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 .
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, Second Paragraph
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 11-12 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.
Claim 11 recites the limitation "the monitoring device" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "the monitoring device" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)
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 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Nagano et al. (JP 2016099289).
Nagano et al. (JP 2016099289) discloses, in figs. 1-11, an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography apparatus, comprising:
a droplet generator 21a configured to receive a droplet material from a tin transfer assembly 34 (see figs. 1, 2);
a tin storage assembly 31 configured to provide the droplet material to the tin transfer assembly 34 (see figs. 1, 2); and
a tin refill tank 60 configured to refill the tin storage assembly 31 before the tin storage assembly 31 is depleted of the droplet material (see figs. 2, 3, 9).
Claims 1-12 and 18-20 are allowable.
Claims 14-17 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 Reasons for Allowable Subject Matter
The prior art fails to disclose an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography apparatus which includes a controller configured to detect an increase in a pressure, within a tin transfer assembly, measured by a pressure sensor and to responsively output an indication that a tin storage assembly requires refill of a droplet material as recited in claim 1; a tin storage assembly including a primary reservoir and a secondary reservoir interconnected so that an amount of a droplet material in the primary reservoir is substantially equal to an amount of the droplet material in the secondary reservoir during operation of a droplet generator as recited in claim 14; or a controller configured to detect a spike in a pressure, within a tin transfer assembly, measured by a pressure sensor and to responsively trigger a tin refill tank to refill a tin storage assembly as recited in claim 18.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KIET TUAN NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2479. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8-6.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert H. Kim can be reached on 571-272-2293. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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/KIET T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881
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