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 .
The preliminary amendment filed on July 10, 2024 has been entered. Claims 16-30 are pending in this application.
Claim Objections
Claim 16 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 16 line 1, the statement “An optical apparatus for a reticle stage of a lithographic apparatus,” is not clearly stated as to what it stands for or what apparatus is the Applicant trying to claim. The Examiner suggests the statement to read as - - An optical apparatus of a reticle, on a reticle stage of a lithographic apparatus, - - or similarly descriptive statement. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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(s) 16-24 and 26-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dinger et al. [US 20140285783 A1, hereafter Dinger] in view of Hakvoort et al. [US 20180164581 A1, hereafter Hakvoort].
As per Claims 16 and 28, Dinger teaches an optical apparatus 1100 (See fig. 11) for a reticle stage (object field in the object plane 1150) of a lithographic apparatus, the optical apparatus comprising:
a reflective optical element (an EUV mirror arrangement 100) comprising a surface configured to receive radiation (See fig. 1, Para 69);
at least two electrodes (a first electrode layer 142 and a second electrode layer 143) located at the surface (Para 74).
Dinger does not explicitly teach a measurement system configured to measure one or more electrical characteristics of the reflective optical element between the at least two electrodes.
Hakvoort teaches the resistance measurement can be performed by measuring a current flow Ii from the first electrode 9a through the interconnection arrangement 10 to the second electrode 9b and can be calculated to Ri by Ri=(Va−Vb)/Ii. Measuring the temperature distribution provides an estimation of a source for wavefront errors and thus may be used as a feedback-signal for the mirror arrangement 1 (See fig. 1, Para 91).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the measurement system of Hakvoort in the optical element of Dinger in order to avoid an imaging degradation due to wavefront error.
As per Claim 17, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the optical apparatus of claim 16.
Hakvoort further disclosed wherein the one or more electrical characteristics comprises at least one of: a capacitance; a resistance; an inductance; and/or a frequency response (See fig. 1, Para 91).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the measurement system of Hakvoort in the optical element of Dinger in order to avoid an imaging degradation due to wavefront error.
As per Claim 18, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the optical apparatus of claim 16.
Dinger further disclosed wherein the reflective optical element 100 comprises a plurality of layers 130 and the at least two electrodes (142, 143) extend through the plurality of layers (See fig. 1).
As per Claim 19, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the optical apparatus of claim 18.
Dinger further disclosed wherein the reflective optical element is configured as a distributed Bragg reflector configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet radiation (Para 76).
As per Claim 20, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the optical apparatus of claim 18.
Hakvoort further disclosed comprising at least one electrode disposed on each layer of the reflective optical element, and wherein the measurement system is configured to measure one or more electrical characteristics of each layer of the reflective optical element (See fig. 1, Para 91).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the measurement system of Hakvoort in the optical element of Dinger in order to avoid an imaging degradation due to wavefront error.
As per Claim 21, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the optical apparatus of claim 16.
Hakvoort further disclosed wherein the measurement system is configured to perform a plurality of measurements taken at different times of the one or more electrical characteristics of the reflective optical element to identify a degradation in reflectivity of the reflective optical element (See fig. 1, Para 91, for example, after each wafer swap, typically every 20 seconds).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the measurement system of Hakvoort in the optical element of Dinger in order to avoid an imaging degradation due to wavefront error.
As per Claims 22 and 30, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the optical apparatus of claim 16.
Hakvoort further disclosed comprising two or more electrodes located at the surface, wherein the measurement system is configured to measure the one or more electrical characteristics of the reflective optical element between pairs of the two or more electrodes (Para 91).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the feedback system of Hakvoort in the optical element of Dinger in order to avoid an imaging degradation due to wavefront error
As per Claims 23 and 29, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the optical apparatus of claim 22.
Hakvoort further disclosed wherein the measurement system is configured to determine a reflectivity profile of the reflective optical element based, at least in part, on measurements of the one or more electrical characteristics between the two or more electrodes (Para 43).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the measurement system of Hakvoort in the optical element of Dinger in order to avoid an imaging degradation due to wavefront error
As per Claim 24, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches a lithographic apparatus comprising the optical apparatus of claim 16 (See Dinger fig. 11).
As per Claim 26, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches a lithographic system comprising an EUV radiation source (a primary radiation source 1114) and a lithographic apparatus of claim 24 (See Dinger fig. 11).
As per Claim 27, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the lithographic system of claim 26.
Hakvoort further disclosed comprising a further system communicably coupled to the measurement system, wherein the further system is configured to adjust an intensity and/or a profile of a beam of radiation for exposing a substrate based, at least in part, on the measured one or more electrical characteristics of the reflective optical element (Para 32 and 91).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the feedback system of Hakvoort in the optical element of Dinger in order to improve quality of image transfer.
Claim(s) 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dinger in view of Hakvoort as applied above, further in view of Vles et al. [US 20210208500 A1, hereafter Vles].
As per Claim 25, Dinger in view of Hakvoort teaches the lithographic apparatus of claim 24.
Dinger in view of Hakvoort does not explicitly teach comprising the reticle stage configured to hold a reticle, wherein the reflective optical element is mounted on or embedded in the reticle stage and configured to reflect the radiation towards a radiation sensor.
Vles teaches the sensor assembly may comprise: a radiation source configured to couple a radiation beam into the pellicle such that radiation is transmitted along the pellicle; and a radiation sensor configured to receive radiation which is reflected back through the pellicle or to receive radiation which is transmitted through the pellicle, a change in the reflected or transmitted radiation received by the sensor being indicative of damage to the pellicle (Para 34).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the sensor element as disclosed by Vles in the exposure system of Dinger as modified by Hakvoort in order to improve quality of image transfer by reducing the impact of mirror degradation.
Conclusion
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/MESFIN T ASFAW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882