that the first performance of the first maintenance stage or the first performance of the second maintenance stage was not satisfactory;
responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Yoneda, in an analogous art of substrate manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 3, par. [0097]), teaches the missing limitations of provide, to a user device (Fig. 1, element 334; i.e. a display unit), a first instruction indicating that a first stage of a plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129] and pg. 6, par. [0144]; i.e. [0129]: “The display unit 334 is configured to display the arbitrary recipe designated by the instruction from the display control unit 336, on the operation screen 308.”);
cause, via the first instruction, the first stage to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0129]; i.e. “… the display control unit 336 is configured to accept an instruction (execution instruction) to cause an arbitrary recipe of the plural recipes stored in the memory unit 317 to be executed by the CPU 316 via the transmitting and receiving processing unit 322.”); and
cause, via a second instruction, a second stage to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0129]; i.e. “… the display control unit 336 is configured to accept an instruction (execution instruction) to cause an arbitrary recipe of the plural recipes stored in the memory unit 317 to be executed by the CPU 316 via the transmitting and receiving processing unit 322.”) for the purpose of executing and displaying a recipe (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitations of provide, to a user device, a first instruction indicating that a first stage of a plurality of stages is to be performed; cause, via the first instruction, the first stage to be performed; and cause, via a second instruction, a second stage to be performed to advantageously grasp a history of a transition among a plurality of recipes and reduce the time taken for a trouble (Yoneda: pg. 1, par. [0004]).
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach a maintenance process of the manufacturing equipment, the maintenance process comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages;
the first data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment provided by the user device in connection with the first maintenance stage;
determine that the first performance of the first maintenance stage or the first performance of the second maintenance stage was not satisfactory;
cause the user device to display an indication of a corrective action to perform based on determining that the first performance of the first maintenance stage or the first performance of the second maintenance stage was not satisfactory;
responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of a maintenance process of manufacturing equipment (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 2, par. [0022], par. 3, par. [0033], and pg. 5, par. [0050] and [0051]; i.e. [0005]: “… an equipment element maintenance management method for managing a maintenance operation for an equipment element that is attached to manufacturing equipment for manufacturing a product” and [0051]: “… the maintenance operation, operations that are not accompanied by replacement of the configuration component of the equipment element and repair of the equipment element of tape feeder 26 (configuration elements), such as cleaning of a mover, the distortion repair or adjustment of the sprockets or gears provided in tape feeding mechanism 26a, and the torque measurement of the motors provided in tape feed mechanism 26a, are performed …”), the maintenance process (i.e. process of performing a maintenance operation and repair operation, as needed) comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages (i.e. a first stage of performing the maintenance operation and a second stage of performing the repair operation, as needed) that are associated with maintenance (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”);
data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0050]; i.e. “Maintenance operator 6 is provided with a camera (not shown) for imaging component supply port 26b, torque measuring means (not shown) for measuring torque of a motor provided in tape feeding mechanism 26a, cleaning means (not shown) for cleaning by injecting air, and the like. In other words, maintenance operator 6 has a function of measuring the state of tape feeder 26.”);
determine that a first performance of the first maintenance stage (i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation, as needed) or a first performance of a second maintenance stage was not satisfactory (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0053], and [0054]; i.e. the second stage of performing the repair operation, as needed; [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”; [0053]: “In this example, it is determined that the state of tape feeder 26 is not improved in the case where the torque rating ratio is 0.9 or less or the feed accuracy is ±30 m or more. In other words, since FA02 has the torque rating ratio of 0.78 and 0.9 or less, and FB01 has a feed accuracy of ±55 m and ±30 m or more in the X direction, the result of the gear adjustment is determined to be “fail”.”; and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state, even though the maintenance operation is performed based on the maintenance result information stored in maintenance result storage 64. The repair operation instruction is displayed on the display (not shown) provided in maintenance unit 4 …”); and
cause the user device to display an indication of a corrective action to perform based on determining that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory (pg. 5, par. [0054] and [0055]; i.e. [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state, even though the maintenance operation is performed based on the maintenance result information stored in maintenance result storage 64. The repair operation instruction is displayed on the display (not shown) provided in maintenance unit 4 …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitations of a maintenance process of manufacturing equipment, the maintenance process comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages that are associated with maintenance; data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage; determine that a first performance of the first maintenance stage or a first performance of a second maintenance stage was not satisfactory; and
cause the user device to display an indication of a corrective action to perform based on determining that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga does not expressly teach the first data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment provided by the user device;
responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Hu, in an analogous art of monitoring an industrial process (pg. 2, par. [0017]-[0020]), teaches the missing limitation of data comprising image or video data of manufacturing equipment provided by a user device (pg. 2, par. [0018]-[0020] and Fig. 1, element 102; i.e. [0018]: “The wireless sensing device may be a dedicated wireless sensor device (i.e., a device primarily intended for sensing potentially having relatively limited memory and/or processing power) or a multi-purpose wireless computing device, which comprises one or more sensors, such as a smart phone. The wireless sensing device 102 may be a portable device.”, [0019]: “In some preferred embodiments, the wireless sensing device 102 may be a mobile phone (e.g., a smart phone) or a tablet computer.”, and [0020]: “The wireless sensing device 102 and/or the moving element 104 driven by the electrical machine 103 may be adapted so as to allow rigidly fixing (preferably, detachably) the wireless sensing device 103 to a measurement position 109 on the moving element 104. The measurement position 109 may be any position on the moving element 104 enabling performing measurements using the one or more kinematic sensors 108 so as to characterize the operation of the machine.”) for the purpose of controlling an industrial process (pg. 3, par. [0024]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga to include the addition of the limitation of data comprising image or video data of manufacturing equipment provided by a user device to effectively and expediently commission and adjust a machine to achieve a desired operation (Hu: pg. 1, par. [0002]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga and Hu does not expressly teach responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Yamamoto, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, lines 16-18), teaches the missing limitation of obtaining an indication from a user device that a corrective action has been performed (pg. 13, lines 41-46 i.e. “… a method of notifying an operator or the like that the correction has been performed or an abnormality has been detected by using voice or visual effects may be adopted.”) for the purpose of providing a notification to an operator (col. 13, lines 41-46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga and Hu to include the addition of the limitation of obtaining an indication from a user device that a corrective action has been performed to simply and easily match production qualities of substrate processing apparatuses (Yamamoto: col. 1, lines 51-55).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto does not expressly teach responsive to the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Miyama, in an analogous art of manufacturing a semiconductor (pg. 1, par. [0002] and [0005] and pg. 7, par. [0083]), teaches the missing limitations of responsive to performing a corrective action, provide a signal to activate one or more components of manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action (pg. 7, par. [0077]; i.e. “However, the present disclosure may of course be applied to, for example, a case where a plasma processing is performed on a dummy wafer for inspection. For example, the plasma processing is performed using a dummy wafer after maintenance or cleaning is performed …”) and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations (i.e. confirmation of the stability of the plasma in the plasma processing), cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment (pg. 7, par. [0077]; i.e. “For example, the plasma processing is performed using a dummy wafer after maintenance or cleaning is performed, and after the stability of the plasma in the plasma processing is confirmed, the processing is then performed on a wafer W as a product, thereby avoiding lowering the yield.”) for the purpose of monitoring an abnormality after maintenance (pgs. 6-7, par. [0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto to include the addition of the limitations of responsive to performing a corrective action, provide a signal to activate one or more components of manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action and responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment to advantageously avoid lowering a manufacturing yield (Miyama: pg. 7, par. [0077]).
