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 filed 12/22/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that Tsutsumi does not meet the amended limitations in claim 1 because Tsutsumi does not disclose measuring two positions in the partial shot region of the substrate. Applicant also notes that Tsutsumi does not teach the partial shot region including the edge of the substrate overlapping with a second pattern region of the mold. This argument is not found to be persuasive. Examiner first notes that the specific details of the partial region are directed to limitations of the substrate which is the article being worked upon by the apparatus. These limitations are not positively recited limitations of the apparatus itself. Even so, Tsutsumi [0035] does describe measuring the height in the outer peripheral region of the substrate outside of the center which seems to meet these limitations. Additionally, the specification does not support having a second pattern region of the mold. Only one pattern region of the mold is ever disclosed in the specification as originally filed, see 112(a) section below. Even so, a new reference, Sato, is cited which describes only a left potion of a mold pattern portion contacting a partial region of a substrate during imprinting. With respect to the arguments about Tsutsumi measuring the heights at two points specifically in the partial shot region, while Tsutsumi does not explicitly disclose this, Tsutsumi describes measuring multiple points in order to approximate quadratic or higher-order equations. These equations necessarily need three or more points to be approximated. Given the disclosure in Tsutsumi [0035] that the points should come from both the central and peripheral regions, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date that multiple measurements can be taken of the peripheral region. Claims 2-8 also remain rejected for these reasons.
Claim Interpretation
Examiner notes that details of the substrate claimed in claim 1 and other claims including the complete and partial regions are details of the materials being worked upon by the apparatus and are not positively recited structural limitations of the apparatus itself, see MPEP §2115.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 recites that the partial region corresponds to “a second pattern region of the mold, wherein the partial region overlaps with only a part of the second pattern region of the mold.” This amendment is not supported by the disclosure as originally filed because there is no disclosure of a second pattern region of the mold. The specification references only a single pattern portion 7a of the mold and further specifies that the partial region overlaps with only a part of that same pattern portion 7a. Claims 2-8 are rejected as being dependent from the rejected independent claim.
Claim 4 recites “wherein the first position in the partial region is in the outer peripheral region of the partial region and the second position in the partial region is in the inner region of the partial region” but this is not supported by the original specification. The specification describes measuring the surface height of the partial region at a plurality of positions, see [0038]. The specification also says “alignment measurement system 21 may be used to measure the height of a region in the vicinity of the outer periphery of the substrate 10” at [0035]. The specification only discloses measuring the outer periphery of the substrate and does not specify that the second position in the partial region is at an inner region of the partial region.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1, 4-6, and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsutsumi (JP6590667B2, see English translation provided) modified by Sato (US 2021/0276231.)
Regarding claim 1, Tsutsumi meets the claimed, An imprint apparatus that performs an imprint process of forming a pattern on an imprint material supplied on a substrate by bringing the imprint material into contact with a mold, (Tsutsumi [0015] describes an imprint apparatus 100) the imprint apparatus comprising: a holding unit configured to hold the substrate; (Tsutsumi [0018] describes a substrate chuck 112a) a supply unit configured to supply droplets of the imprint material to a plurality of regions on the substrate (Tsutsumi [0021] describes an ejection unit 115) the plurality of regions including a complete region the complete region corresponding to a first pattern region of the mold which overlaps with an entire area of the complete region, (Tsutsumi [0035] describes the central region of the substrate and Figure 4 shows one of the pattern regions 120 is a complete region) and a partial region, the partial region including an edge of the substrate (Tsutsumi [0035] describes the outer peripheral region) and a control unit including one or more processors and at least one memory, (Tsutsumi [0028] describes a control unit having a CPU and RAM) the control unit being configured to determine a position or an amount of a droplet of the imprint material to be supplied to the partial region, based on measurement data on a surface height of the substrate at a first position in the partial region in a state in which the holding unit holds the substrate, (Tsutsumi [0034]-[0035] describes a measurement unit 126 that measures the height of the substrate 101 including in the peripheral region and [0037] describes the control unit 122 corrects the supply conditions of the imprint material 102 based on the measurements) cause the supply unit to supply the droplet of the imprint material to the partial region, based on at least one of the determined position and the determined amount of the droplet of the imprint material, (Tsutsumi [0038] describes supplying the imprint material based on the corrected conditions) cause the imprint apparatus to form the pattern on the imprint material by bringing the imprint material supplied to the partial region into contact with the mold (Tsutsumi [0039] describes contacting the imprint material 102 with the mold 103 and irradiating to cure the material.)
