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
Claims 1-9, 11, 13-15, 17-20 are pending, independent claims 1, 11, 15, and 20 and dependent claims 6 and 13 are amended, claims 10, 12, and 16 are cancelled.
Applicant’s arguments on page 8, filed 12/29/2025 with respect to U.S.C. 101 rejection of claims 1-9, 11, 13-15, 17-20 have been fully considered but they are not considered persuasive.
Applicant’s arguments on pages 8-9, filed 12/29/2025 with respect to U.S.C. 103 rejection of claims 1-9, 11, 13-15, 17-20 have been fully considered but they are not considered persuasive.
Applicant argues that Bullock does not all the new limitations of the amended independent claims 1, 11, 15, and 20. Examiner respectfully disagrees and directs applicant to the rejection below
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-9, 11, 13-15, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101. The claimed invention is directed to the abstract concept of performing mental steps without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) the following abstract concepts in BOLD of
Claim 1. A method of processing spectral data, comprising:
collecting a non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths using a spectrometer;
extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data;
analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes;
determining conditioning of the one or more attributes;
processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics, wherein each one of the predetermined sets of filters have a corresponding range of parameters; and
selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the corresponding pre- determined range of parameters for processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence.
Claim 11. A method of controlling a semiconductor process, comprising:
Collecting non-real-time time-ordered sequence optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths using a spectrometer,
processing real-time time-ordered sequence of the optical emission spectroscopy data using a preselected method chosen to provide minimum process delay in determining an endpoint indication, and
altering the semiconductor process based upon the processing of real-time time-ordered sequence
wherein the preselected method includes extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence, analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes, determining conditioning of the one or more attributes, and processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics,
wherein each one of the predetermined set of filters have a corresponding predetermined range of parameters and selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the
data.
Claim 15. A computing device, comprising:
one or more processors that perform operations including:
collecting non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths,
processing real-time time-ordered sequence of the optical emission spectroscopy data using a preselected method chosen to provide minimum process delay in determining an endpoint indication, and
altering a semiconductor process based upon the processing of the real-time time- ordered sequence,
wherein the preselected method includes extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence, analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes, determining conditioning of the one or more attributes, and processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics,
wherein each one of the predetermined set of filters have a corresponding predetermined range of parameters, and selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the corresponding pre-determined range of parameters for processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence.
Claim 20. A computer program product having a series of operating instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium that directs the operation of one or more processors when initiated thereby to perform operations for processing of a real-time time- ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data for semiconductor process control, the operations comprising:
collecting, from a semiconductor process, a non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths;
extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data;
analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes;
determining conditioning of the one or more attributes;
processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics, wherein each one of the predetermined set of filters have a corresponding predetermined range of parameters; and
selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the corresponding pre-determined range of parameters for processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence.
Under step 1 of the eligibility analysis, we determine whether the claims are to a statutory category by considering whether the claimed subject matter falls within the four statutory categories of patentable subject matter identified by 35 U.S.C. 101: process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter. The above claims are considered to be in a statutory category.
Under Step 2A, Prong One, we consider whether the claim recites a judicial exception (abstract idea). In the above claim, the highlighted portion constitutes an abstract idea because, under a broadest reasonable interpretation, it recites limitation the fall into/recite abstract idea exceptions. Specifically, under the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, it falls into the grouping of subject matter that, when recited as such in a claim limitation, covers performing mathematics or mental steps.
Next, under Step 2A, Prong Two, we consider whether the claim that recites a judicial exception is integrated into a practical application. In this step, we evaluate whether the claim recites additional elements that integrate the exception into a practical application of that exception.
This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because there is no improvement to another technology or technical field; improvements to the functioning of the computer itself; a particular machine; effecting a transformation or reduction of a particular article to a different state or thing. Examiner notes that since the claimed methods and system are not tied to a particular machine or apparatus, they do not represent an improvement to another technology or technical field. Similarly, there are no other meaningful limitations linking the use to a particular technological environment. Finally, there is nothing in the claims that indicates an improvement to the functioning of the computer itself or transform a particular article to a new state.
Finally, under Step 2B, we consider whether the additional elements are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the abstract idea.
