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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-6 and 15-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 1 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xiao et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2016/0351373.
Regarding claim 1, Xiao discloses a method of inspecting a substrate, the method comprising: providing a substrate 103 on a test stage 104, the substrate comprising a plurality of regions (AOIs [0068]); and scanning the substrate using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column (“an electron beam inspection (EBI) system” [0031]), wherein the scanning of the substrate comprises: scanning a first region 401/402 of the plurality of regions of the substrate (“the electron beam can scan AOIs 401 and 402, then AOI 406, then AOIs 403 and 404” [0068]); after scanning the first region 401/402, scanning a second region 406 of the plurality of regions of the substrate (“the electron beam can scan AOIs 401 and 402, then AOI 406, then AOIs 403 and 404” [0068]), the second region 406 being spaced apart from the first region 401/402 (as illustrated in figure 5: “an area is skipped before scanning the next AOI without changing swath direction” [0065]); and after scanning the second region 406, scanning a third region 403/404 of the plurality of regions of the substrate, the third region 403/404 being between (in a stage motion direction 409) the first region 401/402 and the second region 406, and wherein the third region 403/404 is adjacent to the first region 401/402 (there are no AOIs between the third region 403/303 and the first region 401/402) such that the first region 401/402, the second region 406 and the third region are sequentially scanned (“the electron beam can scan AOIs 401 and 402, then AOI 406, then AOIs 403 and 404” [0068]) along a non-linear path (as illustrated in figure 5).
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) 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiao et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2016/0351373 in view of Nakamura et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2021/0020422.
Regarding claim 2, Xiao discloses the claimed invention except that while Xiao discloses that “The electron beam can move to the next AOI 401 by deflecting the electron beam while the stage is continuously moving” [0058], Xiao does not disclose the specific structure of the claim; Xiao does not disclose an SEM housing comprising a beam generation space; an electron gun in the beam generation space; and a deflector under the electron gun, and wherein the deflector comprises: a first deflector configured to cause an electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a first path; and a second deflector configured to cause the electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a second path that is different from the first path.
Nakamura discloses a substrate inspection apparatus, comprising: a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column comprising: an SEM housing 11 comprising a beam generation space (“An electron gun 12 is provided in a housing 11, and an electron beam 20 is emitted from the electron gun 12” [0028]); an electron gun 12 in the beam generation space 11 (“An electron gun 12 is provided in a housing 11” [0028]); and a deflector 17/18 under the electron gun 12, wherein the deflector 17/18 comprises: a first deflector 17 configured to cause an electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a first path (an X-path); and a second deflector 18 configured to cause the electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a second path (a Y-path) that is different from the first path (“currents following in the X scanning deflector 17 and the Y scanning deflector 18 are controlled to perform a 2-dimensional scanning of the electron beam 20” [0032]).
It would have been obvious to one possessing ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xiao to use the apparatus of Nakamura since Xiao does not disclose the specific device embodying the scanning electron microscope utilized to perform the two-dimensional scanning, and since Nakamura discloses a specific, and commercially available scanning electron microscope capable of performing two-dimensional scanning on a sample.
Regarding claim 3, Xiao discloses that the scanning of the first region 401/402 comprises: emitting the electron beam that travels along the first path onto the first region 401/402; and detecting particles emitted from the first region irradiated by the electron beam travelling along the first path (as illustrated in figure 1), and wherein the scanning of the second region 406 comprises: emitting the electron beam that travels along the second path onto the second region 406; and detecting particles emitted from the second region irradiated by the electron beam travelling along the second path (“the electron beam can scan AOIs 401 and 402, then AOI 406, then AOIs 403 and 404” [0068]). However, although Xiao discloses that “The electron beam can move to the next AOI 401 by deflecting the electron beam while the stage is continuously moving” [0058], Xiao does not disclose that the deflectors cause the electron beam to travel in the two-dimensional pattern along the first path and the second path.
Nakamura discloses a substrate inspection apparatus, comprising: a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column comprising: an SEM housing 11 comprising a beam generation space (“An electron gun 12 is provided in a housing 11, and an electron beam 20 is emitted from the electron gun 12” [0028]); an electron gun 12 in the beam generation space 11 (“An electron gun 12 is provided in a housing 11” [0028]); and a deflector 17/18 under the electron gun 12, wherein the deflector 17/18 comprises: a first deflector 17 configured to cause an electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a first path (an X-path); and a second deflector 18 configured to cause the electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a second path (a Y-path) that is different from the first path (“currents following in the X scanning deflector 17 and the Y scanning deflector 18 are controlled to perform a 2-dimensional scanning of the electron beam 20” [0032]).
It would have been obvious to one possessing ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xiao to use the apparatus of Nakamura since Xiao does not disclose the specific device embodying the scanning electron microscope utilized to perform the two-dimensional scanning, and since Nakamura discloses a specific, and commercially available scanning electron microscope capable of performing two-dimensional scanning on a sample.
Regarding claim 4, Xiao discloses detecting secondary electrons emitted from the first region (“The electron detector 105 can include… a secondary electron collector” [0044]).
Regarding claim 5, Xiao discloses the claimed invention except that there is no explicit disclosure that the SEM column further comprises a blocking deflector between the electron gun and the deflector.
Nakamura discloses a blocking deflector 14 between the condenser lens 13 and the deflector 17/18 (as illustrated in figure 2).
It would have been obvious to one possessing ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xiao to use the apparatus of Nakamura since Xiao does not disclose the specific device embodying the scanning electron microscope utilized to perform the two-dimensional scanning, and since Nakamura discloses a specific, and commercially available scanning electron microscope capable of performing two-dimensional scanning on a sample.