Tsutsumi does not explicitly describe that the measurement unit measures the height of two positions in the partial region and does not explicitly meet the claimed, and a surface height of the substrate at a second position in the partial region, however, Tsutsumi [0034]-[0035] explains that multiple measurement points should be taken from the central and peripheral regions of the substrate so that an accurate function, such as a quadratic or higher-order function, may be approximated to accurately describe the height distribution of the substrate. When approximating a quadratic or higher-order function as described in Tsutsumi [0034], at least three points are required for the approximation. Given the teaching in Tsutsumi [0035] that points should be selected from both the central and peripheral regions, it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that selecting at least two points in the peripheral region and one in central region is one of two options when three or more points are measured. The courts have held that choosing from a finite number of identified and predictable solutions with a reasonable expectation of success would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, see MPEP §2143(I)(E). Additionally, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date that selecting more points from any region, the partial region included, would make the function approximation more accurate, see Tsutsumi [0034]-[0035].
Tsutsumi does not describe a second pattern region of the mold overlapping with a partial region on the substrate and does not meet the claimed, and corresponding to a second pattern region of the mold, wherein the partial region overlaps with only a part of the second pattern region of the mold which is to come into contact with the imprint material in the partial region in the imprint process.
Analogous in the field of imprinting, Sato meets the claimed, and corresponding to a second pattern region of the mold, wherein the partial region overlaps with only a part of the second pattern region of the mold which is to come into contact with the imprint material in the partial region in the imprint process (Sato [0053] describes contacting only a portion of the pattern region of the mold onto the partial shot region at the edge of the substrate, see also Figure 9 showing only the left portion of the mold contacts the substrate.)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date to combine the imprinting step of Tsutsumi with the left pattern region of the mold contacting the partial shot region as described in Sato in order to avoid a bubble defect, see Sato [0053].
Regarding claim 4, Tsutsumi meets the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the partial region includes an outer peripheral region including the edge of the substrate and an inner region on a side with a center of the substrate with respect to the outer peripheral region, wherein the first position in the partial region is in the outer peripheral region of the partial region and the second position in the partial region is in the inner region of the partial region (Tsutsumi [0035] discloses an outer peripheral region of the substrate which begins at one half radius from the center, this includes both a portion close to the center and a portion closer to the edge. While Tsutsumi does not explicitly describe a first position in the outer region and a second position in the inner region, Tsutsumi [0034]-[0035] describe choosing a variety of positions at both central and outer regions of the substrate. It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date to modify Tsutsumi to choose positions at both the inner and outer portions in order to increase the accuracy of the function, see Tsutsumi[0034]-[0035]) and wherein the control unit is configured to determine the position of the droplet of the imprint material such that the droplet of the imprint material is not supplied to the first position where the surface height of the substrate at the first position in the outer peripheral region is lower than the surface height of the substrate at the second position in the inner region (Tsutsumi [0042]-[0044] and Figures 6a-b describe when the height of the substrate is lower on the left side than in the middle, see Figure 6a showing the left side of the substrate is lower than H0, the control unit corrects the supply, as seen in Figure 6B, to drop the material in a different location.)