The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because one or more processors, A computer program product, and a non-transitory computer readable medium are generic computer elements and not considered significantly more than the abstract idea. As recited in the MPEP, 2106.05(b), merely adding a generic computer, generic computer components, or a programmed computer to perform generic computer functions does not automatically overcome an eligibility rejection. Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int'l, 134 S. Ct. 2347, 2359-60, 110 USPQ2d 1976, 1984 (2014). See also OIP Techs. v. Amazon.com, 788 F.3d 1359, 1364, 115 USPQ2d 1090, 1093-94.
The additional element of collecting optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths, is considered necessary data gathering and is not sufficient to integrate the abstract idea into a practical application. As recited in MPEP section 2106.05(g), necessary data gathering (i.e., receiving data) is considered extra solution activity in light of Mayo, 566 U.S. at 79, 101 USPQ2d at 1968; OIP Techs., Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 788 F.3d 1359, 1363, 115 USPQ2d 1090, 1092-93 (Fed. Cir. 2015).
The additional element of a semiconductor process is considered field of use or technological environment in which when applied to the judicial exception do not amount to significantly more than the exception itself, and cannot integrate a judicial exception into a practical application.
Claim 9 recites a spectrometer and a processing tool. Claim 14 recites the semiconductor process. Claim 19 recites a spectrometer. These claims recite what is considered field of use or technological environment in which when applied to the judicial exception do not amount to significantly more than the exception itself, and cannot integrate a judicial exception into a practical application.
Claims 2-8, 12-13, 17, and 18 further limit the abstract ideas without integrating the abstract concept into a practical application or including additional limitations that can be considered significantly more than the abstract idea.
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) 1-2, 4-9, 11, 13-15, 17-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bullock et al. (US 2013/0016344 A1, as found in IDS on 9/23/2024) hereinafter Bullock.
Regarding Claim 1, Bullock teaches collecting a non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths ([0037] “ the system provides highly configurable integration of plasma characteristics to be monitored (frequencies, excited state lifetime (i.e., time-ordered sequence), modulated light amplitude, etc.) with wavelength (i.e., one or more wavelengths) optimized sensors and optical filtering (i.e., optical emission spectroscopy data) and optimized data collection/processing.”, where [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample) using a spectrometer (Fig. 4 where the incoming light from the plasma enters into a spectrometer, i.e., optical filter and optical sensor. Where [0045] “input electrical signals is sent to signal analyzer 450 (i.e., processing tool) for analysis and evaluation to determine plasma parameters and process state information, which may be used as feedback to plasma etch reactor 460 to control plasma 470 or other aspects of the reactor such as gas pressure or flowrate and RF power.”); extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data ([0038] “FIG. 3 shows plot 300 of the lifetimes (plotted in reciprocal as frequencies) of a selection of "strong" emission lines of typical gasses used with and/or etch-by-products resulting from plasma etch processes (e.g., Ar, He, Cl, F, O, H, Si, Ti, Ta, Al, C, N). Each plotted point represents a specific spectral line of the noted species and its lifetime.” Where lifetimes (length required for 1/e of the population of the light being emitted by the sample to decay) and emission lines are attributes; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample); analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes ([0038] “As may be seen by comparing the lifetimes of excited states of fluorine with either Argon or Chlorine, it is easily seen that modulated plasma emissions for fluorine may not be observed for excitation frequencies above 50 MHz due to the long lifetimes of the fluorine states. However, argon and chlorine have many excited states that have very short lifetimes and may provide RF plasma driven modulated emissions that are observable above 100 MHz (i.e., analysis of the lifetime attribute).”); determining conditioning of the one or more attributes ([0055] “Filter functions 610, 620 and 630 are Gaussian filter functions of increasing widths. Using a configurable IF filter function, the signals processed by signal processor 430 may be varied to suit the needs of the plasma parameter measurement system and may be used to aid isolation process parameters indicative of the process state of the workpiece, the plasma environment and process reactor from each other. For example, narrow filter function 610 may be used to monitor a single frequency of the modulated light signal at its known RF power supply frequency. The use of a narrow filter function minimizes the computational and data analysis complexity for cases where the plasma frequency is not variable, and monitoring only the amplitude change of the fixed frequency modulated light signal is sufficient for determining plasma parameters.” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”); processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics ([0012] “The conditioning filter may be a lowpass, highpass or bandpass analog filter, which may have a fixed filter function or may be programmable. Additionally, the filter may be actively configurable for altering filter parameters on the fly in response to receiving control signals from a controller. The low noise amplifier adjusts the intensity of the modulated light detected by the optical sensor within a range that is optimally suited to an input signal range of an intermediate frequency filter ("IF") digitizer (discussed below)” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”); wherein each one of the predetermined set of filters have a corresponding predetermined range of parameters ([0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines (i.e., predetermined range of parameters).”); and selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the corresponding pre- determined range of parameters for processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence ([0038] “The association of element excited species with emission wavelength and lifetime provides a key into the use of configurable optical filtering and frequency filtering for optimally selecting the modulations due to selected elements as well as potential understanding of how plasma emission modulation depth may be affected by excited species lifetimes.”; [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; [0063] “If not configured for "endpoint" but for real-time process control, steps 850 and 860 may not be ignored during the main etch period and the signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a slope of the time series.” Where Fig. 8 step 850 states “analyze plasma emission data to determine a process parameter”).
