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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 6/15/2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 6/15/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues Yamame teaches measuring film thickness with light beam and does not teach determining a thickness of the substrate according to the temperature measured by an infrared sensor. This is not found persuasive. Wu discusses determining thickness with two methods, but opens the door to any other method, and more importantly, describes the correlation between temperature and end point [“[t]he end point detection method detects the change in film thickness of the film to be polished on the wafer surface by irradiating the surface of the wafer being polished with a light beam and measuring the spectral characteristics of the reflected light and interference of the reflected light. Various methods have been proposed, such as a method for determining the rotation load of the platen and the wafer holding mechanism. Regardless of which end point detection method is used, as described above, the temperature of the wafer surface affects the progress of polishing, so it is necessary to detect and manage the temperature during polishing.” (emphasis added)]. Yamame further discloses end point detection as function of temperature [”the accuracy of the end point detection is improved by measuring and managing the temperature of the wafer being polished...it is very important to accurately detect the end point in the CMP apparatus… When the end point detection is performed by using, if the temperature of the surface part of the wafer whose thickness is being measured is higher than the other part, polishing is completed based on the information on the film thickness thus measured. Then, the other portions are insufficiently polished. On the contrary, if the temperature of the part where the film thickness is measured is lower than that of the other part, the other part is overpolished”]. T
Takahashi does not explicitly use the word “look-up table” but they surely describe one. Takahashi stores output values of temperature in a data base of a host computer and determines the end point [“[t]he output value of the temperature sensor 7 may be transmitted to a host computer (e.g., a computer connected to various semiconductor manufacturing devices in a facility and managing these devices), which may accumulate the output value of the temperature sensor 7. Furthermore, the host computer may determine the polishing end point based on a distribution of the output values of the temperature sensor 7 sent from the polishing apparatus.” (emphasis added)]. Applicant argues that Takahashi determines the end point based on the change in the output of temperature sensor. This is not found persuasive, as they still store temperature data, essentially creating a look-up table.
Further, Wu explicitly discloses a look-up table. Applicant argues that Wu uses thickness as input to output a target temperature. While this is true, nonetheless, this is not found persuasive because this would be a step of constructing the look-up table in the first place. Applicant has not evidenced how creating the look-up table by using the thickness as input, hampers one of ordinary skill to use the look-up table. A person of ordinary skill in the art is also a person of ordinary creativity, not an automaton. "KSR, 550 U.S. at 421, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. "[I]n many cases a person of ordinary skill will be able to fit the teachings of multiple patents together like pieces of a puzzle." Id. at 420, 82 USPQ2d at 1397. The obvious modification is not based in that Yamame explicitly does what Wu teaches, but that it would have been obvious to use the stored data of Takahashi or the look-up table created by Wu, in order to yield the predictable result of correlating the temperature measured by the infrared sensor of Yamame, to the polishing end point without using a secondary instrument for measuring thickness.
For the reasons discussed above the rejections are still deemed proper.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6-11, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamane JP 2005311246 A in view of Takahashi US 2016/0121452 A1 and Huang US 11,103,970 and Wu US 2019/0143476 A1.
Re claims 1-2, 9, Yamane discloses an apparatus for polishing a substrate 7 [fig. 3], the apparatus comprising:
a platen 31 on which a polishing pad 35 is seated and which is rotatable;
a substrate carrier 8 configured to grip a substrate 7 and rotatable on an upper side of the platen [“a rotating platen, and a wafer holding mechanism that rotates while holding the wafer against the polishing pad”];
an infrared sensor 41 located inside the platen and configured to measure a temperature of the substrate 7;
Yamane also discloses a method of polishing a substrate, the method comprising:
polishing a substrate with a polishing pad [Fig. 3];
measuring a temperature of the substrate through an infrared sensor 41; and
a controller 43 configured to determine a polishing state of the substrate using a value measured by the infrared sensor.
Yamane does not teach wherein the infrared sensor is located inside a platen of the polishing pad (claims 1 and 9) or on a lower side of the polishing pad (claim 2).
Yamane teaches the infrared sensor 41 is below the platen [fig. 3]. Takahashi teaches a sensor 7 inside a platen 3 on a lower side of polishing pad 2 [Fig. 2]. Huang teaches an infrared sensor 140 inside a platen 110 on a lower side of a polishing pad 114 [Fig. 1A, “a temperature sensor 140 (e.g., an infrared radiation detection device, etc.) may be coupled to the polishing pad 114 at an area 141 of the top surface 114′”].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the location of the sensors in Takahashi and Huang, with the system of Yamane, in order to yield the predicable result of attaching the sensor in an effective position to measure the substrate’s temperature.
Yamane, Takahashi, and Huang do not explicitly teach the look-up table for searching for a thickness of the substrate corresponding to the temperature of the substrate, and wherein the controller is configured to determine the thickness or a polishing end point according to the value measured by the infrared sensor, is based on the look-up table.
Yamane further teaches wherein the controller comprises a look-up table for a relationship between a polishing amount of the substrate and the temperature of the substrate [ “the temperature distribution and the difference between the actual polishing amounts is examined in advance, and the critical temperature difference corresponding to the allowable range of the polishing amount is stored. According to the present invention, the temperature distribution of the wafer being polished is measured, and when the temperature difference within the wafer exceeds the limit temperature difference, it is possible to perform control such as slowing the polishing rate”].