As per claim 2, Phan teaches provide, to the server (pg. 6, par. [0064]; “The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.”), the first data resulting from the first performance of the first stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
cause performance of a corrective action in view of the verification data (pg. 4, par. [0047]-[0049]; i.e. [0049]: “The remedial recommendations are then used to implement changes to the multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process.”).
Phan does not expressly teach receive the first instruction indicating that the first maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed; and
receive, from the server, verification data indicating that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory.
However Yoneda, in an analogous art of substrate manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 3, par. [0097]), teaches the missing limitation of receive the first instruction indicating that the first stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129] and pg. 6, par. [0144]; i.e. [0129]: “The display unit 334 is configured to display the arbitrary recipe designated by the instruction from the display control unit 336, on the operation screen 308.”) for the purpose of executing and displaying a recipe (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitation of receive the first instruction indicating that the first stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed to advantageously grasp a history of a transition among a plurality of recipes and reduce the time taken for a trouble (Yoneda: pg. 1, par. [0004]).
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and
receive, from the server, verification data indicating that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of the first maintenance stage (i.e. a first stage of performing the maintenance operation) of the plurality of maintenance stages (pg. 5, par. [0054] and [0055]; i.e. [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state, even though the maintenance operation is performed based on the maintenance result information stored in maintenance result storage 64. The repair operation instruction is displayed on the display (not shown) provided in maintenance unit 4 …”); and
the first performance of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitations of the first maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and the first performance of the first maintenance stage to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in view of Koga does not expressly teach receive, from the server, verification data indicating that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga and Hu does not expressly teach receive, from the server, verification data indicating that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory.
However Yamamoto, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, lines 16-18), teaches the missing limitation of receive, from a server (col. 4, lines 46-67 and col. 14, lines 11-20), verification data indicating that performance of a stage was not satisfactory (pg. 13, lines 41-46 i.e. a method of displaying a message related to the correction contents or the like on the display 327a of the control system 300 or a method of notifying an operator or the like that the correction has been performed or an abnormality has been detected by using voice or visual effects may be adopted.”) for the purpose of providing a notification to an operator (col. 13, lines 41-46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga and Hu to include the addition of the limitation of receive, from a server, verification data indicating that performance of a stage was not satisfactory to simply and easily match production qualities of substrate processing apparatuses (Yamamoto: col. 1, lines 51-55).
As per claim 3, Phan teaches receive third data resulting from a second performance of the first stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], [0042] and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”; [0042]: “Methodology 400 is then repeated to compute updated anomaly scores.”; and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
determine that the second performance of the first stage was satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “In step 508, a determination is made as to whether the anomaly scores calculated for a given step are less than a threshold value. If it is determined in step 508 that YES the anomaly scores calculated in a given step is less than a threshold value, then the output from that step is considered regular, i.e., non-anomalous, and no remedial action is needed.”).
Phan does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage; and
provide, to the user device, a third instruction indicating that a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed.
However Yoneda, in an analogous art of substrate manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 3, par. [0097]), teaches the missing limitation of provide, to the user device (Fig. 1, element 334; i.e. a display unit), a third instruction indicating that a second stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129] and pg. 6, par. [0144]; i.e. [0129]: “The display unit 334 is configured to display the arbitrary recipe designated by the instruction from the display control unit 336, on the operation screen 308.”) for the purpose of executing and displaying a recipe (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitation of provide, to the user device, a third instruction indicating that a second stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed to advantageously grasp a history of a transition among a plurality of recipes and reduce the time taken for a trouble (Yoneda: pg. 1, par. [0004]).
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage; and
a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of the first maintenance stage (i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation); and
a second maintenance stage (i.e. the second stage of performing the repair operation) of the plurality of maintenance stages (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and the second stage of performing the repair operation, as needed, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of the first maintenance stage; and a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
As per claim 4, Phan teaches receive third data resulting from a first performance of a third stage of the plurality of stages (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
determine that the first performance of the third stage was satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “In step 508, a determination is made as to whether the anomaly scores calculated for a given step are less than a threshold value. If it is determined in step 508 that YES the anomaly scores calculated in a given step is less than a threshold value, then the output from that step is considered regular, i.e., non-anomalous, and no remedial action is needed.”).
Phan does not expressly teach a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and
provide, to the user device, a third instruction indicating that a fourth maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed.
However Yoneda, in an analogous art of substrate manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 3, par. [0097]), teaches the missing limitation of provide, the user device (Fig. 1, element 334; i.e. a display unit), a third instruction indicating that a fourth stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129] and pg. 6, par. [0144]; i.e. [0129]: “The display unit 334 is configured to display the arbitrary recipe designated by the instruction from the display control unit 336, on the operation screen 308.”) for the purpose of executing and displaying a recipe (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitation of provide, the user device, a third instruction indicating that a fourth stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed to advantageously grasp a history of a transition among a plurality of recipes and reduce the time taken for a trouble (Yoneda: pg. 1, par. [0004]).
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and
a fourth maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of a third maintenance stage (i.e. a third stage of performing the repair operation) of the plurality of maintenance stages (pg. 8, par. [0076]; i.e. “Then, the use inhibition information is deleted from the storage of the equipment element for which the repair operation is finished (ST18: use inhibition information deletion step).”); and
a fourth maintenance stage (i.e. a fourth stage of performing the repair operation) of the plurality of maintenance (pg. 8, par. [0076]; i.e. “Next, the equipment element that the repair operation is finished is transported to factory F (ST19: carrying-out step).”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and a fourth maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
As per claim 5, Phan teaches the first data resulting from performance of the first stage further comprises of at least one of sensor data from sensors (Fig. 2, element 202; i.e. a sensor network) associated with the manufacturing equipment (pgs. 2-3, par. [0026] and [0034]; i.e. [0026]: i.e. “metallization performed using an automated fabrication tool such as the thin film metal deposition tools commercially available from Applied Materials®” and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”); or
data from one or more connected instruments (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0033], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0033]: “As highlighted above, a thin film metal deposition tool (e.g., a cluster tool having multiple processing chambers) can be used to automate this flow, whereby the workpiece is processed at different stages to sequentially deposit the corresponding material(s) at the appropriate locations. Advantageously, throughout this multi-step process the tool has sensors installed by the tool manufacturer, the user, and/or third-party vendors to collect data (such as temperature, pressure, voltage, etc.) at each step.”; [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”).
