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 group I (claims 1-8) in the reply filed on March 27, 2026 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 8 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.
The limitation of “wherein the second switch circuit is configured to determine a fourth selection pad among the fourth pads” is not clearly understood. However, claim 7 (from which claim 8 depends) previously introduces: a third switch circuit associated with third pads and a fourth switch circuit associated with fourth pads”. Accordingly, it is unclear whether the second switch circuit or the fourth switch circuit is intended to determine the fourth selection pad among the fourth pads. This inconsistency creates ambiguity as to the structure and operation of the switching circuits, and therefore renders the scope of claim 8 uncertain. As a result, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
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.
Claims 1-2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Schicketanz et al (US 2016/0195648 A1) in view of Eva (U.S.Pat. 11,126,087) and further in view of Muler et al (WO 2023/184517 A1).
With respect to claims 1-2, Schicketanz (figure 19) discloses a semiconductor process apparatus comprising: a light generator configured to output extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light having an EUV wavelength band (see paragraph 0124]); a mask stage configured to seat a mask (M) , the mask being configured to reflect the EUV light output from the light generator: an optical light receiver (PO) including a plurality of mirrors (M1-M6) that are configured to generate output light by reflecting the EUV light reflected from the mask, at least one of the plurality of mirrors including a mirror body (see figure 1) and a reflective layer attached to a surface of mirror body and a substrate stage configured to seat a substrate (W) to be irradiated with the output light, wherein the reflective layer includes a plurality of silicon layers, a plurality of molybdenum layers alternately with the plurality of silicon layers (see paragraph [0074]).
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Schicketanz lacks to disclose “at least one graphene layer has a base region including graphene”. Eva discloses a mirror array for EUV lithography has at least one carbon-based layer such as graphite (see col.4, lines 35-36; it is note that graphene is a known-single layer form of graphite) and provides electrical conductivity. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the reflective multilayer of Schicketanz to include a graphene layer as suggested by Eva because graphene is known to provide tunable electrical and surface properties when biased, which is beneficial for controlling optical performance of EUV mirrors. However, Schicketanz as modified by Eva does not expressly disclose a specific structure for delivering the bias voltage to the conductive layer, such as a plurality of pads attached to the conductive layer. Muller discloses a mirror-related device (108) for used in a lithography system and including a plurality of pads (103) configured to receive bias/control signals and to electrically interface with functional layers (see abstract). Thus, Muller teaches providing a plurality of pads to enable application of an electrical bias to a structure associated with a mirror. It would have been obvious to further modify the system of Schicketanz as modified by Eva to include a plurality of pads as taught by Muller in order to provide a practical and effective interface for applying the bias voltage to the conductive layer, since pads are a known and conventional means for delivering electrical signals to functional materials and thereby improving the quality of the semiconductor process apparatus as intended.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art of record, fail to disclose or suggest the specific control architecture recited in claims 3-7. In particular, while the prior art discloses EUV lithographic systems having multilayers mirror, conductive carbon-based layers capable of being biased and the use of electrical pads to deliver control signals in mirror-related devices, the prior art does not disclose or suggest selective control of bias applied to different subsets of pads via switching circuitry, as recited in claim 3.
Further, the prior art does not teach or suggest the use of switching circuits, such as multiplexers, to selectively address individual pads, or group of pads for applying bias, as recited in claims 4 and 5.
Moreover, the prior art does not disclose or suggest selecting pads based on a spatially varying region of EUV irradiation on the mirror, as recited in claim 6.
Additionally, the prior art does not teach or suggest the use of multiple power supply circuits to apply different bias voltages to different pad groups as recited in claim 7.
Claim 8 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
As to claim 8, the prior art does not specifically disclose applying different bias voltages to different pad groups during different time periods as recited in claim 8.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wu et al (U.S.Pat. 11,243,461 B2) and Baer et al (U.S.Pat. 10,031423 B2) disclose EUV lithographic devices and have been cited for technical background.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG HENRY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:30PM.
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HUNG HENRY NGUYEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2882
Hvn
4/12/26
/HUNG V NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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