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 .
Examiner’s attempts for interview
The examiner reached out to the applicant’s representative multiple times to discuss the current 112b rejection for a compact prosecution. However, there was no answer to the message.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Species IA2 in the reply filed on 03/09/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that independent claim 8 is a linking claim that claims a system with all of the limitation of independent method claim1. This is not found persuasive because (1) claim 8 is not a linking claim (2) restriction between product and process are considered distinct if (1) the process as claimed can be practiced by another and materially different apparatus of by hand as the system of claim 8 is not the only way for the process claimed in claim 1 (i.e., the process can be produced by other materially different apparatus from the claim 8) and (3) there is serious search burden since the prior art satisfies claim 1 would not satisfy the prior art of claim 8 and vice versa (however, if the claim 1 is found to be allowable with proper amendment, the examiner would rejoin the claims 8-14 if the claims 8-14 is including all the allowable subject matter).
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claims 1, 3-7 and 22-28 are 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
As to claims 1 and 22, the claims recite “the range of the plurality of wavenumbers being selected to match an absorption spectrum of the material of the patterned layer”
However, it is not clear with following reasons.
First, the limitation “the material" is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Second, the limitations is not clearly indicating what is being matched to an absorption spectrum of the material.
Therefore, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention.
Clarification is required.
Dependent claims 3-7 and 23-28 are also rejected since they inherit the indefiniteness of the claims from which they depend.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-7, and 22-28 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112, 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
As to claim 1 and 22, Closest prior art of Lee (KR 20080109567) teaches a method for estimating line width (abstract) of a patterned layer of a substrate (FIG.1 and 2), the method comprising:
generating a light beam using a light source configured to emit a light spectrum comprising a plurality of wavenumbers (“The measurement light suggests a photomask pattern linewidth measuring method irradiated at a wavelength range of 190 nm to 1000 nm”);
exposing the patterned layer of a substrate to the light beam to form a first illuminated area (FIG.1);
measuring a first spectrum of the first illuminated area using a light detector, the first spectrum comprising a first variation in light intensity with a wavenumber of the light beam received at the light detector (“The measurement light proposes a photomask pattern line width measuring method for inducing the measurement of the change in reflectance according to the change in the wavelength band by using a wavelength band longer than the wavelength band of the exposure light to be used for transferring the mask pattern on the wafer”);
However, none of the prior art alone or in combination disclose or teach of determining a first spectrum area by integrating the first variation in light intensity over a range of the plurality of wavenumbers, the range of the plurality of wavenumbers being selected to match an absorption spectrum of the material of the patterned layer; and determining the line width of the patterned layer based on the first spectrum area along with other limitations in the claim.
All the dependent claims are indicated as allowable due to their dependencies only.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUNGHEE Y GRAY whose telephone number is (571)270-3211. The examiner can normally be reached on T-R, 8:00 am-4:00 pm and F 8 :00 to 2:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Kara Geisel can be reached on (571) 272-2416. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-4211.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SUNGHEE Y GRAY/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2886
Prosecution Insights