Regarding claim 5, Tsutsumi meets the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 1, further comprising a measurement unit configured to measure the surface height of the substrate at the first position in the partial region and the surface height of the substrate at the second position in the partial region in the a state in which the substrate is held by the holding unit (Tsutsumi [0034]-[0035] describes a measurement unit 126 that measures the height of the substrate 101 including in the peripheral region.)
Regarding claim 6, the first embodiment of Tsutsumi does not describe shape and does not meet the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the measurement data on the surface height of the substrate at the first position in the partial region and the surface height of the substrate at a second position in the partial region includes information on a surface shape of the substrate in the partial region, however, the third embodiment of Tsutsumi described in [0056] teaches measuring the surface shape of the substrate 101, see also [0059] and [0061] describing changing the supply condition in response to the shape of the substrate.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date to combine the first embodiment of Tsutsumi which measures the height of the substrate with the third embodiment which measures the shape of the substrate in order to control the ejection timing and produce a more accurate distribution pattern, see Tsutsumi [0061].
Regarding claim 8, Tsutsumi meets the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the position and the amount of the droplet of the imprint material to be supplied to the partial region (Tsutsumi [0034]-[0035] describes a measurement unit 126 that measures the height of the substrate 101 including in the peripheral region and [0037] describes the control unit 122 corrects the supply conditions of the imprint material 102 based on the measurements, by controlling the distribution of the drops, the control unit is inherently controlling the amount distributed.)
Claims 2-3 and 7 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsutsumi as modified by Sato as applied to claim 1 above and in further view of Miyajima (US 2007/0262049.)
Regarding claim 2, Tsutsumi meets the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to determine the position or the amount of the droplet of the imprint material to be supplied to the partial region, based on the measurement data on the surface height of the substrate at the first position in the partial region and the surface height of substrate at the second position in the partial region (Tsutsumi [0034]-[0035] describes a measurement unit 126 that measures the height of the substrate 101 at multiple positions including in the peripheral region.)
Tsutsumi does not disclose a height of the droplet material on the substrate and does not meet the claimed, and a height of the droplet of the imprint material in a state after supply of the imprint material to the substrate.
Analogous in the field of imprint apparatus, Miyajima meets the claimed, and a height of the droplet of the imprint material in a state after supply of the imprint material to the substrate (Tsutsumi [0056] discloses adjusting or increasing a supplied amount of resin to make the resin on the substrate thicker.)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date to combine the apparatus in Tsutsumi with the apparatus of Miyajima which alters the dispensing of the resin based on the thickness of the resin on the substrate in order to prevent unfilled areas due to a distorted resin shape, see Tsutsumi [0056].
Regarding claim 3, Miyajima further meets the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein the height of the droplet of the imprint material is calculated based on a period of time from when the droplet of the imprint material reaches a surface of the substrate to when the mold comes into contact with the droplet of the imprint material (Miyajima [0056] describes the resin spreading due to the shape of the workpiece which necessarily occurs after the material reaches a substrate and before the imprinting step because more resin is being supplied still.)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date to combine the apparatus of Tsutsumi with the height of the material being after contact and before imprinting such that additional resin can be added prior to imprinting to prevent underfilling, see Miyajima [0056].
Regarding claim 7, Tsutsumi does not describe the shape of the imprint material and does not meet the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein the height of the droplet of the imprint material includes information on a shape of the droplet of the imprint material
Analogous in the field of imprint apparatus, Miyajima meets the claimed, The imprint apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein the height of the droplet of the imprint material includes information on a shape of the droplet of the imprint material (Miyajima [0056] describes alerting the dispensing of the UV resin 80 in response to the shape of the resin 80 as it spreads out on the surface of the substrate.)
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date to combine the apparatus in Tsutsumi with the apparatus of Miyajima which alters the dispensing of the resin based on the shape of the resin on the substrate in order to prevent unfilled areas due to a distorted resin shape, see Tsutsumi [0056].
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.
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/V.B./Examiner, Art Unit 1744
/XIAO S ZHAO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1744