DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-4 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by US 20170287753 to Musselman et al. (Mussel)
With respect to claim 1, Mussel discloses a reflectometry system to monitor one or more conditions associated with an electrostatic chuck (ESC) in a process chamber, the reflectometry system comprising:
(FIG. 1 and corresponding description, i.e., ¶¶ 30-35 processing chamber 100, electrostatic chuck 122, 6 processing chamber may include reflectometer; 22, 46, 53, 61)
a light source configured to emit a beam of light directed at the ESC and collection optics1 configured to receive light reflected from the ESC by the beam of light directed at the ESC and output a signal related to the one or more conditions associated with the ESC; and
(¶¶ 6 SR, LSR . . . CCD or photodiode senses the signal reflected from the surface of the substrate, characteristics of the reflected signal are indicative of various characteristics of the substrate; 22 direct an SR signal downward at the substrate; FIG. 5A-D and corresponding description)
a processor configured to process the output signal and compare the output signal with an expected signal; and
(i.e., signal compared with maximum signal intensity or signal intensity within desired range, ¶¶ 23; 24 optimal signal refers to an SR signal having desired characteristics as predetermined or calibrated according to user specifications, substrate specifications, process specifications, chamber specifications, etc. For example, SR signal amplitudes relative to wavelength may have a known relationship (e.g., as determined via modeling, experimentation, etc.); 57-60; 63)
based on the determination that the output signal does not match the expected signal, the processor further to provide an indication of the one or more conditions of the ESC.
(¶ 53 “controller 216 may determine (and indicate to a user via an LED, graphical interface, etc.) when the SR requires realignment. The controller 216 can perform the
measurement of the alignment of the SR via the above methods periodically, when prompted by a user, etc.; 60 correlates signal intensities to positions of the SR 316 . . . optimal SR signal intensity . . . controller 216 may provide feedback (e.g., via a graphical interface, LEDs, etc.) to a user indicating which direction to rotate the thumbscrews (or other adjustment mechanisms) until the SR 316 is in a position corresponding to the optimal SR signal intensity)
With respect to claim 2, Mussel discloses the indication is at least one of an alarm and an annunciator2.
(¶¶ 53, 60 graphical interface for the user)
With respect to claim 3, Mussel discloses the annunciator is a display on a graphical user-interface (GUI) of the reflectometry system.
(¶¶ 53, 60 graphical interface for the user)
With respect to claim 4, Mussel discloses the one or more conditions includes bolts holding the ESC to a remainder of the process chamber have loosened.
(¶¶ 58, 59-60 correspond to deviations of respective first and second thumbscrews from
their original positions (i.e., corresponding to position of the SR 316 and the original signal intensity) . . . correlates signal intensities to positions of the SR 316 . . . optimal SR signal intensity . . . controller 216 may provide feedback (e.g., via a graphical interface, LEDs, etc.) to a user indicating which direction to rotate the thumbscrews (or other adjustment mechanisms) until the SR 316 is in a position corresponding to the optimal SR signal intensity); 29 thumbscrews, other alignment mechanisms)
With respect to claim 6, Mussel discloses the one or more conditions includes an indication that maintenance3 of the ESC is needed.
(¶¶ 58, 59-60 correspond to deviations of respective first and second thumbscrews from
their original positions (i.e., corresponding to position of the SR 316 and the original signal intensity) . . . correlates signal intensities to positions of the SR 316 . . . optimal SR signal intensity . . . controller 216 may provide feedback (e.g., via a graphical interface, LEDs, etc.) to a user indicating which direction to rotate the thumbscrews (or other adjustment mechanisms) until the SR 316 is in a position corresponding to the optimal SR signal intensity); 29 thumbscrews, other alignment mechanisms)
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20170287753 to Musselman et al. (Mussel) in view of US 6813032 to HUNTER (Hunter)
With respect to claim 5, Mussel fails to explicitly disclose wherein the indication of the one or more conditions includes a microroughness level of an uppermost surface of the ESC has changed from an expected value of microroughness4.
Hunter, from the same field of endeavor, discloses monitoring the uppermost surface of a substrate of a processing chamber for indications of one or more conditions including an microroughness or smoothness had deviated from an expected value
(col. 2, ll. 1-32 inspecting substrate of the processing chamber, examining a substrate for selected characteristics which include particles, processing flaws, orientation, center finding, reflectivity, substrate type, discontinuity; col. 3, ll. 2-7 integrated system capable of rapidly inspecting semiconductor substrates and determining one or more conditions of the substrate in order to detect anomalies and facilitate a subsequent substrate handling decision; col. 3, ll. 29-63 optical inspection to monitor substrate surface topography . . . signal illuminates a substrate, receives reflections, to detect surface topographical effects; col. 32, ll. 52-67 monitoring substrate surface using values compared against expected values; col. 6, ll. 35-67 optical detected to detect light reflected from substrate surface; col. 12 – col. 13, l. 47; col. 18, ll. 44-64; col. 20, l. 25 – col. 21, l. 35; col. 21, ll. 26-42; col. 27, ll. 1-30)
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of effective filing date to monitor the substrate surface of Mussel for microroughness, as taught by Hunter, in order to improve the speed, reliability and costs of substrate monitoring (Hunter, col. 2-3), warn users of defects (Hunter, col. 7), providing highly detailed inspection without reducing through time (Hunter, section VII including col. 21).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KENNETH J MALKOWSKI whose telephone number is (313)446-4854. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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, Faris Almatrahi can be reached at 313-446-4821. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KENNETH J MALKOWSKI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3667
1 No limiting definition provided but can include an optical detector (Spec. ¶ 38)
2 No limiting definition provided for “annunciator” but can include a GUI (Spec. ¶ 75).
3 No limiting definition of “maintenance” provided but the specification states it includes issues that may need to be performed relative to the ESC and bolt position (¶ 75).
4 No limiting definition provided by can include an indication of how smooth something is (Spec. ¶ 75)