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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) submitted on May 13, 2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 10 recites the limitation "the detecting of the tilt abnormality" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Examiner observes that claim 1 recites “inspecting tilt abnormality of the substrate stage” in line 6. Therefore, it is suggested Applicant amend "the detecting of the tilt abnormality" to "the inspecting of the tilt abnormality". For examination purposes, the limitation in question will be interpreted as: the inspecting of the tilt abnormality. Correction is respectfully requested.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-9 and 11-20 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 1-9 are allowed because the prior art of record, individually or in combination, does not teach or suggest “receiving data from a database; calculating a tilt of a substrate stage by using the data; adjusting the data such that an effect of the tilt is reduced; detecting a particle on the substrate stage, based on the adjusted data; and inspecting tilt abnormality of the substrate stage” as recited in independent claim 1.
Claims 11-15 are allowed because the prior art of record, individually or in combination, does not teach or suggest “receiving data about a bonding process of bonding a semiconductor chip on a printed circuit board (PCB); calculating a plane equation for a substrate stage where the PCB is placed, by using at least three points of a work area of a first nozzle from among all nozzles of a bond head; correcting an initial touch height of a location to be corrected to a first touch height, by using the plane equation; determining whether a particle is present on the substrate stage by comparing the first touch height with a set first reference touch height; inspecting tilt abnormality of the substrate stage by using the work area of the first nozzle; and determining whether the calculating of the plane equation to the inspecting of the tilt abnormality have been performed for the all nozzles, wherein, upon determining that the calculating of the plane equation to the inspecting of the tilt abnormality has not been performed for the all nozzles, the calculating of the plane equation to the inspecting of the tilt abnormality is repeated for a nozzle for which the calculating of the plane equation to the inspecting of the tilt abnormality are not performed” as recited in independent claim 11.
Claims 16-20 are allowed because the prior art of record, individually or in combination, does not teach or suggest at least the limitations “receiving data about the semiconductor process from a database (DB), calculating a tilt of the substrate stage by using the data, adjusting the data such that an effect of the tilt is reduced, detecting a particle on the substrate stage, based on the adjusted data, and inspecting tilt abnormality of the substrate stage” as recited in independent claim 16.
Claim 10 depends from allowable independent claim 1. Therefore, claim 10 would be allowable if amended to overcome the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) set forth in this Office action.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 2018/0323094 A1 discloses a chuck stage particle detection device. Based on measured vacuum pressures, it can be determined whether a particle is present or not on the top surface of the chuck stage whereon a wafer is disposed.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER M ALBRECHT whose telephone number is (571) 272-7813. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM (CT).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lynne Gurley can be reached at (571) 272-1670. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PETER M ALBRECHT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2811
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