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 .
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 1-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huisman et al. [WO 2019/206586 A1].
Regarding claims 1, 9 and 12, Huisman et al. discloses an inspection apparatus (Figs. 4 and 5) / an optical element (Figs. 4 and 5)/ a method (Fig. 6) comprising:
a radiation source (412) configured to generate a beam of radiation (413, paragraph [0089]);
an optical system (as shown in Figs. 4 and 5) configured to direct the beam along an optical axis (421) and toward a target (418) so as to produce scattered radiation from the target (418, paragraph [0090]), the optical system comprising:
a beam displacer (414) comprising four reflective surfaces having a spatial arrangement (paragraph [0092]-[0093]), wherein the beam displacer is configured to:
receive the beam along the optical axis (as shown in Figs. 4 and 5);
perform reflections of the beam so as to displace the optical axis of the beam (as shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 8 and 9); rotate to shift the displaced optical axis (see also paragraphs [0154]-[0156] teaches wherein sub-beams to be displaced symmetrically); and
preserve polarization of the beam such that a polarization state of the beam along the deflected optical axis is invariant to the rotating based on the spatial arrangement of the four reflective surfaces (paragraph [0096], [0100]-[0101] teaches polarization preserving single mode, multimode, or imaging); and
a detector (428) configured to receive the scattered radiation and to generate a measurement signal based on the scattered radiation (paragraph [0094]).
Regarding claims 2 and 10, Huisman et al. discloses wherein: the beam displacer comprises a prism (414); and the four reflective surfaces are facets of the prism (as shown in Figs. 4 and 5).
Regarding claims 3, 11 and 13, Huisman et al. discloses wherein: phases of polarization components of the beam become offset due to each of the reflections (paragraph [0097]); and a sum of phase offsets due to the reflections cancel such that the polarization state of the beam along the deflected optical axis is invariant to the rotating (paragraphs [0119]-[0122]).
Regarding claims 4-7 and 15-18, Huisman et al. discloses wherein the optical system further comprises a beam splitter (as shown in Figs. 4 and 5) configured to split the beam to generate a second beam of radiation (paragraph [0092]-[0093]), further comprising a second detector, wherein: the optical system is configured to direct the second beam toward a second target so as to produce second scattered radiation from the second target; and the second detector is configured to receive the second scattered radiation and to generate a second measurement signal based on the second scattered radiation (paragraph [0016]); wherein the inspection apparatus is configured to perform parallel measurements of the target and second target using the detector and second detector, respectively (paragraph [0111]), wherein the beam displacer is configured to adjust a separation between the beam and the second beam so as to correspond to a separation between the target and the second target (paragraph [0116]).
Regarding claims 8 and 19, Huisman et al. discloses wherein: the optical system comprises an objective having an optical center and configured to collect and direct the scattered radiation toward the detector (428); and wherein the objective and the beam displacer (414) are physically coupled such that one unit of motion of the objective for one unit of motion of the beam displacer allows the scattered radiation to be aligned to the optical center (as shown in Figs. 4 and 5).
Regarding claim 14, Huisman et al. discloses further comprising: receiving the scattered radiation at a detector (428) of an inspection apparatus; and generating a measurement signal based on the scattered radiation using the detector (paragraph [0094]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 12/08/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claims 1-19 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground of rejection is made in view of Huisman et al.
Conclusion
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/DEORAM PERSAUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882