DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on Jan. 27, 2026 has been entered.
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 1-20 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.
Regarding claim 1 and 13, the limitation, “in a direction in a major surface of the substrate” is ambiguous. It is not clear if the claimed direction is parallel, perpendicular or at some angle to the major surface.
In order to expedite prosecution, it is assumed that the claimed direction is the direction straight down into the major surface of the substrate, meaning the direction perpendicular to the major surface.
The remaining claims, not specifically mentioned, are rejected for incorporating the defects from the base claim by dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Conley et al. (Conley) (2020/0301286).
Regarding claim 1, Conley discloses a method of forming a pattern (873a, 873b, Fig. 8A, para 0036, 0037, 0087, 0090) on a substrate (170, Fig. 1A, 8A, para 0036, 0087) using a lithographic apparatus (169, Fig. 1A, para 0033, 0042, 0068) provided with a patterning device (174, Fig. 1B, 4, para 0038, 0039, 0068, 0074) and a projection system (175, 177, Fig. 1A, 432, Fig. 4, para 0037, 0038, 0068) having chromatic aberrations (para 0091, “a scanner lens” referring to the projection system lens), the method comprising: providing a radiation beam comprising a plurality of wavelength components to the patterning device (Fig. 7, first primary wavelength 702_1, and second primary wavelength 702_2, para 0086); forming an image of the patterning device on the substrate using the projection system to form the pattern (Fig. 8A, 8B, para 0090), wherein a position of the pattern in a direction in a major surface of the substrate is dependent on a wavelength of the radiation beam due to the chromatic aberrations (Fig. 8a, 8B, para 0091); and controlling a spectrum of the radiation beam to control the position of the pattern (para 0036-0040, 0092, “different primary wavelengths may be required to achieve a desired separation distance 879”).
Regarding claim 2, Conley discloses wherein the position is controlled to control overlay of the pattern with respect to a previous layer on the substrate (Conley discloses controlling the separation distance between the first aerial image and the second aerial image by controlling the wavelength in para 0090, 0091, which controls overlay by controlling how far the superimposed layer is placed from the previous layer).
Regarding claim 10, Conley discloses wherein controlling the spectrum of the radiation beam comprises controlling a wavelength of at least one of the plurality of wavelength components (para 0078, 0092).
Regarding claim 11, Conley discloses wherein controlling the spectrum of the radiation beam comprises controlling a dose of at least one of the plurality of wavelength components (para 0088, the depth of focus may be defined for a dose value... as the range of focus along the z direction at which that dose provides a feature size that is within an acceptable range of feature sizes for the process that is being applied to the wafer).
Regarding claim 13, Conley discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having machine readable instructions therein (para 0016, 0092, claim 19) for determining a spectrum of a radiation beam comprising a plurality of wavelength components used in forming an image of a patterning device on a substrate (170, para 0036-0040, 0091, 0092) in a lithographic apparatus (169), wherein the lithographic apparatus comprises a projection system (175, 177, Fig. 1A, 432, Fig. 4) having chromatic aberrations (para 0091), the instructions, when executed, configured to cause a computer system to at least: obtain a dependency of a position in a direction in a major surface of the substrate of a pattern associated with the patterning device on a wavelength of the radiation beam due to the chromatic aberrations (Fig. 8A, 8B, para 0036-0040, 0091); and determine the spectrum of the radiation beam based on a desired position of the pattern on the substrate and the dependency (para 0036-0040, 0091, 0092).
Regarding claim 14, Conley discloses wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computer system to determine the spectrum to control overlay of the pattern with respect to a previous layer on the substrate (Conley discloses controlling the separation distance between the first aerial image and the second aerial image by controlling the wavelength in para 0090, 0091, which controls overlay by controlling how far the superimposed layer is placed from the previous layer).
Regarding claim 17, Conley discloses wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computer system to generate a control signal, based on the determined spectrum, of a wavelength of at least one of the plurality of wavelength components (para 0078, 0092).
Regarding claim 18, Conley discloses wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computer system to generate a control signal, based on the determined spectrum, of a dose of at least one of the plurality of wavelength components (para 0088, the depth of focus may be defined for a dose value... as the range of focus along the z direction at which that dose provides a feature size that is within an acceptable range of feature sizes for the process that is being applied to the wafer).
Regarding claim 21, Conley discloses a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium having machine readable instructions therein (para 0016, 0092, claim 19) for determining a spectrum of a radiation beam comprising a plurality of wavelength components used in forming an image of a patterning device on a substrate (170, para 0036-0040, 0091, 0092) in a lithographic apparatus (169), wherein the lithographic apparatus comprises a projection system (175, 177, Fig. 1A, 432, Fig. 4) having chromatic aberrations (para 0091), the instructions, when executed, configured to cause a computer system to at least: obtain a dependency of a position on the substrate of a pattern associated with the patterning device on a wavelength of the radiation beam due to the chromatic aberrations (Fig. 8A, 8B, para 0036-0040, 0091); and determine, based on a desired position of the pattern on the substrate and the dependency, a change of the spectrum of the radiation beam during an exposure of target portion of the substrate (para 0036-0040, 0091, 0092).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Conley et al. (Conley).
Regarding claim 12, Conley discloses wherein the substrate comprises a plurality of target portions; and wherein forming the image of the patterning device on the substrate with the radiation beam using the projection system comprises forming the image on each of the plurality of target portions (479, Fig. 4, para 0073). Although Conley does not disclose wherein the control of the spectrum of the radiation beam is dependent on the target portion upon which the image of the patterning device is being formed, since different target portions could have photoresist of different thickness, and Conley discloses in para 0091 that the separation distance of aerial images are changed by wavelength change, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to control the spectrum of the radiation beam depending on the target portion in order to change the separation distance.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-9, 15, 16, 19 and 20 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claims 3 and 16, although Conley et al. discloses the chromatic aberration (para 0091), Conley et al. does not disclose wherein the chromatic aberrations comprise at least one or more asymmetric wavefront aberrations which depend on the wavelength of the radiation beam.
Regarding claim 15, Conley et al. discloses controlling overlay of the pattern (see claim 2 rejection above), but does not disclose wherein the chromatic aberrations are associated with a tilt of the wavefront and the spectrum of the radiation beam is controlled to correct for overlay error along a direction of scanning of the lithographic apparatus.
Regarding claim 19, Conley et al. discloses controlling overlay of the pattern (see claim 2 rejection above), but does not disclose wherein the chromatic aberrations are associated with a tilt of the wavefront, the tilt of the wavefront is associated with a position shift of the pattern along a non-scanning direction being perpendicular to a scanning direction of the lithographic apparatus, and the spectrum of the radiation beam is controlled to correct for overlay error along the non-scanning direction.
Regarding claim 20, Conley et al. discloses controlling overlay of the pattern (see claim 2 rejection above), but does not disclose wherein the dependency of the tilt on the wavelength of the radiation beam varies along the scanning direction and wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computer system to generate a control signal, based on the determined spectrum, to correct for overlay error variation along the scanning direction.
Response to Arguments
Applicant argues that Conley reference does not disclose that any position in a direction in the major plane of substrate is being controlled. However, as stated in the 35 U.S.C. 112 rejection above, it is not clear which direction is claimed. The art rejection is based on the examiner’s assumption about the claimed direction as indicated above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER B KIM whose telephone number is (571)272-2120. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM.
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/PETER B KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882 February 6, 2026