Phan does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage.
Phan in view of Yoneda the first maintenance stage.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of the first maintenance stage to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
As per claim 6, Phan teaches determining that the first performance of the first stage was not satisfactory comprises determining that at least one value associated with the first data does not satisfy at least one threshold criterion (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “On the other hand, if the anomaly score calculated for a given step is greater than or equal to the threshold value, then in step 510 remedial action is recommended to correct the anomalies.”).
Phan does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage.
Phan in view of Yoneda the first maintenance stage.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of the first maintenance stage to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
As per claim 8, Phan teaches determining that the first performance of the first stage was not satisfactory comprises:
providing data based on the first data to a trained machine learning model (pg. 4, par. [0050] and [0053]; i.e. an autoencoder which is a type of artificial neural network); and
receiving from the trained machine learning model an indication that the first performance of the first stage was not satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “On the other hand, if the anomaly score calculated for a given step is greater than or equal to the threshold value, then in step 510 remedial action is recommended to correct the anomalies.”).
Phan does not expressly teach the first performance of the first maintenance stage.
Phan in view Yoneda does not expressly teach the first performance of the first maintenance stage.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of the first performance of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”, and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of the first performance of the first maintenance stage comprising of the plurality of maintenance stages to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
As per claim 11, Phan substantially teaches Applicant's claimed invention. Phan teaches the limitations of a method, comprising:
initiating, by a server (pg. 6, par. [0064]; “The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.”), a process of manufacturing equipment, the process comprising a plurality of stages that are associated with the process of one or more components of the manufacturing equipment (pgs. 2-3, par. [0034]; i.e. “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”);
causing a first stage to be performed (pgs. 2-3, par. [0034]; i.e. a first individual step of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”);
causing a second stage to be performed (pgs. 2-3, par. [0034]; i.e. a first individual step of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”);
receiving first data resulting from a first performance of the first stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”);
receiving second data resulting from a first performance of the second stage, the second data provided by one or more tools communicatively connected to the server in connection with a second stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0033], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0033]: “As highlighted above, a thin film metal deposition tool (e.g., a cluster tool having multiple processing chambers) can be used to automate this flow, whereby the workpiece is processed at different stages to sequentially deposit the corresponding material(s) at the appropriate locations. Advantageously, throughout this multi-step process the tool has sensors installed by the tool manufacturer, the user, and/or third-party vendors to collect data (such as temperature, pressure, voltage, etc.) at each step.”; [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”; and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”);
determining a condition (i.e. an anomaly score is greater than a threshold) of the first performance of the first stage or the first performance of the second stage based on the first data or second data (pg. 4, par. [0045] and [0047]; i.e. [0045]: “… the trained prediction model (e.g., two-layer sparse Gaussian mixture model) is used to calculate an anomaly score for each step of the multi-step process using the compressed data representation of the input data (from step 502).” and [0047]: “On the other hand, if the anomaly score calculated for a given step is greater than or equal to the threshold value, then in step 510 remedial action is recommended to correct the anomalies.”); and
causing performance of a corrective action (pg. 4, par. [0047] and [0049]; i.e. [0049]: “The remedial recommendations are then used to implement changes to the multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process. For instance, in step 516 the remedial actions are implemented in the tool under control to improve the quality and yield of subsequent wafers. For example, the voltage, current and/or pressure can be altered in the tool in one or more of the steps for which anomalies were detected. Advantageously, these remedial actions can be implemented in the tool under control in an automated manner whereby the voltage, current and/or pressure parameters of the tool can be automatically adjusted for each step reporting an anomaly based on the feedback from the present anomaly detection process.”).
Not explicitly taught are a maintenance process of the manufacturing equipment, the maintenance process comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages associated with maintenance;
providing to a user device a first instruction indicating that a first maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed;
causing, via the first instruction, the first maintenance stage to be performed;
causing, via a second instruction, a second maintenance stage to be performed;
the first data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment provided by the user device in connection with the first maintenance stage;
determining that the first performance of the first maintenance stage or the first performance of the second maintenance stage was not satisfactory;
responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Yoneda, in an analogous art of substrate manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 3, par. [0097]), teaches the missing limitations of providing a user device (Fig. 1, element 334; i.e. a display unit) a first instruction indicating that a first stage of a plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129] and pg. 6, par. [0144]; i.e. [0129]: “The display unit 334 is configured to display the arbitrary recipe designated by the instruction from the display control unit 336, on the operation screen 308.”); and
causing, via the first instruction, the first stage to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0129]; i.e. “… the display control unit 336 is configured to accept an instruction (execution instruction) to cause an arbitrary recipe of the plural recipes stored in the memory unit 317 to be executed by the CPU 316 via the transmitting and receiving processing unit 322.”) ; and
causing, via a second instruction, a second stage to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0129]; i.e. “… the display control unit 336 is configured to accept an instruction (execution instruction) to cause an arbitrary recipe of the plural recipes stored in the memory unit 317 to be executed by the CPU 316 via the transmitting and receiving processing unit 322.”) for the purpose of executing and displaying a recipe (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitations of providing a user device a first instruction indicating that a first stage of a plurality of stages is to be performed; causing, via the first instruction, the first stage to be performed; and causing, via a second instruction, a second stage to be performed to advantageously grasp a history of a transition among a plurality of recipes and reduce the time taken for a trouble (Yoneda: pg. 1, par. [0004]).