Regarding Claim 11, Bullock teaches collecting non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths ([0037] “ the system provides highly configurable integration of plasma characteristics to be monitored (frequencies, excited state lifetime (i.e., time-ordered sequence), modulated light amplitude, etc.) with wavelength (i.e., one or more wavelengths) optimized sensors and optical filtering (i.e., optical emission spectroscopy data) and optimized data collection/processing.”, where [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample) using a spectrometer (Fig. 4 where the incoming light from the plasma enters into a spectrometer, i.e., optical filter and optical sensor. Where [0045] “input electrical signals is sent to signal analyzer 450 (i.e., processing tool) for analysis and evaluation to determine plasma parameters and process state information, which may be used as feedback to plasma etch reactor 460 to control plasma 470 or other aspects of the reactor such as gas pressure or flowrate and RF power.”); processing real-time time-ordered sequence of the optical emission spectroscopy data using a preselected method chosen to provide minimum process delay in determining an endpoint indication ([0002] “a method and an apparatus for determining one or more process parameters of a plasma etching process occurring on a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer (i.e., the method chosen to be used, preselected).”; [0002] “These parameters may be utilized in-situ for real-time plasma etch process control.”, [0062] “This time series may include in temporal order: 1) initial transient values when the plasma is first initiated; 2) main etch values during the time that the bulk of the etching is performed; and 3) "endpoint" values indicative of a change in the etching. During times associated with the transient values and main etch, steps 850 and 860 may be ignored until a fixed time has elapsed or a recognizable feature of the time series is identified. During times associated with "endpoint" a signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a threshold value or slope of the time series data.” And where [0036]-[0037] “Prior art system requires long measurement periods to provide adequate signal-to-noise. Low signal-to-noise of the prior art systems leads to effective single sample measurement times on the order of 10's of milliseconds, which when converted to a time series and analyzed/evaluated to further increase S/N and derive recognizable features of the time series for the determination of a process state parameter, may delay prompt response for necessary real time in situ process control. Therefore, and in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention a modular and configurable hybrid superheterodyne spectrum analyzer based plasma parameter measurement system described herein below mitigates the abovementioned issues with an FFT spectrum analyzer based system and provides operation over a wider frequency range, at highly differing frequencies and at lower cost with higher bandwidth, improved alias rejection and improved signal-to-noise and transient response. Additionally, the system provides highly configurable integration of plasma characteristics to be monitored (frequencies, excited state lifetime, modulated light amplitude, etc.) with wavelength optimized sensors and optical filtering and optimized data collection/processing.”), and altering the semiconductor process based upon the processing of real-time time-ordered sequence([0048] “Alternatively and in addition, the presently described configurable hybrid superheterodyne spectrum analyzer based plasma parameter measurement system may incorporate an actively configurable signal processor for altering, adjusting and/or fine tuning signal processing on the fly. In accordance with this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, signal analyzer 450 not only sends process control signals to plasma etch reactor 460 for controlling the ongoing production process based on the analysis of the time series data produced by signal processor 430 and derived from a modulated component of the plasma emissions produced by the production process, but also sends signal processing configuration instructions to signal processor 430 for modifying its current signal processing parameters. Here, signal processor 430 is dynamically configurable to accommodate changes