Yamane further teaches using multiple methods of determining end point [“[r]egardless of which end point detection method is used, as described above, the temperature of the wafer surface affects the progress of polishing, so it is necessary to detect and manage the temperature during polishing”] and wherein the controller is configured to determine a thickness of the substrate or a polishing end point according to the value measured by the infrared sensor [“the end point detection is performed by using, if the temperature of the surface part of the wafer whose thickness is being measured is higher than the other part, polishing is completed based on the information on the film thickness thus measured. Then, the other portions are insufficiently polished. On the contrary, if the temperature of the part where the film thickness is measured is lower than that of the other part, the other part is overpolished”]. The excerpt above suggests a recorded thickness/end point relationship with temperature. Takahashi explicitly teaches a determination of the end point based on a stored distribution of the output values of the temperature sensor 7 [¶97, “determine the polishing end point based on a distribution of the output values of the temperature sensor 7 sent from the polishing apparatus, or may determine a polishing condition in a processing module for a wafer W based on an amount of polishing with respect to a polishing condition that is stored in a data base of the host computer, and may transmit the determined polishing condition to the polishing operation controller 9 of the polishing apparatus.” aka, look-up table,].
Wu teaches storing temperature as a function of thickness of the substrate in a look-up table [202, Fig. 2, ¶16 “[d]ata may be stored indicating a desired temperature of polishing process as a function of the thickness of the substrate”, ¶51, “the temperature control system 100, e.g., the controller 102 stores data indicating a desired temperature for the polishing process as a function of the signal (and thus of the amount of material on the substrate 16) (step 202). This data can be stored in a variety of formats, e.g., look-up table or a polynomial function.”].
The only difference between the claimed invention and the prior art is that the prior art does not incorporate the look-up table and the infrared sensor into a single combined apparatus. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have had the technological capabilities to incorporate the infrared sensor of Yamame and the look-up tables of Takahashi and/or Wu into a combined apparatus before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. No inventive effort would have been required since all elements would be expected to work as intended, with each element in the combined apparatus performing the same function as it did separately. No new functionality would arise from the combination.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the look-up table of Takashi and/or Wu with the apparatus of Yamane to base the determination on pre-stored look-up table in Yamame, in order to yield the predictable result of correlating the temperature measured by the infrared sensor to the polishing end point without using a secondary instrument for measuring thickness [From Yamane, “[t]he important point that needs to be controlled by the CMP apparatus is to accurately detect the polishing amount and stop polishing. This is called end point detection. The end point detection method detects the change in film thickness of the film to be polished on the wafer surface”].
Re claims 3, 10, Yamane, Takahashi, Huang, and Wu teach the invention as claimed above. Yamane further discloses wherein the infrared sensor 41 is configured to measure the temperature of the substrate by passing infrared rays through the polishing pad 35.
Re claims 6, 13, Yamane, Takahashi, Huang, and Wu teach the invention as claimed above. Yamane further teaches wherein the controller is configured to terminate polishing when is determined that the polishing end point has been reached [“[t]he important point that needs to be controlled by the CMP apparatus is to accurately detect the polishing amount and stop polishing. This is called end point detection”].
Re claims 7, 11, Yamane, Takahashi, Huang, and Wu teach the invention as claimed above but fail to teach wherein the controller comprises the look-up table for each thin film material of the substrate. Yamane further teaches the correlation between the temperature and the end point. [“[a] plurality of layers of films are formed on a wafer according to a plurality of semiconductor circuit patterns…if the temperature of the wafer is partially different, the progress of polishing in each portion will be different…if the place where the film thickness is measured is higher in temperature than the other part, when the polishing is finished based on the film thickness of that part, the other part is insufficiently polished. On the contrary, if the temperature of the place where the film thickness is measured is lower than that of the other part, when the polishing is finished based on the film thickness of the part, the other part is overpolished. By measuring the temperature distribution of the wafer according to the present invention and determining the end of polishing in consideration of the temperature at which the film thickness is measured compared to other parts, the polishing amount can be further increased. It can be controlled with high accuracy”]. The excerpt above suggests there is some type of recorded thin film relationship with temperature. Takahashi further teaches the relation between the films and the temperature, [Fig. 4, ¶51, “[t]he second film 13, underlying the first film 11, becomes exposed upon the removal of the first film 11. The second film 13 has a friction coefficient which is different from that of the first film 11. Therefore, the amount E (w) of heat changes when the second film 13 is exposed. The change in the amount E (w) of heat appears as a change in the temperature of the lower surface of the polishing pad 2. Thus, the output value of the temperature sensor 7 (i.e., the measured value of the temperature of the lower surface of the polishing pad 2) changes in response to the progress of polishing of the wafer W”].
In view of the prior art teachings above, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use a look-up table for each thin film, independently, in order to yield the predictable result of efficient, high accuracy polishing conditions for each layer of the substrate.
Re claim 8, Yamane, Takahashi, Huang, and Wu teach the invention as claimed above. Yamane further discloses a corrector 42 configured to correct the value measured by the infrared sensor 41.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Carlos A. Rivera whose telephone number is (571)270-5697. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM -4PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Keller can be reached at (571) 272-8548. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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C. A. R.
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 3723
/C. A. RIVERA/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3723
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