DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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, 3 and 4 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 ll. 35-36 recites “the upper surface position detector selects, by the detection light selector, the specific wavelength detection light”. The way the phrase is written it appears that one of ordinary skill in the art when reading the instant phrase would understand that the upper surface position detector automatically selects by way of the selector the specific wavelength. However there does not appear to be information in applicant disclosure of how the upper surface position detector operates the detection light selector in order to select the specific wavelength light (although there appears to be literal support for the instant limitation in par. 38). For example in fig. 2 the controller 76 is not connected to the detection light selector 62 and examiner could not find any discussion in applicant disclosure regarding the controller operating the selector 62 or any discussion of how the selector is operated (i.e., who or what operates the motor 65 in order to rotate the selector 62 in fig. 7). Also, for example the controller 76 is discussed in pars. 46-47, 63 and 71-72 and examiner could not find information regarding the controller connected to the instant selector in such paragraphs. Thus the public would not be sufficiently informed how to avoid infringing the claim. For purposes of examination the claim is interpreted such that motor 65 and selector 62 as being manually operated (and prior art is applied below in this manner) for example by a human operator.
Claim 1 recites the limitation "the basis" in line 49. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1 recites “the upper surface position detector … calculates the upper surface position of the wafer” at lines 38-39 and “the upper surface position of the wafer is calculated …” at lines 49-50. It is unclear if applicant is intending to claim computer controller 76. There is no controller claimed and the specification does not specify directly that the upper-surface position detector includes the instant controller (the instant calculating is discussed at applicant pars. 38 and 63). The BRI of “upper surface position detector” would not necessarily include a computer controller and thus the claim is interpreted as not including a computer controller. Claim 4 recites a similar limitation at line 21-22 and is rejected for the same reasons.
Claims dependent thereon are rejected for the same reasons.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20070119835 A1 (Nomaru) as evidenced by US 8581144 B2 (Furuta), in view of JP 2007040714 A (Naoaki) as evidenced by US 20030067946 A1 (Wiemeyer).
Regarding claim 1, Nomaru teaches (see figs. 1-2) a laser processing apparatus comprising:
a chuck table 36 that holds a wafer (see pars. 32 and 63 and see wafer 20 in fig. 7);
a laser beam irradiation unit 4 that irradiates (see pars. 6 and 64) the wafer 20 held by the chuck table 36 with a laser beam LB1; and
a feed mechanism 37 that executes processing feed of the chuck table and the laser beam irradiation unit in an X-axis direction and a Y-axis direction orthogonal to the X-axis direction (see two orthogonal “directions” in par. 64; it is noted that Nomaru fig. 1 feed mechanism 37 is similar to applicant fig. 1 feed mechanism 8),
wherein the laser beam irradiation unit includes 4
a laser oscillator 6 that emits the laser beam LB1, the laser beam being directed toward a condensed point (see focal point in par. 38) position adjuster 71 along a condensed point position adjuster optical path (see path of “laser beam” in par. 38),
a beam condenser 8 that condenses (see fig. 2) the laser beam LB1 emitted by the laser oscillator 6 and positions a condensed point (see par. 65) to the wafer held by the chuck table 36,
the condensed point position adjuster 71 is disposed between (see fig. 2) the laser oscillator 6 and the beam condenser 8 and adjusts (see par. 65) a position of the condensed point, and
an upper surface (see par. 45, top) position detector 9 that detects an upper surface position of the wafer (see that par. 45 “workpiece” is the wafer; see par. 3),
wherein the upper surface position detector 9 includes:
a detection light source 90 that emits detection light LB2 having a …1 wavelength (see par. 45) along a detection light source optical path (at location LB2), … and
a combiner 91 that causes the specific wavelength detection light LB2 that has passed through … a first beam splitter 92 sequentially to be directed along the condensed point position adjuster optical path between the laser oscillator 6 and the condensed point position adjuster, and
a reflected light selector 93 (this selects wavelength of incoming light to be the same wavelength as detection light LB2; see par. 42, top),
the upper surface position detector selects (the specific wavelength is selected in par. 45, i.e., 632 nm), the specific wavelength detection light LB2, and guides the specific wavelength detection light to an upper surface of the wafer (see par. 52 and figs. 4(a) or 4(b)) held by the chuck table and calculates (after reflecting from the wafer the reflected light travels back through condensed point position adjuster 71 and reflects off 92 and into filter 93, see par. 48 middle; such light having passed through such filter 93 travels to light receiving devices 96,97 and the instant height is calculated in correspondence with such devices 96,97; see pars. 53-54; it is noted that this is interpreted as intended use, and thus the prior art need only be capable of performing the intended use, because there is no computer controller or processor claimed and this is not a method claim; such height would be calculated by the combination as evidenced by Futura col. 9, ll. 30-35) the upper surface position of the wafer by reflected light arising from reflection at the upper surface of the wafer,
the reflected light selector 93 comprising a reflected light band-pass filter 93 configured to transmit reflected light having mutually different specific wavelengths (see claim 1: “a band pass filter which allows only reflected light corresponding to the wavelength of the detection laser beam to pass through” and par. 46: “band pass filter 93 which transmits only reflected light corresponding to the frequency of the detection laser beam LB2”), and … configured to transmit the same wavelength as the wavelength selected by the detection light selector 90 … to thereby transmit only reflected light having the specific wavelength from among light guided from the combiner 91 to the first beam splitter 92 and reflected by the first beam splitter 91 (such reflected light then traveling to band pass filter 93),
wherein the upper-surface position of the wafer is calculated (after reflecting from the wafer the reflected light travels back through condensed point position adjuster 71 and reflects off 92 and into filter 93, see par. 48 middle; such light having passed through such filter 93 travels to light receiving devices 96,97 and the instant height is calculated in correspondence with such devices 96,97; see pars. 53-54; it is noted that this is interpreted as intended use because there is no computer controller or processor claimed and this is not a method claim; such height would be calculated by the combination as evidenced by Futura col. 9, ll. 30-35) on the basis of light that has passed through the selected reflected light band-pass filter 93 (such light having passed through such filter 93 travels to light receiving devices 96,97 and the instant height is calculated in correspondence with such devices 96,97; see pars. 53-54) among reflected light reflected from the upper surface of the wafer (such reflected light traveling through the condensed point position adjuster 71 and to the first beam splitter 92) held by the chuck table after detection light having … emitted by the detection light source and guided onto the upper surface of the wafer.
