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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 6-7, 17-23, 29-30 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Arnz et al (US 2010/0208935 A1).
With respect to claims 1 and 17, Arnz discloses a method and a corresponding non-transitory machine readable media having instruction therein and comprising all features of the instant claim such as: accessing an image having information from multiple process layers of a semiconductor substrate (see paragraphs [0020-0028] and figures 3-4); accessing an image template/reference image (RB) for the multiple process layers (see paragraphs [0053, 0055; and 0058]); accessing a weight map for the image template and comparing by a hardware computer/processor, the image and the image template by matching the image template to a position on the image based, at least in part, on the weight map according to the template matching process (see paragraphs [0048-0055], Arnz discloses applying a weighting/masking map to the template image to emphasize or de-emphasize selected regions, the image and the image template by matching the image template to a position on the image based, at least in part, on the weight map according to a template matching process) and in paragraphs [0053-0058], Arnz discloses comparing, by a processor the template and target images using a template-matching algorithm/normalize cross-correlation based, at least in part, on the weighting map).
As to claims 2 and 18, Arnz discloses the image template has an image template for a first layer of the multiple process layers and wherein matching the image template further has: comparing the image template (RB) with the image at multiple positions, wherein the comparing has adapting the weight map (W1) for a given position and comparing the image template to the given position based, at least in part, on the adapted weight map for the given position and matching the image template to a position based on the comparisons (see paragraphs [0055-0060]).
With respect to claims 3 and 19, Arnz further discloses the comparing has adapting the weight map by updating the weight map for a given position based on at least one selected from: pixel values of the image, a blocking structure on the image, a previously identified structure located on the image, a location of the image template, and/or a relative position of the image template with respect to the image (it is noted that paragraphs [0061-0068] disclose updating the weight map for each position by reducing weights in obstructed or noisy regions/blocking structures, increasing weights for regions with strong image features/pixel values and adjusting weighting based on prior alignment offsets/relative positions).
As to claim 6, Arnz (paragraphs [0062-0066]) discloses determining an offset between a given point on an image and a corresponding point on the image template after matching, wherein the offset indicates an overlay or shift from a reference position between process layers.
As to claim 7, Arnz (paragraphs [0067-0070]) discloses performing multiple template matches across different image regions, each producing an offset measurement, with each template having its own weighting or masking (see paragraphs [0048-0052]). Therefore, determining multiple measures of offset between multiple weighted templates is expressly or inherently disclosed.
As to claim 20, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the one or more processors to access the weight map for the image template (see paragraphs [0061-0068]).
With respect to claim 21, Arnz (paragraphs [0055-0059]) disclose determining a similarity value (correlation coefficient) for multiple template positions and matching the template based on the highest correlation, corresponding to the recited similarity indicator.
As to claim 22, Arnz (paragraphs [0062-0066] disclose determining an offset between a point in the template and a point in the image after matching, wherein the offset represents overlay or positional shift, satisfying the recited measure of offset.
As to claim 23, Arnz (paragraphs [0067-0070]) disclose performing multiple template matches across different regions of the wafer image, each producing a corresponding offset value for overlay analysis, meeting the limitation of determining multiple measures of offset.
As to claim 29, Arnz (paragraphs [0048]) discloses generating a weight map for an image of the measurement structure based on pixel intensity and pattern information, thus meeting the limitation of the claim.
With respect to claim 30, Arnz (paragraph [0053]) inherently discloses multiplying the image weight map and the template weight map within the weighted-correlation computation.
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.
Claim 24 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arnz et al (US 2010/0208935 A1) in view of Nagatomo et al (US 2017/0109607 A1).
With respect to claim 24, Arnz discloses reducing or masking the weight assigned to noisy or obstructed regions/blocked areas when performing template matching (see paragraph [0061]). Arnz does not expressly disclose “wherein the image comprises at least a blocked area and an unblocked area, and wherein the weight map indicates lower weight in the blocked area than in the unblocked area”, as recited. Nagatomo discloses a method using pattern matching and further teaches assigning a smaller correlation weight to portions of a semiconductor image that are blocked, shadowed or have poor contrast, and a higher weight to clear regions (see paragraphs [0045-0049]. In view of such teachings, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Arnz and Nagatomo to improve robustness of template matching by decreasing the contribution of blocked regions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 24-28 and 31 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.
Claims 24-27 have been found allowable since the prior art of record, either alone or in combination, neither discloses nor makes obvious a combination of a method comprising among features, features of hierarchical weighting between fully-blocked, partially -blocked and unblocked regions as recited in claim 25 and adaptive weight-map update based on geometric transformations (scaling and rotation) of the template as recited in claims 26-27.
As to claim 38, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest: update the weight map based on a polarity of the image plate and match the image template to a position on the image based, at least in part on the updated weight map, as recited.
As to claim 31, the prior art of record fails to teach or suggest defining weight map values based on pixels of the image or the image template as recited in the claim.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hotta (U.S.Pat. 8,148,682) and Fukuhara (U.S.Pat. 7,676,078) discloses methods for manufacturing a semiconductor device and have been cited for technical background.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG HENRY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:30PM.
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HUNG HENRY NGUYEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2882
Hvn
11/3/25
/HUNG V NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882