in the modulated component of the plasma emissions based on process information received by signal analyzer 450 from the plasma etch reactor 460 or the like. The active configurability aspects of the present invention will be better understood through a discussion of signal processor 430 directly below with regard to FIG. 5.”; where [0002] “These parameters may be utilized in-situ for real-time plasma etch process control.”); wherein the preselected method includes extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence ([0038] “FIG. 3 shows plot 300 of the lifetimes (plotted in reciprocal as frequencies) of a selection of "strong" emission lines of typical gasses used with and/or etch-by-products resulting from plasma etch processes (e.g., Ar, He, Cl, F, O, H, Si, Ti, Ta, Al, C, N). Each plotted point represents a specific spectral line of the noted species and its lifetime.” Where lifetimes (length required for 1/e of the population of the light being emitted by the sample to decay) and emission lines are attributes; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample), analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes ([0038] “As may be seen by comparing the lifetimes of excited states of fluorine with either Argon or Chlorine, it is easily seen that modulated plasma emissions for fluorine may not be observed for excitation frequencies above 50 MHz due to the long lifetimes of the fluorine states. However, argon and chlorine have many excited states that have very short lifetimes and may provide RF plasma driven modulated emissions that are observable above 100 MHz (i.e., analysis of the lifetime attribute).”), determining conditioning of the one or more attributes ([0055] “Filter functions 610, 620 and 630 are Gaussian filter functions of increasing widths. Using a configurable IF filter function, the signals processed by signal processor 430 may be varied to suit the needs of the plasma parameter measurement system and may be used to aid isolation process parameters indicative of the process state of the workpiece, the plasma environment and process reactor from each other. For example, narrow filter function 610 may be used to monitor a single frequency of the modulated light signal at its known RF power supply frequency. The use of a narrow filter function minimizes the computational and data analysis complexity for cases where the plasma frequency is not variable, and monitoring only the amplitude change of the fixed frequency modulated light signal is sufficient for determining plasma parameters.” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”), and processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics ([0012] “The conditioning filter may be a lowpass, highpass or bandpass analog filter, which may have a fixed filter function or may be programmable. Additionally, the filter may be actively configurable for altering filter parameters on the fly in response to receiving control signals from a controller. The low noise amplifier adjusts the intensity of the modulated light detected by the optical sensor within a range that is optimally suited to an input signal range of an intermediate frequency filter ("IF") digitizer (discussed below)” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”), wherein each one of the predetermined set of filters have a corresponding predetermined range of parameters([0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines (i.e., predetermined range of parameters).”); and selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the corresponding pre-determined range of parameters for processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence([0038] “The association of element excited species with emission wavelength and lifetime provides a key into the use of configurable optical filtering and frequency filtering for optimally selecting the modulations due to selected elements as well as potential understanding of how plasma emission modulation depth may be affected by excited species lifetimes.”; [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; [0063] “If not configured for "endpoint" but for real-time process control, steps 850 and 860 may not be ignored during the main etch period and the signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a slope of the time series.” Where Fig. 8 step 850 states “analyze plasma emission data to determine a process parameter”).