Nomaru does not teach detection light LB2 having a plurality of wavelengths; a detection light selector that selects a specific wavelength detection light having a specific wavelength from the detection light emitted by the detection light source, wherein the detection light selector includes a plurality of detection light band-pass filters that allow transmission of detection light with specific wavelengths different from each other, and selects any of the plurality of detection light band-pass filters and positions a selected detection light band-pass filter in the detection light source optical path to pass the specific wavelength detection light; the specific wavelength detection light LB2 that has passed through the selector; the upper surface position detector selects, by the detection light selector, the specific wavelength detection light LB2; the reflected light selector 93 comprising a plurality of reflected light band-pass filters 93; the reflected light selector 93 configured to select, from among the plurality of reflected light band-pass filters, a selected reflected light band-pass filter and to position the selected reflected light band-pass filter in the optical path of the reflected light; and the specific wavelength has been selected by the detection light selector from the detection light.
Naoki teaches an optical measuring device (see abstract and p. 1, bottom) and further teaches (see fig. 3) a light (see page 5, middle: “The light source 21 emits light (for example, white light) including a plurality of different wavelengths”) having a plurality of wavelengths; a light selector 22 that selects a specific wavelength light having a specific wavelength from the light emitted by the light source 21, wherein the detection light selector includes a plurality of detection light band-pass filters (see page 5, bottom regarding selector 22 and page 10 middle regarding selector 71 in fig. 3B) that allow transmission of detection light with specific wavelengths different from each other(see page 5 bottom and page. 10, bottom), and selects any of the plurality of detection light band-pass filters and positions (via drive unit 22b or drive unit 73; either can be a stepper motor, see page 10 bottom; this is similar to applicant fig. 7 selector motor 65) a selected detection light band-pass filter in the detection light source optical path to pass the specific wavelength detection light; the specific wavelength detection light LB2 that has passed through the selector; the upper surface position detector selects, by the detection light selector, the specific wavelength detection light LB2.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide Nomaru with light LB2 having a plurality of wavelengths; a detection light selector that selects a specific wavelength detection light having a specific wavelength from the detection light emitted by the detection light source, wherein the detection light selector includes a plurality of detection light band-pass filters that allow transmission of detection light with specific wavelengths different from each other, and selects any of the plurality of detection light band-pass filters and positions a selected detection light band-pass filter in the detection light source optical path to pass the specific wavelength detection light; the specific wavelength detection light LB2 that has passed through the selector; the upper surface position detector selects, by the detection light selector, the specific wavelength detection light LB2 as taught by Naoaki in order to facilitate the ability to select a detection light wavelength based on the thickness of the wafer (see Furuta col. 6, ll. 30-36) and making adjustments in wavelength in real time (see Furuta col. 6, ll. 45-50) in order to improve wafer processing accuracy (see col. 1, ll. 55-60). Furuta points out that having the ability to adjust the wavelength of detection light 41 improves accuracy of semiconductor manufacturing (see col. 1, ll. 5-10).