Regarding claim 6, Xiao discloses the claimed invention except that there is no explicit disclosure that the emitting of the electron beam onto the second region comprises: after emitting the electron beam onto the first region, blocking the electron beam emitted from the electron gun using the blocking deflector; activating the second path using the first deflector and the second deflector; and emitting the electron beam along the second path by opening the blocking deflector.
Nakamura discloses that the emitting of the electron beam onto the second region comprises: after emitting the electron beam onto the first region, blocking the electron beam emitted from the electron gun using the blocking deflector; activating the second path using the first deflector and the second deflector; and emitting the electron beam along the second path by opening the blocking deflector (figure 5 illustrates that a first region is scanned using an X-deflection control signal, and then blanking is performed using the blanker control signal, and then a different region is scanned using a different X-deflection control signal) (“The blanking controller 45 can access the storage unit 43 having stored therein a pre-set blanking period, a Duty ratio that expresses the percentage of electron beam irradiation ON during the blanking period, the number of pixels to skip, which is the number of pixels, not irradiated with electron beam that are sandwiched between a pixel having irradiated thereon an electron beam and the next pixel to be irradiated with the electron beam, and the current pixel coordinate data updated by the arithmetic unit 42 and, according to a corresponding pixel shifting timing signal and the stored information referred to from the storage unit 43, inputs a blanking control signal to a blanking driver 39 in order to control ON/OFF of the irradiation of the electron beam 20 onto the sample 21” [0048] – “currents following in the X scanning deflector 17 and the Y scanning deflector 18 are controlled to perform a 2-dimensional scanning of the electron beam 20” [0032]).
It would have been obvious to one possessing ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Xiao to use the apparatus of Nakamura in order to ensure that only regions of interest are scanned, thereby eliminating extraneous data obtained from regions between regions of interest.
Claim(s) 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakamura et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2021/0020422 in view of Xiao et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2016/0351373.
Regarding claim 15, Nakamura discloses a substrate inspection apparatus, comprising: a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column comprising: an SEM housing 11 comprising a beam generation space (“An electron gun 12 is provided in a housing 11, and an electron beam 20 is emitted from the electron gun 12” [0028]); an electron gun 12 in the beam generation space 11 (“An electron gun 12 is provided in a housing 11” [0028]); and a deflector 17/18 under the electron gun 12, wherein the deflector 17/18 comprises: a first deflector 17 configured to cause an electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a first path (an X-path); and a second deflector 18 configured to cause the electron beam emitted from the electron gun to travel along a second path (a Y-path) that is different from the first path (“currents following in the X scanning deflector 17 and the Y scanning deflector 18 are controlled to perform a 2-dimensional scanning of the electron beam 20” [0032]). Nakamura discloses the claimed invention except that there is no explicit disclosure that the substrate inspection apparatus is configured to, by the SEM column: scan a first region of a plurality of regions of a substrate; after scanning the first region, scan a second region of the plurality of regions of the substrate, the second region being spaced apart from the first region; and after scanning the second region, scan a third region of the plurality of regions of the substrate, the third region being between the first region and the second region, and wherein the third region is adjacent to the first region such that the first region, the second region and the third region are sequentially scanned along a non-linear path.
Xiao discloses a method of inspecting a substrate, the method comprising: providing a substrate 103 on a test stage 104, the substrate comprising a plurality of regions (AOIs [0068]); and scanning the substrate using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) column (“an electron beam inspection (EBI) system” [0031]), wherein the scanning of the substrate comprises: scanning a first region 401/402 of the plurality of regions of the substrate (“the electron beam can scan AOIs 401 and 402, then AOI 406, then AOIs 403 and 404” [0068]); after scanning the first region 401/402, scanning a second region 406 of the plurality of regions of the substrate (“the electron beam can scan AOIs 401 and 402, then AOI 406, then AOIs 403 and 404” [0068]), the second region 406 being spaced apart from the first region 401/402 (as illustrated in figure 5: “an area is skipped before scanning the next AOI without changing swath direction” [0065]); and after scanning the second region 406, scanning a third region 403/404 of the plurality of regions of the substrate, the third region 403/404 being between (in a stage motion direction 409) the first region 401/402 and the second region 406, and wherein the third region 403/404 is adjacent to the first region 401/402 (there are no AOIs between the third region 403/303 and the first region 401/402) such that the first region 401/402, the second region 406 and the third region are sequentially scanned (“the electron beam can scan AOIs 401 and 402, then AOI 406, then AOIs 403 and 404” [0068]) along a non-linear path (as illustrated in figure 5).
It would have been obvious to one possessing ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Nakamura with the scan pattern of Xiao in order to reduce overhead and electron beam scanning effectiveness by inspecting only certain AOIs (as discussed at paragraph [0031] of Xiao) and in order to reduce the impact of charging artifacts on defect detection (as discussed at paragraph [0032] of Xiao).
Regarding claim 16, Nakamura discloses that each of the first deflector and the second deflector comprises an electromagnet or an electric condenser (“In this present reconstructed example, the X scanning deflector and the Y scanning deflector 18 are described as electromagnetic deflectors, but they may be electrostatic deflectors” [0032]).
Regarding claim 17, Nakamura discloses a condenser lens 13 under the electron gun 12 (as illustrated in figure 2).
Regarding claim 18, Nakamura discloses a blocking deflector 14 between the condenser lens 13 and the deflector 17/18 (as illustrated in figure 2).
Regarding claim 19, Nakamura discloses a test stage 22 configured to support a substrate 21 (“a sample 21 placed on a sample stage 22” [0028]).
Regarding claim 20, Nakamura discloses a detector 25 configured to detect secondary electrons (“The secondary electrons 23 are detected by a secondary electron detector 25” [0030]).
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 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