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach a maintenance process of the manufacturing equipment, the maintenance process comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages associated with maintenance;
the first data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment provided by the user device in connection with the first maintenance stage;
determining that the first performance of the first maintenance stage or the first performance of the second maintenance stage was not satisfactory;
responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of a maintenance process of manufacturing equipment (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 2, par. [0022], par. 3, par. [0033], and pg. 5, par. [0050] and [0051]; i.e. [0005]: “… an equipment element maintenance management method for managing a maintenance operation for an equipment element that is attached to manufacturing equipment for manufacturing a product” and [0051]: “… the maintenance operation, operations that are not accompanied by replacement of the configuration component of the equipment element and repair of the equipment element of tape feeder 26 (configuration elements), such as cleaning of a mover, the distortion repair or adjustment of the sprockets or gears provided in tape feeding mechanism 26a, and the torque measurement of the motors provided in tape feed mechanism 26a, are performed …”), the maintenance process (i.e. process of performing a maintenance operation and repair operation, as needed) comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages (i.e. a first stage of performing the maintenance operation and a second stage of performing the repair operation, as needed) that are associated with the maintenance process (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”);
data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0050]; i.e. “Maintenance operator 6 is provided with a camera (not shown) for imaging component supply port 26b, torque measuring means (not shown) for measuring torque of a motor provided in tape feeding mechanism 26a, cleaning means (not shown) for cleaning by injecting air, and the like. In other words, maintenance operator 6 has a function of measuring the state of tape feeder 26.”); and
determining that a first performance of the first maintenance stage (i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation, as needed) or a first performance of a second maintenance stage was not satisfactory (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0053], and [0054]; i.e. the second stage of performing the repair operation, as needed; [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”; [0053]: “In this example, it is determined that the state of tape feeder 26 is not improved in the case where the torque rating ratio is 0.9 or less or the feed accuracy is ±30 m or more. In other words, since FA02 has the torque rating ratio of 0.78 and 0.9 or less, and FB01 has a feed accuracy of ±55 m and ±30 m or more in the X direction, the result of the gear adjustment is determined to be “fail”.”; and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state, even though the maintenance operation is performed based on the maintenance result information stored in maintenance result storage 64. The repair operation instruction is displayed on the display (not shown) provided in maintenance unit 4 …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitations of a maintenance process of manufacturing equipment, the maintenance process comprising of a plurality of maintenance stages that are associated with the maintenance process; data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage; and determining that a first performance of the first maintenance stage (i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation, as needed) or a first performance of a second maintenance stage was not satisfactory to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga does not expressly teach the first data comprising image or video data of the manufacturing equipment provided by the user device;
responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Hu, in an analogous art of monitoring an industrial process (pg. 2, par. [0017]-[0020]), teaches the missing limitation of data comprising image or video data of manufacturing equipment provided by a user device (pg. 2, par. [0018]-[0020] and Fig. 1, element 102; i.e. [0018]: “The wireless sensing device may be a dedicated wireless sensor device (i.e., a device primarily intended for sensing potentially having relatively limited memory and/or processing power) or a multi-purpose wireless computing device, which comprises one or more sensors, such as a smart phone. The wireless sensing device 102 may be a portable device.”, [0019]: “In some preferred embodiments, the wireless sensing device 102 may be a mobile phone (e.g., a smart phone) or a tablet computer.”, and [0020]: “The wireless sensing device 102 and/or the moving element 104 driven by the electrical machine 103 may be adapted so as to allow rigidly fixing (preferably, detachably) the wireless sensing device 103 to a measurement position 109 on the moving element 104. The measurement position 109 may be any position on the moving element 104 enabling performing measurements using the one or more kinematic sensors 108 so as to characterize the operation of the machine.”) for the purpose of controlling an industrial process (pg. 3, par. [0024]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga to include the addition of the limitation of data comprising image or video data of manufacturing equipment provided by a user device to effectively and expediently commission and adjust a machine to achieve a desired operation (Hu: pg. 1, par. [0002]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga does not expressly responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Yamamoto, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, lines 16-18), teaches the missing limitation of obtaining an indication from a user device that a corrective action has been performed (pg. 13, lines 41-46 i.e. “… a method of notifying an operator or the like that the correction has been performed or an abnormality has been detected by using voice or visual effects may be adopted.”) for the purpose of providing a notification to an operator (col. 13, lines 41-46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga in view of Hu to include the addition of the limitation of obtaining an indication from a user device that a corrective action has been performed to simply and easily match production qualities of substrate processing apparatuses (Yamamoto: col. 1, lines 51-55).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto does not expressly teach responsive to obtaining an indication from the user device that the corrective action has been performed, provide a signal to activate one or more components of the manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment.
However Miyama, in an analogous art of manufacturing a semiconductor (pg. 1, par. [0002] and [0005] and pg. 7, par. [0083]), teaches the missing limitations of responsive to performing a corrective action, provide a signal to activate one or more components of manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action (pg. 7, par. [0077]; i.e. “However, the present disclosure may of course be applied to, for example, a case where a plasma processing is performed on a dummy wafer for inspection. For example, the plasma processing is performed using a dummy wafer after maintenance or cleaning is performed …”); and
responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations (i.e. confirmation of the stability of the plasma in the plasma processing), cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment (pg. 7, par. [0077]; i.e. “For example, the plasma processing is performed using a dummy wafer after maintenance or cleaning is performed, and after the stability of the plasma in the plasma processing is confirmed, the processing is then performed on a wafer W as a product, thereby avoiding lowering the yield.”) for the purpose of monitoring an abnormality after maintenance (pgs. 6-7, par. [0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga, Hu and Yamamoto to include the addition of the limitations of responsive to performing a corrective action, provide a signal to activate one or more components of manufacturing equipment to perform qualification operations in connection with the corrective action; and responsive to obtaining results of the qualification operations, cause a substrate to be processed using the manufacturing equipment to advantageously avoid lowering a manufacturing yield (Miyama: pg. 7, par. [0077]).
As per claim 12, Phan teaches the corrective action comprises of updating a process recipe (pg. 4, par. [0047]-[0049]; i.e. [0049]: “… remedial actions can be implemented in the tool under control in an automated manner whereby the voltage, current and/or pressure parameters of the tool can be automatically adjusted for each step reporting an anomaly based on the feedback from the present anomaly detection process.”).
As per claim 13, Phan teaches receiving third data resulting from first performance of a second stage of the plurality of stages (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], [0042] and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”; [0042]: “Methodology 400 is then repeated to compute updated anomaly scores.”; and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
determining that the second performance of the first stage was satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “In step 508, a determination is made as to whether the anomaly scores calculated for a given step are less than a threshold value. If it is determined in step 508 that YES the anomaly scores calculated in a given step is less than a threshold value, then the output from that step is considered regular, i.e., non-anomalous, and no remedial action is needed.”).
Phan does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage; and
providing to the user device a second instruction indicating that a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed.