Regarding Claim 15, Bullock teaches one or more processors that perform operations ([0045] “It should be mentioned that signal analyzer 450 may also receive information from plasma etch reactor 460 regarding the particular process, type of process or the state of the process, that is passed to signal processor 430 for updating various signal processing parameters used by signal processor 430. This aspect of the presently described invention will become more apparent with the description of signal processor 430 in FIG. 5.”) including: collecting non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths ([0037] “ the system provides highly configurable integration of plasma characteristics to be monitored (frequencies, excited state lifetime (i.e., time-ordered sequence), modulated light amplitude, etc.) with wavelength (i.e., one or more wavelengths) optimized sensors and optical filtering (i.e., optical emission spectroscopy data) and optimized data collection/processing.”, where [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample); processing real-time time-ordered sequence of the optical emission spectroscopy data using a preselected method chosen to provide minimum process delay in determining an endpoint indication ([0002] “a method and an apparatus for determining one or more process parameters of a plasma etching process occurring on a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer (i.e., the method chosen to be used, preselected).”; [0002] “These parameters may be utilized in-situ for real-time plasma etch process control.”, [0062] “This time series may include in temporal order: 1) initial transient values when the plasma is first initiated; 2) main etch values during the time that the bulk of the etching is performed; and 3) "endpoint" values indicative of a change in the etching. During times associated with the transient values and main etch, steps 850 and 860 may be ignored until a fixed time has elapsed or a recognizable feature of the time series is identified. During times associated with "endpoint" a signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a threshold value or slope of the time series data.” And where [0036]-[0037] “Prior art system requires long measurement periods to provide adequate signal-to-noise. Low signal-to-noise of the prior art systems leads to effective single sample measurement times on the order of 10's of milliseconds, which when converted to a time series and analyzed/evaluated to further increase S/N and derive recognizable features of the time series for the determination of a process state parameter, may delay prompt response for necessary real time in situ process control. Therefore, and in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention a modular and configurable hybrid superheterodyne spectrum analyzer based plasma parameter measurement system described herein below mitigates the abovementioned issues with an FFT spectrum analyzer based system and provides operation over a wider frequency range, at highly differing frequencies and at lower cost with higher bandwidth, improved alias rejection and improved signal-to-noise and transient response. Additionally, the system provides highly configurable integration of plasma characteristics to be monitored (frequencies, excited state lifetime, modulated light amplitude, etc.) with wavelength optimized sensors and optical filtering and optimized data collection/processing.”), and altering the semiconductor process based upon the processing of real-time time-ordered sequence([0048] “Alternatively and in addition, the presently described configurable hybrid superheterodyne spectrum analyzer based plasma parameter measurement system may incorporate an actively configurable signal processor for altering, adjusting and/or fine tuning signal processing on the fly. In accordance with this exemplary embodiment of the present invention, signal analyzer 450 not only sends process control signals to plasma etch reactor 460 for controlling the ongoing production process based on the analysis of the time series data produced by signal processor 430 and derived from a modulated component of the plasma emissions produced by the production process, but also sends signal processing configuration instructions to signal processor 430 for modifying its current signal processing parameters. Here, signal processor 430 is dynamically configurable to accommodate changes in the modulated component of the plasma emissions based on process information received by signal analyzer 450 from the plasma etch reactor 460 or the like. The active configurability aspects of the present invention will be better understood through a discussion of signal processor 430 directly below with regard to FIG. 5.”; where [0002] “These parameters may be utilized in-situ for real-time plasma etch process control.”); wherein the preselected method includes extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence ([0038] “FIG. 3 shows plot 300 of the lifetimes (plotted in reciprocal as frequencies) of a selection of "strong" emission lines of typical gasses used with and/or etch-by-products resulting from plasma etch processes (e.g., Ar, He, Cl, F, O, H, Si, Ti, Ta, Al, C, N). Each plotted point represents a specific spectral line of the noted species and its lifetime.” Where lifetimes (length required for 1/e of the population of the light being emitted by the sample to decay) and emission lines are attributes; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample), analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes ([0038] “As may be seen by comparing the lifetimes of excited states of fluorine with either Argon or Chlorine, it is easily seen that modulated plasma emissions for fluorine may not be observed for excitation frequencies above 50 MHz due to the long lifetimes of the fluorine states. However, argon and chlorine have many excited states that have very short lifetimes and may provide RF plasma driven modulated emissions that are observable above 100 MHz (i.e., analysis of the lifetime attribute).”), determining conditioning of the one or more attributes ([0055] “Filter functions 610, 620 and 630 are Gaussian filter functions of increasing widths. Using a configurable IF filter function, the signals processed by signal processor 430 may be varied to suit the needs of the plasma parameter measurement system and may be used to aid isolation process parameters indicative of the process state of the workpiece, the plasma environment and process reactor from each other. For example, narrow filter function 610 may be used to monitor a single frequency of the modulated light signal at its known RF power supply frequency. The use of a narrow filter function minimizes the computational and data analysis complexity for cases where the plasma frequency is not variable, and monitoring only the amplitude change of the fixed frequency modulated light signal is sufficient for determining plasma parameters.” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”), and processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics ([0012] “The conditioning filter may be a lowpass, highpass or bandpass analog filter, which may have a fixed filter function or may be programmable. Additionally, the filter may be actively configurable for altering filter parameters on the fly in response to receiving control signals from a controller. The low noise amplifier adjusts the intensity of the modulated light detected by the optical sensor within a range that is optimally suited to an input signal range of an intermediate frequency filter ("IF") digitizer (discussed below)” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”), wherein each one of the predetermined set of filters have a corresponding predetermined range of parameters([0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines (i.e., predetermined range of parameters).”); and selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the corresponding pre-determined range of parameters for processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence([0038] “The association of element excited species with emission wavelength and lifetime provides a key into the use of configurable optical filtering and frequency filtering for optimally selecting the modulations due to selected elements as well as potential understanding of how plasma emission modulation depth may be affected by excited species lifetimes.”; [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; [0063] “If not configured for "endpoint" but for real-time process control, steps 850 and 860 may not be ignored during the main etch period and the signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a slope of the time series.” Where Fig. 8 step 850 states “analyze plasma emission data to determine a process parameter”).
