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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-9 and 11-17 in the reply filed on 10/7/2025 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim 13 is 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 13 recites that “the measurer includes a white light scanning interferometry”. It is unclear how the measurer (a device) can be embodied by a white light scanning interferometry (a field of endeavor). This rejection may be overcome by specifying that “the measurer includes a white light scanning interferometer” or “the measurer includes a white light scanning interferometry system” or “the measurer includes a white light scanning interferometry apparatus”.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9, 11, 12, and 14 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding independent claim 1; Ochiai et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2003/0089852 discloses a substrate analysis system, comprising: a load-lock (“When the hatch 64 closes, a narrow space formed around the wafer becomes a load lock chamber” [0075]) configured to load or unload a substrate (“the wafer transferring unit 62 picks up the wafer 21 on the mounting stage 63, and places it on the sample stage 24 in the vacuum sample chamber 60” [0075]) with a pattern layer (“The focused ion beam irradiation optical system 31 irradiates the FIB 4 to the wafer 21 so as to form a groove in such a manner that the groove is in a horseshoe shape crossing over an observation analysis face p2 as shown in FIG. 4” [0078]); a miller 31 (“The thin film sample 22 may be… a sample made into a thin-film by conventional mechanical grinding or ion-milling” [0126]) configured to irradiate an ion beam toward a milling region of the pattern layer (“The focused ion beam irradiation optical system 31 irradiates the FIB 4 to the wafer 21 so as to form a groove in such a manner that the groove is in a horseshoe shape crossing over an observation analysis face p2 as shown in FIG. 4” [0078]), the ion beam to irradiate a milling surface from which at least a portion of the pattern layer is removed (“The focused ion beam irradiation optical system 31 irradiates the FIB 4 to the wafer 21 so as to form a groove in such a manner that the groove is in a horseshoe shape crossing over an observation analysis face p2 as shown in FIG. 4” [0078]); an imager 41 configured to capture a plurality of two-dimensional images of the analysis region (“a secondary electron image on the silicon wafer surface” [0100]); a substrate transferer 62 configured to transfer the substrate between the load-lock, the miller, and the imager (“a narrow space formed around the wafer becomes a load lock chamber, and an evacuating means (not shown) exhausts air therefrom, thereby descending the mounting stage 63. Thereafter, the wafer transferring unit 62 picks up the wafer 21 on the mounting stage 63, and places it on the sample stage 24 in the vacuum sample chamber 60” [0075]); and a controller 100 configured to control the substrate transferer so that the substrate circulates through the miller, and the imager (“The vacuum sample chamber 60 has an operation controller 100 provided for controlling and managing a series of processes of the overall apparatus including sample processing, observation, and evaluation” [0074]). However, Ochiai does not disclose that the miller is configured to adjust a path of the ion beam so that the ion beam moves horizontally within the milling region according to a scanning profile received based on an intensity map of the ion beam. Additionally, Ochiai does not disclose a depth measurer configured to receive the substrate from the miller and to measure a milling depth of an analysis region in a central portion of the milling surface, and therefore does not disclose that the controller is configured to control the substrate transferer so that the substrate circulates through the miller, the depth measurer, and the imager when the milling depth obtained from the depth measurer is shallower than a set target depth.
Fischione et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2022/0262593 discloses a substrate analysis system, comprising: a miller configured to irradiate an ion beam toward a milling region of the pattern layer, the ion beam to irradiate a milling surface from which at least a portion of the pattern layer is removed (“Broad-beam ion milling is also used to delayer chips” [0013]); wherein the miller is configured to adjust a path of the ion beam so that the ion beam moves horizontally within the milling region according to a scanning profile (“A control unit drives the activation of the ion beam source and steering mechanism and controls and adjusts the raster amplitude and scan rate” [0024]) received based on an intensity map of the ion beam (“a sub-millimeter beam is rastered with respect to the sample surface, point by point, with the intensity of the beam being determined by the rate of movement, thus causing the dwell time at each point of the sample surface to be variable” [0082]). Fischione discloses a depth measurer configured to receive the substrate from the miller and to measure a milling depth of an analysis region in a central portion of the milling surface (“Depth profile information is generated by the interaction of electrons created by the SEM and the corresponding sample volume” [0027]). However, since the sample 55 is located on sample stage 56 when the sample is irradiated with the milling ion beam from ion beam source 31 and with the electron beam from the SEM column 75, there is no disclosure of a controller configured to control a substrate transferer so that the substrate circulates through the miller, the depth measurer, and the imager, when the milling depth obtained from the depth measurer is shallower than a set target depth.
The prior art fails to teach or reasonably suggest, in combination with the other claim limitations, a substrate analysis system, comprising: a controller configured to control a substrate transferer so that a substrate circulates through a miller configured to irradiating an ion beam toward a milling region of a pattern layer of the substrate, a depth measurer configured to measure a milling depth of an analysis region in a central portion of a milling surface of the substrate, and an imager configured to capture a plurality of two-dimensional images of the analysis region, when the milling depth obtained from the depth measurer is shallower than a set target depth.
Regarding dependent claims 2-9 and 11-14; these claims are allowable at least for their dependence, either directly or indirectly, upon independent claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JASON L MCCORMACK whose telephone number is (571)270-1489. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 7:00AM-5:00PM EST.
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/JASON L MCCORMACK/Examiner, Art Unit 2881
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