However Yoneda, in an analogous art of substrate manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 3, par. [0097]), teaches the missing limitation of providing to the user device (Fig. 1, element 334; i.e. a display unit) a second instruction indicating that a third stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129] and pg. 6, par. [0144]; i.e. [0129]: “The display unit 334 is configured to display the arbitrary recipe designated by the instruction from the display control unit 336, on the operation screen 308.”) for the purpose of executing and displaying a recipe (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitation of providing to the user device a second instruction indicating that a third stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed to advantageously grasp a history of a transition among a plurality of recipes and reduce the time taken for a trouble (Yoneda: pg. 1, par. [0004]).
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage; and
a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of a first maintenance stage (i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation); and
a third maintenance stage (i.e. a third stage of performing the repair operation)of the plurality of maintenance stages (pg. 8, par. [0076]; i.e. “Then, the use inhibition information is deleted from the storage of the equipment element for which the repair operation is finished (ST18: use inhibition information deletion step).”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitations of a first maintenance stage; and a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
As per claim 14, Phan teaches receiving third data resulting from a first performance of a third stage of the plurality of stages (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
determining that the first performance of the third stage was satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “In step 508, a determination is made as to whether the anomaly scores calculated for a given step are less than a threshold value. If it is determined in step 508 that YES the anomaly scores calculated in a given step is less than a threshold value, then the output from that step is considered regular, i.e., non-anomalous, and no remedial action is needed.”).
Phan does not expressly teach a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and
providing, to the user device, a third instruction indicating that a fourth maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed.
However Yoneda, in an analogous art of substrate manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 3, par. [0097]), teaches the missing limitation of providing, to the user device (Fig. 1, element 334; i.e. a display unit), a third instruction indicating that a fourth stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129] and pg. 6, par. [0144]; i.e. [0129]: “The display unit 334 is configured to display the arbitrary recipe designated by the instruction from the display control unit 336, on the operation screen 308.”) for the purpose of executing and displaying a recipe (pg. 1, par. [0005] and pg. 5, par. [0127] and [0129]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitation of providing, to the user device, a third instruction indicating that a fourth stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed to advantageously grasp a history of a transition among a plurality of recipes and reduce the time taken for a trouble (Yoneda: pg. 1, par. [0004]).
Phan in Yoneda does not expressly teach a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and
a fourth maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of a third maintenance stage (i.e. a third stage of performing the repair operation) of the plurality of maintenance stages (pg. 8, par. [0076]; i.e. “Then, the use inhibition information is deleted from the storage of the equipment element for which the repair operation is finished (ST18: use inhibition information deletion step).”); and
a fourth maintenance stage (i.e. a fourth stage of performing the repair operation) of the plurality of maintenance (pg. 8, par. [0076]; i.e. “Next, the equipment element that the repair operation is finished is transported to factory F (ST19: carrying-out step).”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitations of a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and a fourth maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
As per claim 15, Phan teaches the first data resulting from the performance of the first stage further comprises of sensor data from sensors (Fig. 2, element 202; i.e. a sensor network) associated with the manufacturing equipment (pgs. 2-3, par. [0026] and [0034]; i.e. [0026]: i.e. “metallization performed using an automated fabrication tool such as the thin film metal deposition tools commercially available from Applied Materials®” and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”); or
data from one or more connected instruments (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0033], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0033]: “As highlighted above, a thin film metal deposition tool (e.g., a cluster tool having multiple processing chambers) can be used to automate this flow, whereby the workpiece is processed at different stages to sequentially deposit the corresponding material(s) at the appropriate locations. Advantageously, throughout this multi-step process the tool has sensors installed by the tool manufacturer, the user, and/or third-party vendors to collect data (such as temperature, pressure, voltage, etc.) at each step.”; [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”).
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of the first maintenance stage to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga, Hu, Yamamoto, and Miyama, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0143852 A1 (hereinafter Roover).
As per claim 7, Phan teaches providing data based pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”) on the first data to a model (pgs. 4, par. [0046]; i.e. a trained prediction model); and
receiving from the model an indication that first performance of the first stage was not satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “On the other hand, if the anomaly score calculated for a given step is greater than or equal to the threshold value, then in step 510 remedial action is recommended to correct the anomalies.”).
Phan does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage; and
a physics-based model.
Phan in view of Yoneda does not expressly teach the first maintenance stage; and
a physics-based model.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of the first maintenance stage to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga does not expressly teach a physics-based model.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga and Hu does not expressly teach a physics-based model.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto does not expressly teach a physics-based model.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto and Miyama does not expressly teach a physics-based model.
However Roover, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0002] and pg. 2, par. [0021]), teaches the missing limitation of a physics-based model (pg. 2, par. [0019] and [0020] and pg. 3, par. [0034] and Fig. 2, element 21; i.e. a chemical-mechanical planarization model) for the purpose in-situ monitoring (pg. 3, par. [0034]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto and Miyama to include the addition of the limitation of a physics-based model to advantageously extract maximum performance from complex multi-input multi-output processes which have a high degree of interaction between various process inputs and outputs (Roover: pg. 2, par. [0021]).
Claims 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto, Miyama, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0203157 A1 (hereinafter Visweswariah).
As per claim 9, Phan teaches at least one of a stage of a process or a process (pgs. 2-3, par. [0026] and [0034]; i.e. [0026]: i.e. “metallization performed using an automated fabrication tool such as the thin film metal deposition tools commercially available from Applied Materials®” and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”).
Phan does not expressly teach assign a score describing success of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process or a maintenance process.
Phan in view of Yoneda does teach not expressly does not assign a score describing success of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process or a maintenance process.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the process of performing the first stage of the maintenance operation and the second stage of the repair operation, as needed, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”) or a maintenance process (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 2, par. [0022], par. 3, par. [0033], and pg. 5, par. [0050] and [0051]; i.e. (i.e. the process of performing the maintenance operation and repair operation, as needed, [0005]: “… an equipment element maintenance management method for managing a maintenance operation for an equipment element that is attached to manufacturing equipment for manufacturing a product” and [0051]: “… the maintenance operation, operations that are not accompanied by replacement of the configuration component of the equipment element and repair of the equipment element of tape feeder 26 (configuration elements), such as cleaning of a mover, the distortion repair or adjustment of the sprockets or gears provided in tape feeding mechanism 26a, and the torque measurement of the motors provided in tape feed mechanism 26a, are performed …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitations of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process or a maintenance process to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga does not expressly teach assign a score describing success of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process or a maintenance process.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga and Hu does not expressly teach assign a score describing success of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process or a maintenance process.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto does not expressly teach assign a score describing success of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process or a maintenance process.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto and Miyama does not expressly teach assign a score describing success of at least one of a maintenance stage of a maintenance process or a maintenance process.