Regarding Claim 20, Bullock teaches collecting, from a semiconductor process ([0009] “The present invention is directed to a system, method and software product for deriving process state parameters from modulated light detected from plasma emissions, from a plasma produced in, for instance, a semiconductor etch process.”), a non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data over one or more wavelengths ([0037] “ the system provides highly configurable integration of plasma characteristics to be monitored (frequencies, excited state lifetime (i.e., time-ordered sequence), modulated light amplitude, etc.) with wavelength (i.e., one or more wavelengths) optimized sensors and optical filtering (i.e., optical emission spectroscopy data) and optimized data collection/processing.”, where [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample); extracting one or more attributes from the non-real-time time-ordered sequence of optical emission spectroscopy data ([0038] “FIG. 3 shows plot 300 of the lifetimes (plotted in reciprocal as frequencies) of a selection of "strong" emission lines of typical gasses used with and/or etch-by-products resulting from plasma etch processes (e.g., Ar, He, Cl, F, O, H, Si, Ti, Ta, Al, C, N). Each plotted point represents a specific spectral line of the noted species and its lifetime.” Where lifetimes (length required for 1/e of the population of the light being emitted by the sample to decay) and emission lines are attributes; and [0035] “Since the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.” where is 1200 samples are collected as in the example, then 1199 non-real-time samples are compiled to the 1 real-time sample); analyzing characteristics of the one or more attributes ([0038] “As may be seen by comparing the lifetimes of excited states of fluorine with either Argon or Chlorine, it is easily seen that modulated plasma emissions for fluorine may not be observed for excitation frequencies above 50 MHz due to the long lifetimes of the fluorine states. However, argon and chlorine have many excited states that have very short lifetimes and may provide RF plasma driven modulated emissions that are observable above 100 MHz (i.e., analysis of the lifetime attribute).”); determining conditioning of the one or more attributes ([0055] “Filter functions 610, 620 and 630 are Gaussian filter functions of increasing widths. Using a configurable IF filter function, the signals processed by signal processor 430 may be varied to suit the needs of the plasma parameter measurement system and may be used to aid isolation process parameters indicative of the process state of the workpiece, the plasma environment and process reactor from each other. For example, narrow filter function 610 may be used to monitor a single frequency of the modulated light signal at its known RF power supply frequency. The use of a narrow filter function minimizes the computational and data analysis complexity for cases where the plasma frequency is not variable, and monitoring only the amplitude change of the fixed frequency modulated light signal is sufficient for determining plasma parameters.” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”); processing the one or more attributes according to a predetermined set of filters, the conditioning, and the characteristics ([0012] “The conditioning filter may be a lowpass, highpass or bandpass analog filter, which may have a fixed filter function or may be programmable. Additionally, the filter may be actively configurable for altering filter parameters on the fly in response to receiving control signals from a controller. The low noise amplifier adjusts the intensity of the modulated light detected by the optical sensor within a range that is optimally suited to an input signal range of an intermediate frequency filter ("IF") digitizer (discussed below)” where on in [0040] of the pending applications specification: “Conditioning may include, for example, scaling, normalizing, standardizing, ratioing, offset adjustment or other mathematical operations that benefit trend data processing. Conditioning of the data, in general, improves its usability and applicability to the control application in which it is used.”); wherein each one of the predetermined set of filters have a corresponding predetermined range of parameters ([0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines (i.e., predetermined range of parameters).”); ;
selecting, based upon the processing of the one or more attributes, one of the filters from the predetermined set of filters and parameters from the corresponding pre-determined range of parameters for processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence ([0038] “The association of element excited species with emission wavelength and lifetime provides a key into the use of configurable optical filtering and frequency filtering for optimally selecting the modulations due to selected elements as well as potential understanding of how plasma emission modulation depth may be affected by excited species lifetimes.”; [0043] “Optical filter 410 is selected based upon the detectable modulated wavelengths of the emitted plasma light. In this example, since the three named wavelengths should all contribute to the overall intensity of the modulated light, optical filter 410 may be a bandpass filter designed to pass the wavelengths from 685.6-712.8 or may be a singular narrow interference filter for selecting one of the three noted spectral lines.”; [0063] “If not configured for "endpoint" but for real-time process control, steps 850 and 860 may not be ignored during the main etch period and the signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a slope of the time series.” Where Fig. 8 step 850 states “analyze plasma emission data to determine a process parameter”).
