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 § 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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sung [US 2007/0152690 A1] in view of Compen et al. [US 2010/0195080 A1] and further in view of Phillips [US 8,284,379 B2].
Regarding claims 1 and 7, Sung discloses a lithography apparatus (Fig. 2) for transferring a pattern of an original (R) to a substrate (W), comprising:
a substrate chuck (210) configured to attract and hold the substrate (W) on a substrate holding surface (as shown in Fig. 2); and
wherein the substrate chuck (210) includes a plurality of attraction regions (216) including a first attraction region (218) and a second attraction region (217) formed on an inner periphery side of the first attraction region, which are concentrically partitioned by partitions on the substrate holding surface (as shown in Fig. 4), and
a pressure space formed inside the substrate chuck (as shown in Fig. 6) under the first attraction region (218) and the second attraction region (217) and configured to displace the substrate holding surface by being applied with one of a negative pressure and a positive pressure (as shown in Fig. 5, with respect to the arrows)
Sung does not teach wherein an outer periphery side partition of the first attraction region is lower than an inner periphery side partition that partitions the first attraction region and the second attraction region.
However, Compen et al. discloses a substrate chuck wherein an outer periphery side partition (7) is lower than an inner periphery side partition (as shown in Figs. 5a-5c, the outer periphery portion is lower by the distance X).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the outer periphery portion lower, as taught by Compen et al. in the system of Sung because such a modification provides a substrate support for potentially decreasing the risk on stresses in the substrate and/or overlay errors (paragraph [0009] of Compen et al.).
Sung as modified does not teach a controller configured to deform the substrate held by the substrate chuck by controlling a shape of the substrate holding surface of the substrate chuck, a radius of an outer periphery side end portion of the pressure space is not larger than a neutral radius of the outer periphery side partition, and the controller deforms the substrate by individually controlling a pressure in each of the first attraction region, the second attraction region, and the pressure space.
However, Phillips discloses a substrate chuck for supporting the periphery of the substrate comprising first attraction region and second attraction region and a controller to deforms the substrate by individually controlling a pressure in each of the first attraction region, the second attraction region, and the pressure space (as shown in Figs. 2-4, see also Col. 9 lines 20 – Col. 11 lines 53).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide the first attraction region and second attraction region and a controller to deforms the substrate by individually controlling a pressure in each of the first attraction region, the second attraction region, and the pressure space, as taught by Phillips in the system of Sung as modified because such a modification provides a substrate chuck potentially decreasing the risk on stresses in the substrate and/or overlay errors (Col. 3 lines 10-14 of Phillips).
Regarding claims 2-5, Sung as modified discloses wherein the neutral radius of the pressure space is not larger than a neutral radius of the inner periphery side partition, wherein the radius of the outer periphery side end portion of the pressure space is not smaller than a neutral radius of the inner periphery side partition, further comprising a central partition configured to further concentrically partition the second attraction region, wherein a neutral radius of the central partition is not larger than a radius of an inner periphery side end portion of the pressure space (the combination of Sung (Fig. 6), Compen et al. (Figs. 5a-5c ) and Phillips (Figs. 2-4)).
Regarding claim 6 , Sung discloses further comprising a plurality of projecting portions formed in the second attraction region and configured to support the substrate (as shown in Fig. 6).
Regarding claims 8-11, Phillips discloses wherein the controller individually controls the pressure in each of the first attraction region and the pressure space based on distortion information of the substrate, wherein the controller applies a pressure to the first attraction region following application of a pressure to the pressure space, wherein the controller applies a pressure to the pressure space following application of a pressure to the first attraction region, wherein the controller applies a pressure to the pressure space in a state in which a negative pressure is applied to the second attraction region, temporarily releases the negative pressure in the second attraction region, and then applies again the negative pressure to the second attraction region (as shown in Figs. 2-4, see also Col. 9 lines 20 – Col. 11 lines 53).
Regarding claims 12-15, Sung as modified discloses wherein the lithography apparatus is configured as an imprint apparatus configured to perform an imprint process of forming the pattern in an imprint material on the substrate using a mold as the original, wherein the imprint process includes curing the imprint material in a state in which the imprint material and the mold are in contact with each other, and before completion of the curing, the controller completes pressure control of the first attraction region, the second attraction region, and the pressure space, wherein the imprint process includes curing the imprint material in a state in which the imprint material and the mold are in contact with each other, the imprint apparatus is configured to perform the imprint process for each of a plurality of shot regions formed on the substrate, and before completion of the curing, the controller temporarily releases the negative pressure in the second attraction region in the imprint process of each shot region, an article manufacturing method comprising: forming a pattern on a substrate using a lithography apparatus defined in claim 7; and processing the substrate with the pattern formed thereon, wherein an article is manufactured from the processed substrate (paragraph [0108] of Phillips).
Conclusion
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/DEORAM PERSAUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882