CTNF 18/035,286 CTNF 87726 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Non-Final Office Action DETAILED ACTION Examiner’s Notes (a) Claim date: 05/03/2023. [Preliminary amended] (b) Priority date: 11/24/2020. Claim Rejections - 35 USC 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:A person shall be entitled to a patent unless: (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1-4, 15-17, 20, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by the prior art of record “ MOS” < US 20140089870 A1 >. (As to claim 1, 17, MOS discloses):1. (Currently Amended) A non-transitory computer-readable medium, the medium comprising instructions stored therein that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to at least [0068: “computer program containing one or more sequences of machine-readable instructions describing a method as disclosed above, or a data storage medium (e.g., semiconductor memory, magnetic or optical disk) having such a computer program stored therein”]: obtain a first function to characterize an overlay fingerprint induced by a semiconductor manufacturing process performed on a substrate [0005: “ Semiconductor processing equipment (e.g., lithography, etch, bake, polish and anneal) can introduce a fingerprint which characterizes the tool's imperfections. Such imperfections result in process distortions which can cause overlay errors. It is normal to characterize the process fingerprints directly in terms of correctable parameters of the lithographic process tool”]; PNG media_image1.png 434 576 media_image1.png Greyscale derive , based on the first function, a pattern distribution indicative of a number of features within a portion of the substrate [0025: “create a pattern in a target portion of the substrate . ..Generally, the pattern imparted to the radiation beam will correspond to a particular functional layer in a device being created in the target portion, such as an integrated circuit”] [Fig. 6, depicting the function]; and PNG media_image2.png 544 304 media_image2.png Greyscale determine , based on the pattern distribution, one or more physical characteristics of the features of the metrology mark structure for disposing on the substrate [0019: “ feature , structure , or characteristic , but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature , structure , or characteristic .”] [0064: “a metrology tool and/or an inspection tool. Where applicable, the disclosure herein may be applied to such and other substrate processing tools. Further, the substrate may be processed more than once, for example in order to create a multi- layer ”] [Fig. 5, 500 are metrology data]. (As to claim 2, MOS discloses):2. (Currently Amended) The medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to obtain the first function are further configured to cause the one or more processors to obtain [0068: “computer program containing one or more sequences of machine-readable instructions describing a method as disclosed above, or a data storage medium (e.g., semiconductor memory, magnetic or optical disk) having such a computer program stored therein” ] a differentiable function whose gradient is equivalent to the overlay fingerprint induced by the semiconductor manufacturing process [0055: “ fingerprint model uses a Zernike function of radial and tangential overlay components. Zernike models fit better to the fingerprint characteristics of wafer process tools because a typical geometry of such tools is circular symmetric. For the same reason, describing overlay in radial and tangential (i.e., perpendicular to radial direction) components (as opposed to X and Y components) may provide a better fit. Other models that can be used to characterize a process fingerprint are Radial Basis Functions ”]. (As to claim 3, MOS discloses):3. (Currently Amended) The medium of claim 1, wherein the first function comprises at least one selected from [0050: “The number of measurements required for correction is not a function of the fingerprint characteristics”]: a parabolic function of one or more dimensions of the substrate [0055: “fingerprint model uses a Zernike function of radial and tangential overlay component”]; a trigonometric function of one or more dimensions of the substrate [0004: “function of angle.”]; or an inverse function of one or more dimensions of the substrate [055: “process fingerprint are Radial Basis Functions, Fourier series and polynomial series (e.g., Legendre).”]. (As to claim 4, 20, MOS discloses):4. (Currently Amended) The medium of claim[[s]] 1, wherein the instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to derive the deriving of the pattern distribution are further configured to cause the one or more processors to deconvolve comprises [0068: “computer program containing one or more sequences of machine-readable instructions describing a method as disclosed above, or a data storage medium (e.g., semiconductor memory, magnetic or optical disk) having such a computer program stored therein”]: deconvolving the first function using a second function, the second function characterizing a physical effect of the semiconductor manufacturing process on a layer of the substrate [0055: “radial Basis Functions , Fourier series and polynomial series (e.g., Legendre). For typical process equipment fingerprints, additional parameters such as scan direction, scan velocity or expose sequence can be incorporated in the model in addition to r, theta or X, Y”]. (As to claim 15, MOS discloses):15. (Original) The medium of claim 1, wherein the overlay fingerprint is a representation of an overlay between features on a first layer relative to features on a second layer of the substrate [0040: “ overlay errors between subsequent layers ”]. (As to claim 16, MOS discloses):16. (Currently Amended) The medium of claim 15, wherein features of the metrology mark structure on the first layer have a non-periodic structure, and features of the metrology mark structure on the second layer have a periodic structure [0064: “a metrology tool and/or an inspection tool. Where applicable, the disclosure herein may be applied to such and other substrate processing tools. Further, the substrate may be processed more than once, for example in order to create a multi- layer ”]. Allowable Subject Matter The following claims would be allowable if all rejections/objections cited in this office action (if any) are overcome and rewritten to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.The reason for this allowance is: the claimed subject matter could not have been anticipated or obviated using any prior arts.Allowable claims are: 5-14 and 18-19. Conclusion The prior art made of record in the form PTO-892 are not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.Contact information:Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMED ALAM whose telephone number is (571) 270-1507, email address: [mohammed.alam@uspto.gov] and fax number (571) 270-2507. The examiner can normally be reached on 10AM to 4PM (EST), Monday to Friday. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner's Supervisor, JACK CHIANG can be reached on (571) 272-7483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300./Mohammed Alam/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851 Application/Control Number: 18/035,286 Page 2 Art Unit: 2851 Application/Control Number: 18/035,286 Page 3 Art Unit: 2851 Application/Control Number: 18/035,286 Page 4 Art Unit: 2851 Application/Control Number: 18/035,286 Page 5 Art Unit: 2851 Application/Control Number: 18/035,286 Page 6 Art Unit: 2851 Application/Control Number: 18/035,286 Page 7 Art Unit: 2851
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