Regarding Claim 2, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 1.
Bullock further teaches wherein the set of filters includes a single filter ([0039] “Plasma parameter measurement system 400 includes optical filter 410”).
Regarding Claim 4, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 1.
Bullock further teaches wherein the processing of the one or more attributes includes changing parameter values of at least one filter of the set of filters ([0055] “ FIG. 6 shows plot 600 of multiple filter functions configurable by IF filter 440 of FIG. 5, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Filter functions 610, 620 and 630 are Gaussian filter functions of increasing widths. Using a configurable IF filter function, the signals processed by signal processor 430 may be varied to suit the needs of the plasma parameter measurement system and may be used to aid isolation process parameters indicative of the process state of the workpiece, the plasma environment and process reactor from each other.”).
Regarding Claim 5, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 1.
Bullock further teaches wherein the collecting, extracting, analyzing, determining, and the processing of the one or more attributes are in real-time ([0063] “If not configured for "endpoint" but for real-time process control, steps 850 and 860 may not be ignored during the main etch period and the signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a slope of the time series.” Where Fig. 8 is the flowchart of the systems process).
Regarding Claim 6, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 5.
Bullock further teaches wherein the processing of the real-time time-ordered sequence is in real time ([0063] “If not configured for "endpoint" but for real-time process control, steps 850 and 860 may not be ignored during the main etch period and the signal analyzer may analyze the plasma emission data to determine a process parameter such as a slope of the time series.” Where Fig. 8 step 850 states “analyze plasma emission data to determine a process parameter”).
Regarding Claim 7, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 1.
Bullock further teaches wherein the selecting is based on consistency and latency of detecting the one or more attributes during the processing of the one or more attributes ([0035] “the frequency resolution of an FFT based spectrum analyzer is determined by the ratio of the sampling frequency and the number of collected samples, in situations where plasma parameters from modulated light driven by widely varied frequencies are monitored, such as a multiple frequency reactor with 60 MHz and 2 MHz, a sampling rate of 120 MHz must be used and a minimum of 1200 samples collected to define a frequency resolution of 0.1 MHz, which provides only 5% (0.1 MHz/2 MHz) resolution sensitivity to any variation on the lower frequency.”).
Regarding Claim 8 and 13, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 1 and 11, respectively.
Bullock further teaches wherein the one or more attributes include one or more trends, one or more features, or a combination of one or more trends and one or more features ([0041] “An endpoint for the CF4 etching of silicon dioxide may be observed in the change in intensity of the modulated light at the fluorine wavelengths, since the CF4 chemistry etches silicon dioxide differently than silicon, and, therefore, the concentration of fluorine in the plasma will change.”, features, where the change in concentration of fluorine is a feature of the type of semiconductor being etched).
Regarding Claim 9, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 1.
Bullock further teaches wherein the optical emission spectroscopy data is received by a spectrometer from a processing tool (Fig. 4 where the incoming light from the plasma enters into a spectrometer, i.e., optical filter and optical sensor. Where [0045] “input electrical signals is sent to signal analyzer 450 (i.e., processing tool) for analysis and evaluation to determine plasma parameters and process state information, which may be used as feedback to plasma etch reactor 460 to control plasma 470 or other aspects of the reactor such as gas pressure or flowrate and RF power.”).
Regarding Claim 14, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 11.
Bullock further teaches wherein the optical emission spectroscopy data is collected from the semiconductor process ([0009] “The present invention is directed to a system, method and software product for deriving process state parameters from modulated light detected from plasma emissions, from a plasma produced in, for instance, a semiconductor etch process.”).