However Visweswariah, in an analogous art of monitoring systems (pg. 1, par. [0002]), teaches the missing limitation of assign a score describing success (pg. 21, par. [0327]; i.e. “The model application module 516 may compare new sensor data to classified and/or categorized states identified by the health model(s) to identify when sensor data indicates a health state or performance state. In some embodiments, the model application module 516 may score the likelihood or confidence of such a state being reached.”) to trigger an alert or report (pg. 21, par. [0327]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto and Miyama to include the addition of the limitation of assign a score describing success to advantageously maximize the utilization of limited failure instance data and to improve forecasting performance (Visweswariah: pg. 10, par. [0139]).
As per claim 10, Phan teaches the at least one of a stage of a process or a process in manufacturing equipment (pgs. 2-3, par. [0026] and [0034]; i.e. [0026]: i.e. “metallization performed using an automated fabrication tool such as the thin film metal deposition tools commercially available from Applied Materials®” and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”).
Phan does not expressly teach the score is indicative of a likelihood that performance of the maintenance stage or maintenance process results in manufacturing equipment that satisfies one or more manufacturing equipment qualification criteria.
Phan in view of Yoneda does not teach the score is indicative of a likelihood that performance of the maintenance stage or maintenance process results in manufacturing equipment that satisfies one or more manufacturing equipment qualification criteria.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of the maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the process of performing the first stage of the maintenance operation and the second stage of the repair operation, as needed, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”) or maintenance process (pg. 1, par. [0005], pg. 2, par. [0022], par. 3, par. [0033], and pg. 5, par. [0050] and [0051]; i.e. (i.e. the process of performing the maintenance operation and repair operation, as needed, [0005]: “… an equipment element maintenance management method for managing a maintenance operation for an equipment element that is attached to manufacturing equipment for manufacturing a product” and [0051]: “… the maintenance operation, operations that are not accompanied by replacement of the configuration component of the equipment element and repair of the equipment element of tape feeder 26 (configuration elements), such as cleaning of a mover, the distortion repair or adjustment of the sprockets or gears provided in tape feeding mechanism 26a, and the torque measurement of the motors provided in tape feed mechanism 26a, are performed …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitation of the maintenance stage or maintenance process to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga does not teach the score is indicative of a likelihood that performance of the maintenance stage or maintenance process results in manufacturing equipment that satisfies one or more manufacturing equipment qualification criteria.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga and Hu does not teach the score is indicative of a likelihood that performance of the maintenance stage or maintenance process results in manufacturing equipment that satisfies one or more manufacturing equipment qualification criteria.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto does not teach the score is indicative of a likelihood that performance of the maintenance stage or maintenance process results in manufacturing equipment that satisfies one or more manufacturing equipment qualification criteria.
Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto and Miyama does not teach the score is indicative of a likelihood that performance of the maintenance stage or maintenance process results in manufacturing equipment that satisfies one or more manufacturing equipment qualification criteria.
However Visweswariah, in an analogous art of monitoring systems (pg. 1, par. [0002]), teaches the missing limitation of the score is indicative of a likelihood that a performance that satisfies one or more qualification criteria (pg. 21, par. [0327]; i.e. “The model application module 516 may compare new sensor data to classified and/or categorized states identified by the health model(s) to identify when sensor data indicates a health state or performance state. In some embodiments, the model application module 516 may score the likelihood or confidence of such a state being reached.”) to trigger an alert or report (pg. 21, par. [0327]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view Koga, Hu, Yamamoto and Miyama to include the addition of the limitation of the score is indicative of a likelihood that a performance that satisfies one or more qualification criteria to advantageously maximize the utilization of limited failure instance data and to improve forecasting performance (Visweswariah: pg. 10, par. [0139]).
Claims 16, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phan in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0010319 A1 (hereinafter Patel) in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto.
As per claim 16, Phan substantially teaches applicant's claimed invention. Phan teaches the limitations of a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed, cause a processing device to perform operations comprising:
providing, to a server (pg. 6, par. [0064]; “The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.”), first data resulting from a first performance of a process stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”), the first data comprising:
sensor data provided by tools in connection with performance of the first stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0033], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0033]: “As highlighted above, a thin film metal deposition tool (e.g., a cluster tool having multiple processing chambers) can be used to automate this flow, whereby the workpiece is processed at different stages to sequentially deposit the corresponding material(s) at the appropriate locations. Advantageously, throughout this multi-step process the tool has sensors installed by the tool manufacturer, the user, and/or third-party vendors to collect data (such as temperature, pressure, voltage, etc.) at each step.”; [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
causing performance of a corrective action in view of a first verification data (pg. 4, par. [0047] and [0049]; i.e. [0049]: “The remedial recommendations are then used to implement changes to the multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process. For instance, in step 516 the remedial actions are implemented in the tool under control to improve the quality and yield of subsequent wafers. For example, the voltage, current and/or pressure can be altered in the tool in one or more of the steps for which anomalies were detected. Advantageously, these remedial actions can be implemented in the tool under control in an automated manner whereby the voltage, current and/or pressure parameters of the tool can be automatically adjusted for each step reporting an anomaly based on the feedback from the present anomaly detection process.”).
Not explicitly taught are receiving, by a user device, a first instruction indicating that a first maintenance stage of a plurality of maintenance stages of a maintenance process associated with manufacturing equipment is to be performed;
the first data comprising:
image or video data, generated by the user device, of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage, and
sensor data provided by tools communicatively connected to the user device;
receiving, from the server, first verification data indicating that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory based on the first data; and
causing performance of a corrective action in view of the first verification data based on to perform based on determining that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory.
However Patel, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing systems (pg. 1, par. [0001]), teaches the missing limitations of receiving, by a user device (Fig. 9, element 914; i.e. a rendering component), a first instruction indicating that a first stage of a plurality of stages of a process associated with manufacturing equipment is to be performed (pg. 9, par. [0077]; i.e. “A rendering component 914 facilitates real-time display of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
data comprising sensor data provided by tools communicatively connected to the user device (pg. 5, par. [0040] and pg. 9, par. [0077]; i.e. [0040]: “… sensors that measure actual conditions within the chamber can be used in lieu of the tool distribution component 110.” and [0077]: “A rendering component 914 facilitates real-time display of the semiconductor manufacturing process. In situ monitoring can occur due to similarity in data format (e.g., chamber states and process rates) compared to data utilized in a simulation.”) for the purpose of in situ monitoring of a semiconductor manufacturing process (pg. 9, par. [0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Pham to include the addition of the limitations of receiving, by a user device, a first instruction indicating that a first stage of a plurality of stages of a process associated with manufacturing equipment is to be performed; and data comprising sensor data provided by tools communicatively connected to the user device to advantageously reduce damage to device being fabricated and improve performance and quality of the devices (Patel: pgs. 3-4, paragraph [0029]).