Naoki teaches a light selector 22 comprising a plurality of light band-pass filters (see page 5, bottom regarding selector 22 and page 10 middle regarding selector 71 in fig. 3B); the light selector 22 configured to select, from among a plurality of reflected light band-pass filters (for example 32a to 32f at fig. 1 and fig. 3(b) and at page 5 bottom), a selected reflected (via selector 22 or 71) light band-pass filter and to position (via drive unit 22b or drive unit 73; either can be a stepper motor, see page 10 bottom; this is similar to applicant fig. 7 selector motor 65) the selected reflected light band-pass filter in the optical path of the reflected light; and the specific wavelength has been selected by the light selector (see page 5 bottom).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the current invention to provide Nomaru in view of Naoki with the reflected light selector 93 comprising a plurality of reflected light band-pass filters 93; the reflected light selector 93 configured to select, from among the plurality of reflected light band-pass filters, a selected reflected light band-pass filter and to position the selected reflected light band-pass filter in the optical path of the reflected light; and the specific wavelength has been selected by the detection light selector from the detection light as taught by Naoki in order to facilitate the ability to select a detection light wavelength based on the thickness of the wafer (see Furuta col. 6, ll. 30-36) and making adjustments in wavelength in real time (see Furuta col. 6, ll. 45-50) in order to improve wafer processing accuracy (see col. 1, ll. 55-60). Furuta points out that having the ability to adjust the wavelength of detection light 41 improves accuracy of semiconductor manufacturing (see col. 1, ll. 5-10). Nomaru requires that the selector 93 pass the same wavelength light as that of detecting light LB2 (such wavelength of LB2 being selected by Naoki’s selector as discussed above) and thus one of ordinary skill would be motivated to make the instant modification in order to accomplish the improved accuracy of Nomaru in view of Naoki. It is noted that the claim does not require a specific type of detecting light and it is known in the art that laser light can be used in accordance with Nomaru par. 45 (this is evidenced by Wiemeyer par. 4 top pointing out band pass filters may pass a specific wavelength of a multi wavelength laser light) as opposed to the white light taught by Naoki. Moreover regarding further discussion it would have been obvious to duplicate Nomaru’s single band pass filter 93 to arrive at the claimed plurality of band pass filters. Using Naoki’s selector is a natural extension of the teachings known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 4, Nomaru in view of Naoki teach the current invention as claimed and discussed above. Nomaru teaches (see fig. 2) wherein the upper surface position detector includes a second beam splitter 94 that splits into a first optical path 94b and a second optical path 94a the reflected light arising from reflection of the specific wavelength detection light that has passed through the condensed point position adjuster and the beam condenser and has been reflected from the upper surface of the wafer held by the chuck table and has been directed by the combiner 91 and the first beam splitter 92 to the second beam splitter 94, a filter 982 that is disposed in the first optical path 94b and causes a part of the reflected light split by the second beam splitter into the first optical path to pass through the filter, a first light receiving element 97 that receives the reflected light that has passed through the filter 982, and a second light receiving element 96 that is disposed in the second optical path 94a and receives whole (see par. 53: “Since the reflected light from the area S2 split into the first route 94a is 100% converged by the condenser lens 95, the total quantity of the reflected light is received by the first light receiving device 96) of the reflected light split by the second beam splitter 94 into the second optical path 94a, and the upper surface position detector calculates (after reflecting from the wafer the reflected light travels back through condensed point position adjuster 71 and reflects off 92 and into filter 93, see par. 48 middle; such light having passed through such filter 93 travels to light receiving devices 96,97 and the instant height is calculated in correspondence with such devices 96,97; see pars. 53-54; it is noted that this is interpreted as intended use because there is no computer controller or processor claimed and this is not a method claim; such height would be calculated by the combination as evidenced by Futura col. 9, ll. 30-35) the upper surface position of the wafer from comparison between an amount (see “quantity in par. 53, bottom) of received light at the first light receiving element 97 and an amount (see “quantity in par. 53, bottom) of received light at the second light receiving element 96.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nomaru as evidenced by Furuta, in view of Naoaki as evidenced by Wiemeyer, and US 5289114 (Nakamura).
Regarding claim 3, Combination Nomaru in view of Naoki teach the current invention as claimed and discussed above. The combination teaches wherein the detection light selector (as taught by Naoaki) selects the detection light with a wavelength that maximizes an amount of received light.
The claimed invention does not differ from the prior art in any physical structural manner. It has been held that “While features of an apparatus may be recited either structurally or functionally, claims directed to an apparatus must be distinguished from the prior art in terms of structure rather than function. In re Schreiber, 128 F.3d 1473, 1477-78, 44 USPQ2d 1429, 1431-32 (Fed. Cir. 1997); MPEP 2114.
It has also been held that, “Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established”. In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977); MPEP 2112.01. As Nomaru in view of Naoki teach substantially identical structure as the claimed invention, Claim 3 is rejected as obvious. The prior art need only be capable of performing the intended use “the detection light selector selects the detection light with a wavelength that maximizes an amount of received light”. For example, for any of the wavelengths selected the measurement of detectors 96,97 in Furuta fig. 2 can be measured and displayed to arrive at the maximum amount of light (this is evidenced by Nakamura showing unit 68 displaying the output of photodetector 58).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but a new combination of references were used to reject the claims and therefor the arguments were moot.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARC J AMAR whose telephone number is (571)272-9948. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-6:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Devon Kramer can be reached at (571) 272-7118. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MARC AMAR/Examiner, Art Unit 3741 /DEVON C KRAMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3741
1 This represents limitations that are addressed by the secondary reference below.
