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 § 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 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zeidler (US 20170316912 A1) in view of Yamazaki (US 20120061566 A1) and in further view of Zeidler (DE 2018115012 A1, hereinafter Zeidler 2018).
Regarding claim 16, Zeidler teaches a method of operating a multi-beam charged particle microscope (fig. 1), the method comprising:
In a mirror mode of operation of the charged particle microscope, selecting a decelerating voltage to exceed a kinetic energy of primary electrons when exiting an objective lens (102) of the multi-beam charged particle microscope (reflection mode, [0024]);
Providing the decelerating voltage to a sample (S) of the multi-beam charged particle microscope to generate a decelerating electric field below the objective lens of the multi-beam charged particle microscope (electrostatic potential applied to object, [0024]); and
Adjusting a magnification of a detection unit to form a plurality of reflected primary electron beam spots on a detector (plurality of spots formed on detector, [0024]; implicitly the magnification of the detector is set to some value that allows this to happen).
Zeidler does not teach that the voltage is applied to a sample stage.
Yamazaki teaches a system which supplies a voltage to a sample via a sample stage ([0043]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art on or before the effective filing date of the invention to supply power to the sample of Zeidler by means of a sample stage as taught by Yamazaki, as a this is known equivalent means of supplying a voltage to a sample commonly used in the art.
Zeidler does not teach adjusting an object irradiation unit to achieve a telecentric bundle formed by a plurality of primary charged particle beamlets in the decelerating electric field.
Zeidler 2018 teaches a method of operating a multi-beam charged particle microscope including adjusting an irradiation unit to achieve a telecentric bundle (p. 3 paragraph 7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art on or before the effective filing date of the invention to adjust the irradiation unit of Zeidler to achieve a telecentric bundle of beamlets in the decelerating electric field, based on the teaching of Zeidler 2018 that this prevents image aberration and allows more efficient imaging of the object (p. 3 paragraph 7- p. 4 paragraph 1).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-15 and 18-20 are allowed.
Claim 17 is 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.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art does not disclose or make obvious a method comprising switching a multi-beam charged particle microscope to a mirror mode of operation, switching comprising positioning an electrostatic mirror in proximity to an image plane and controlling a voltage of the mirror to correspond to a kinetic energy of the beam, changing a driving voltage of at least one electrode of a multi-aperture array of the charged particle beam microscope, acquiring a stack of mirror images of primary charged particles reflected by the electrostatic mirror.
In the prior art, Zeidler (US 10,535,494 B2) and Enyama (US 20100065753 A1) teaches a multi-beam apparatus which can operate in a mirror mode, but does not teach calibrating the device by changing the driving voltage of a multi-aperture array and collecting a stack of images formed in the mirror mode.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAVID E SMITH whose telephone number is (571)270-7096. The examiner can normally be reached M to F 8:30 AM-5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Kim can be reached at 22293. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/DAVID E SMITH/Examiner, Art Unit 2881
Prosecution Insights