Regarding Claim 17, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 15.
Bullock further teaches wherein the one or more attributes includes one or more trends. ([0041] “Typical strong emissions from fluorine include spectral lines at 685.6 nm, 703.7 nm and 712.8 nm with respective lifetimes of approximately 0.02
μ
s, 0.026
μ
s and 0.03
μ
s respectively. When driven by a typical 13.56 MHz frequency plasma with an effective period of 0.074 .mu.s; the fluorine lines should be observable in the modulated light emitted from the plasma. Specifically, the lifetimes of these excited states of fluorine are sufficiently short so as not to significantly attenuate the 13.56 MHz plasma oscillation.”, where these are characteristic optical trends of fluorine according to the pending application where in [0037] “Trends applicable to the processing as described herein may include, for example, single wavelength trends, multiple wavelength trends, and/or combinations of wavelength trends such as ratios, products, sums, and differences.”)
Regarding Claim 18, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 17.
Bullock further teaches wherein the one or more attributes further include one or more features or a combination of the one or more trends and the one or more features ([0041] “An endpoint for the CF4 etching of silicon dioxide may be observed in the change in intensity of the modulated light at the fluorine wavelengths, since the CF4 chemistry etches silicon dioxide differently than silicon, and, therefore, the concentration of fluorine in the plasma will change.”, features, where the change in concentration of fluorine is a feature of the type of semiconductor being etched).
Regarding Claim 19, Bullock teaches the limitations of claim 15.
Bullock further teaches wherein the computing device is a spectrometer ([0010] “Once the plasma light is filtered, it is received by an optical sensor that converts the spectral light intensities to electrical light signals. Those electrical light signals are then received by a signal processor which further processes the light signals with respect to the modulated wavelengths that are related to the process state parameters to be derived. The processed light signals can then be evaluated for plasma parameters and/or process state information that may be used to determine an endpoint for the etch process, a threshold value or slope of the time series data or other parameter that provides information concerning the state of a production process, a semiconductor wafer, the reactor or reactor chamber or faults or general health of the system.” Where a spectrometer is a device that the light enters, said light is then filter, measured, intensity is separated by wavelengths, and evaluated to use the results from the spectrum of light, see fig. 4).
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) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Bullock in view of Hauptmann et al. (WO 2020/212068 A1) hereinafter Hauptmann.
Regarding Claim 3, Bullock teaches the limitation of claim 1.
Bullock further teaches wherein the set of filters includes at least one filter selected from the group of filters consisting of an infinite impulse response filter ([0058] “Examples of other filter functions include well known Chebyshev (i.e., an infinite impulse response filter), Butterworth and Bessel filter functions.”), an averaging filter ([0058] “The filter functions shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 may not be indicative of the filter function of any specific process. Although shown as Gaussian filter functions (i.e., weighted average filter functions), it should be recognized that many other filter functions of other mathematical forms may be used with the current invention.”), a Butterworth filter ([0058] “Examples of other filter functions include well known Chebyshev, Butterworth and Bessel filter functions.”).
Bullock does not teach an Elliptic filter, a Savitzky-Golay smoothing filter, and a Savitzky-Golay smoothing/averaging filter.
Hauptmann teaches an Elliptic filter ([0140] “ Elliptical filters (Cauer filters)”),
a Savitzky-Golay smoothing filter ([0140] “Savitzky-Golay filters” where these filters work to smooth signal and noise by performing a moving average on the incoming signal data) and a Savitzky-Golay smoothing/averaging filter ([0140] “Savitzky-Golay filters” where these filters work to smooth signal and noise by performing a moving average on the incoming signal data).
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 Savitzky-Golay filters and Elliptical filters as discussed in Hauptmann to the filter list options discussed in Bullock for the purpose of having a selection of filters that perform different styles of filtering. This is advantageous because The model optimization should take into account different temporal behavior of the different parameters, while keeping the complexity of the control loop at acceptable levels, e.g. by grouping model parameters that would receive similar time filter settings or require similar sampling densities, schemes or rates, or eliminating model parameters, that would contribute more noise than actual correctable content to the control loop (e.g., [0038] Hauptmann).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
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/EMMA ALEXANDER/Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2863
/Catherine T. Rastovski/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857