Phan in view of Patel does not expressly teach a first maintenance stage of a plurality of maintenance stages of a maintenance process;
the first data comprising:
image or video data, generated by the user device, of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage; and
receiving, from the server, first verification data indicating that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of a first maintenance stage (i.e. a first stage of performing a maintenance operation) of a plurality of maintenance stages of a maintenance process (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and a second stage of performing a repair operation, as needed, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”);
data comprising: image or video data of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0050]; i.e. “Maintenance operator 6 is provided with a camera (not shown) for imaging component supply port 26b, torque measuring means (not shown) for measuring torque of a motor provided in tape feeding mechanism 26a, cleaning means (not shown) for cleaning by injecting air, and the like. In other words, maintenance operator 6 has a function of measuring the state of tape feeder 26.”); and
causing performance of a corrective action in view of a first verification data based on determining that a first performance of a first maintenance stage was not satisfactory (pg. 5, par. [0054] and [0055]; i.e. [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state, even though the maintenance operation is performed based on the maintenance result information stored in maintenance result storage 64. The repair operation instruction is displayed on the display (not shown) provided in maintenance unit 4 …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel to include the addition of the limitations of a first maintenance stage of a plurality of maintenance stages of a maintenance process; data comprising: image or video data of the manufacturing equipment in connection with the first maintenance stage; and causing performance of a corrective action in view of a first verification data based on determining that a first performance of a first maintenance stage was not satisfactory to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Patel and Koga does not expressly teach the first data comprising:
image or video data, generated by the user device, of the manufacturing equipment
receiving, from the server, first verification data indicating that the first performance of the first maintenance stage was not satisfactory.
However Hu, in an analogous art of monitoring an industrial process (pg. 2, par. [0017]-[0020]), teaches the missing limitation of data comprising: image or video data, generated by the user device, of the manufacturing equipment (pg. 2, par. [0018]-[0020] and Fig. 1, element 102; i.e. [0018]: “The wireless sensing device may be a dedicated wireless sensor device (i.e., a device primarily intended for sensing potentially having relatively limited memory and/or processing power) or a multi-purpose wireless computing device, which comprises one or more sensors, such as a smart phone. The wireless sensing device 102 may be a portable device.”, [0019]: “In some preferred embodiments, the wireless sensing device 102 may be a mobile phone (e.g., a smart phone) or a tablet computer.”, and [0020]: “The wireless sensing device 102 and/or the moving element 104 driven by the electrical machine 103 may be adapted so as to allow rigidly fixing (preferably, detachably) the wireless sensing device 103 to a measurement position 109 on the moving element 104. The measurement position 109 may be any position on the moving element 104 enabling performing measurements using the one or more kinematic sensors 108 so as to characterize the operation of the machine.”) for the purpose of controlling an industrial process (pg. 3, par. [0024]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda in further view of Koga to include the addition of the limitation of data comprising: image or video data, generated by the user device, of the manufacturing equipment to effectively and expediently commission and adjust a machine to achieve a desired operation (Hu: pg. 1, par. [0002]).
However Yamamoto, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, lines 16-18), teaches the missing limitation of receiving, from a server (col. 4, lines 46-67 and col. 14, lines 11-20), first verification data indicating that a first performance of a first stage was not satisfactory (pg. 13, lines 41-46 i.e. a method of displaying a message related to the correction contents or the like on the display 327a of the control system 300 or a method of notifying an operator or the like that the correction has been performed or an abnormality has been detected by using voice or visual effects may be adopted.”) for the purpose of providing a notification to an operator (col. 13, lines 41-46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga and Hu to include the addition of the limitation of receiving, from a server, first verification data indicating that a first performance of a first stage was not satisfactory to simply and easily match production qualities of substrate processing apparatuses (Yamamoto: col. 1, lines 51-55).
As per claim 17, Phan teaches the corrective action comprises of updating a process recipe (pg. 4, par. [0047]-[0049]; i.e. [0049]: “… remedial actions can be implemented in the tool under control in an automated manner whereby the voltage, current and/or pressure parameters of the tool can be automatically adjusted for each step reporting an anomaly based on the feedback from the present anomaly detection process.”).
As per claim 19, Phan teaches the first data resulting from a first performance of the first stage further comprises sensor data from sensors (Fig. 2, element 202; i.e. a sensor network) associated with the manufacturing equipment (pgs. 2-3, par. [0026] and [0034]; i.e. [0026]: i.e. “metallization performed using an automated fabrication tool such as the thin film metal deposition tools commercially available from Applied Materials®” and [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.”).
Pham does not expressly teach to a first performance of the first maintenance stage.
Pham in view of Patel does not expressly teach to a first performance of the first maintenance stage.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitation of a first performance of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054])
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel to include the addition of the limitation of a first performance of the first maintenance stage to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Claims 18 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga, Hu, Yamamoto, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0225048 A1 (hereinafter Hosokawa).
As per claim 18, Phan teaches providing, to the server (pg. 6, par. [0064]; “The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.”), second data resulting from second performance of the first maintenance stage (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
second verification data indicating that the second performance of the first stage was satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “In step 508, a determination is made as to whether the anomaly scores calculated for a given step are less than a threshold value. If it is determined in step 508 that YES the anomaly scores calculated in a given step is less than a threshold value, then the output from that step is considered regular, i.e., non-anomalous, and no remedial action is needed.”).
Phan does not expressly teach receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the second performance of the first maintenance stage was satisfactory; and
receiving, from the server, a second instruction indicating that a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages is to be performed.
However Patel, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing systems (pg. 1, par. [0001]), teaches the missing limitation of receiving a second instruction indicating that a second stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 9, par. [0077]; i.e. “A rendering component 914 facilitates real-time display of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”) for the purpose of in situ monitoring of a semiconductor manufacturing process (pg. 9, par. [0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitation of receiving a second instruction indicating that a second stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed to advantageously reduce damage to device being fabricated and improve performance and quality of the devices (Patel: pgs. 3-4, paragraph [0029]).
Phan in view of Patel does not expressly the first maintenance stage;
receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the second performance of the first maintenance stage was satisfactory; and
a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of the first maintenance stage (pg. 5, par. [0051]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.”)l and
a second maintenance stage (i.e. the second stage of performing the repair operation) of the plurality of maintenance stages (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and the second stage of performing the repair operation, as needed, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Yoneda to include the addition of the limitations of the first maintenance stage; and a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga does not expressly receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the second performance of the first maintenance stage was satisfactory.
Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga and Hu does not expressly receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the second performance of the first maintenance stage was satisfactory.
