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 .
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Matsui et al. [EP 2 933 599 A1].
Regarding claim 1, Matsui et al. discloses an optical system (Fig. 17, see also paragraph [0018]) for a metrology system for measuring an object (200), the optical system comprising:
an object holder (250) for holding the object (200) in an object plane (as shown in Fig. 17, see also paragraph [0079]),
a transmissive optical focusing component (1), which is arranged in the beam path of illumination light between a light source (21) of the metrology system and an object field in the object plane (comprising object 200), for generating an illumination focus in the region of the object field (paragraph [0021] teaches the diffraction lens between the source and the object and paragraph [0024] teaches focusing the collected light onto the object),
a dispersive optical component (23 comprising grating 23b) in the beam path of the illumination light downstream of the object field for at least partially spatially separating at least two wavelength components of the illumination light (paragraph [0030] teaches the diffractive grating which spatially separates the plurality of wavelengths (paragraph [0020]), and
a detection device (24) with at least two sensor elements for at least partially separately detecting each of the different wavelength components of the illumination light in the beam path downstream of the dispersive optical component (paragraph [0031] teaches measure each separate intensity of light returned onto the two-dimensional sensors, with respect to each wavelength of the plurality of wavelengths).
Regarding claim 2, Matsui et al. discloses wherein the transmissive optical focusing component is designed as a zone plate (paragraph [0022]).
Regarding claims 3 and 18, Matsui et al. discloses wherein the dispersive optical component is designed as a grating (paragraph [0030] teaches 23 comprising grating 23b).
Regarding claims 4 and 19, Matsui et al. discloses wherein the detection device is designed as a sensor element line (paragraph [0031] teaches imaging element of CCD or CMOS).
Regarding claims 5 and 20, Matsui et al. discloses comprising an actuator for displacing the object holder perpendicular to the object plane (paragraph [0079] teaches moving the object in the Z direction).
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 8-14 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsui et al. in view of Lee [US 11,898,970 B2].
Regarding claims 8-10 and 17, Matsui et al. discloses the metrology system for measuring an object, as applied above.
Matsui et al. does not teach comprising an imaging optical unit for imaging the illumination focus generated by the transmissive optical focusing component into a further illumination focus in the region of the object field, wherein the light source is an EUV light source generating illumination light with a spectral width of at least 1×10−4.
However, Lee discloses an EUV mask inspection device wherein the EUV light is generated from the EUV light source (110) to collect the first light by the multilayer reflection zone plate (200) and of including a plurality of reflection mirrors (900) for controlling the direction of output measured light to the imaging unit (as shown in Fig. 9, see also Col. 8 lines 59 Col. 9 lines 5).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide an EUV light source and imaging a further illumination focus, as taught by Lee in the system of Matsui et al. because such a modification provides a suitable alternative optical metrology apparatus capable of measuring shorter wavelengths necessary for EUV imaging applications (Col. 2 lines 30-45 of Lee).
Regarding claim 11, Matsui et al. discloses wherein the transmissive optical focusing component is designed as a zone plate (paragraph [0022]).
Regarding claim 12, Matsui et al. discloses wherein the dispersive optical component is designed as a grating (paragraph [0030] teaches 23 comprising grating 23b).
Regarding claim 13, Matsui et al. discloses wherein the detection device is designed as a sensor element line (paragraph [0031] teaches imaging element of CCD or CMOS).
Regarding claim 14, Matsui et al. discloses comprising an actuator for displacing the object holder perpendicular to the object plane (paragraph [0079] teaches moving the object in the Z direction).
Claims 6, 7, 15 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Matsui et al. in view of Lee and further in view of Bauerschmidt et al. [US 2021/0063894 A1].
Regarding claims 6, 7, 15 and 16, Matsui et al. discloses the metrology system for measuring an object, as applied above.
Matsui et al. does not teach comprising a bandpass filter for filtering at least one selected wavelength component out of the illumination light, wherein the bandpass filter is part of the detection device.
However, Bauerschmidt et al. discloses a beam measuring device comprising a CCD camera comprising one or more additional bandpass filters, which is used to select one or more desired spectral ranges for beam profile measurement (paragraph [0113]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a detection device comprising bandpass filter, as taught by Bauerschmidt et al. in the system of Matsui et al. because such a modification provides the ability to select one or more desired spectral ranges for beam profile measurement (paragraph [0113] of Bauerschmidt et al.).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEORAM PERSAUD whose telephone number is (571)270-5476. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM-5PM.
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/DEORAM PERSAUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882