However Yamamoto, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, lines 16-18), teaches the missing limitation of receiving, from a server (col. 4, lines 46-67 and col. 14, lines 11-20), the first verification data indicating that the first performance of the first stage (pg. 13, lines 41-46 i.e. a method of displaying a message related to the correction contents or the like on the display 327a of the control system 300 or a method of notifying an operator or the like that the correction has been performed or an abnormality has been detected by using voice or visual effects may be adopted.”) for the purpose of providing a notification to an operator (col. 13, lines 41-46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga and Hu to include the addition of the limitation of receiving, from the server, the first verification data indicating that the first performance of the first stage was not satisfactory to simply and easily match production qualities of substrate processing apparatuses (Yamamoto: col. 1, lines 51-55).
Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto does not expressly receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the second performance of the first maintenance stage was satisfactory.
However Hosokawa, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0001]), teaches the missing limitation of data indicating that performance of a stage was satisfactory (pg. 2, par. [0018]; i.e. “… displaying a status of each processing chamber”) for the purpose of controlling a substrate apparatus (pg. 1, par. [0007]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto to include the addition of the limitation of data indicating that performance of a stage was satisfactory to more easily carry out maintenance (Hosokawa: pg. 1, par. [0007] and pg. 2, par. [0017] and [0018]).
As per claim 20, Phan teaches providing, to the server (pg. 6, par. [0064]; “The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.”), second data resulting from first performance of a second stage of the plurality of stages (pgs. 2-4, par. [0024], [0034], and [0044]; i.e. [0034]: “… system 200 employs a multi-step time series sensor network 202 where time series sensor measurements are collected from multiple wafers (i.e., Wafer 1, Wafer 2 , . . . , Wafer N) reflecting, for example, the tool condition, wafer characteristics and recipes during individual steps of a multi-step semiconductor manufacturing process such as a semi-conductor metallization process.” and [0044]: “… input data from the semiconductor manufacturing process is processed. According to an exemplary embodiment, the input data consists of time series sensor measurements made at each step of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”); and
second verification data indicating that the first performance of the second stage was satisfactory (pg. 4, par. [0047]; i.e. “In step 508, a determination is made as to whether the anomaly scores calculated for a given step are less than a threshold value. If it is determined in step 508 that YES the anomaly scores calculated in a given step is less than a threshold value, then the output from that step is considered regular, i.e., non-anomalous, and no remedial action is needed.”).
Phan does not expressly teach a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages;
receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the first performance of the second maintenance stage was satisfactory; and
receiving, from the server, a second instruction indicating that a third maintenance stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed.
However Patel, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing systems (pg. 1, par. [0001]), teaches the missing limitation of receiving a second instruction indicating that a third stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed (pg. 9, par. [0077]; i.e. “A rendering component 914 facilitates real-time display of the semiconductor manufacturing process.”) for the purpose of in situ monitoring of a semiconductor manufacturing process (pg. 9, par. [0077]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan to include the addition of the limitation of receiving a second instruction indicating that a third stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed to advantageously reduce damage to device being fabricated and improve performance and quality of the devices (Patel: pgs. 3-4, paragraph [0029]).
Phan in view of Patel does not expressly teach a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages;
receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the first performance of the second maintenance stage was satisfactory and
a third maintenance stage of the plurality of stages is to be performed.
However Koga, in analogous art of maintenance in a manufacturing system (pg. 1, par. [0001] and [0004]), teaches the missing limitations of a second maintenance stage (i.e. the second stage of performing the repair operation) of the plurality of maintenance stages (pg. 5, par. [0051], [0052], [0054], and [0055]; i.e. the first stage of performing the maintenance operation and the second stage of performing the repair operation, as needed, [0051]: “… maintenance unit 4 receives the analysis result and performs the maintenance operation for the equipment element in which the state of the equipment element (tape feeder 6) is analyzed to be worse than the predetermined state.” and [0054]: “… repair instruction creator 67 creates a repair operation instruction for performing an instruction of the repair operation for the equipment element of which the state after the maintenance operation is not more improved than the predetermined state …”); and
a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance (pg. 8, par. [0076]; i.e. “Then, the use inhibition information is deleted from the storage of the equipment element for which the repair operation is finished (ST18: use inhibition information deletion step).”) for the purpose of removing an issue when maintenance fails (pg. 5, par. [0053] and [0054]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel to include the addition of the limitations of a second maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance stages; and a third maintenance stage of the plurality of maintenance to efficiently manage a maintenance operation for an equipment element (Koga: pg. 1, par. [0006]).
Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga does not expressly teach receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the first performance of the second maintenance stage was satisfactory.
Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga and Hu does not expressly teach receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the first performance of the second maintenance stage was satisfactory.
However Yamamoto, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, lines 16-18), teaches the missing limitation of receiving, from a server (col. 4, lines 46-67 and col. 14, lines 11-20), the first verification data indicating the first performance of the first stage (pg. 13, lines 41-46 i.e. a method of displaying a message related to the correction contents or the like on the display 327a of the control system 300 or a method of notifying an operator or the like that the correction has been performed or an abnormality has been detected by using voice or visual effects may be adopted.”) for the purpose of providing a notification to an operator (col. 13, lines 41-46).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga and Hu to include the addition of the limitation of receiving, from the server, the first verification data indicating the first performance of the first stage was not satisfactory to simply and easily match production qualities of substrate processing apparatuses (Yamamoto: col. 1, lines 51-55).
Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto does not expressly receiving, from the server, second verification data indicating that the first performance of the second maintenance stage was satisfactory.
However Hosokawa, in an analogous art of semiconductor manufacturing (pg. 1, par. [0001]), teaches the missing limitation of data indicating that performance of a stage was satisfactory (pg. 2, par. [0018]; i.e. “… displaying a status of each processing chamber”) for the purpose of controlling a substrate apparatus (pg. 1, par. [0007]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at before the effective filing data of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Phan in view of Patel in further view of Koga, Hu, and Yamamoto to include the addition of the limitation of data indicating that performance of a stage was satisfactory to more easily carry out maintenance (Hosokawa: pg. 1, par. [0007] and pg. 2, par. [0017] and [0018]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
The following references are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to maintenance and monitoring systems.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0200058 A1 discloses a maintenance system for performing maintenance work such as inspections and services or the like of each kind of equipment in plants
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2022/0309354 A1 discloses anomaly detection utilizing artificial intelligence technology.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2023/0400847 A1 discloses systems and methods for predictive maintenance for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2025/0224707 A1 discloses method includes obtaining first data indicative of a temperature of a first component of a process chamber.
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.
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/JENNIFER L NORTON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2117