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 20-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rosakis et al. [US 2004/0257587 A1] in view of Shchegrov et al. [US 7,826,071 B2] and further in view of Kuchel [US 2010/0141959 A1].
Regarding claim 20, Rosakis et al. discloses a metrology system (Fig. 1) comprising:
a controller including one or more processors configured to execute program instructions causing the one or more processors to implement a metrology recipe (paragraph [0025] teaches a computer is used to process the shearing interference pattern to extract desired surface information) by: receiving measurement data of a sample (130) associated with one or more configurations of a spectral metrology sub-system (as shown in Fig. 2, see also paragraph [0027]), wherein the measurement data is generated by:
illuminating the sample (130) with an illumination beam (112) though one or more illumination optics (120, see also paragraph [0024]);
collecting sample light (130) generated in response to the illumination beam (112) from the sample (130) through one or more collection optics (120, see also paragraph [0024]);
shearing (101) the sample light (130) from the one or more collection optics into two sheared beams (paragraph [0024]); and
generating measurement data of the sample on a detector (180); and generating one or more spatially-varying metrology measurements of the sample based on the measurement data associated with the one or more configurations of the spectral metrology sub-system (paragraphs [0025], [0027] and [0029] teaches pixel sensing array for the shearing interference pattern).
Rosakis et al. does not teach including at least one of an illumination polarizer or an illumination compensator and including at least one of a collection polarizer or a collection compensator.
However, Shchegrov et al. discloses systems for finding profiles of topographical features of small dimensions, such as those of a diffracting grating, and in particular to such systems using optical spectroscopic techniques including at least one of an illumination polarizer or an illumination compensator and including at least one of a collection polarizer or a collection compensator (as shown in Figs. 1A and 2 items 28 and 32).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide illumination and collection optical elements, as taught by Shchegrov et al. in the system of Rosakis et al. because such a modification provides known optical elements for manipulating radiation beams of the metrology apparatus.
The combination of Rosakis et al. and Shchegrov et al. does not teach generating measurement data of the sample on a multi-pixel detector through a spectrometer.
However, Kuchel discloses lateral shearing wavefront sensors and lateral shearing wavefront measuring techniques wherein the system uses a multi-pixel detector to detect intensity variations, indicative of the phase map gradient of the object (as shown in Fig. 5b, see also paragraphs [0106]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a multi-pixel detector, as taught by Kuchel in the system of Rosakis et al. and Shchegrov et al. for generating measurement data of the sample on a multi-pixel detector through a spectrometer, because such a modification provide reduced measurement uncertainty for a given dynamic range and can provide high spatial resolution when compared to conventional measuring techniques (paragraph [0008] of Kuchel).
Regarding claim 21, Rosakis et al. discloses wherein the measurement data is spatially varying as a function of light path distance (paragraph [0008] teaches interference patterns obtained at different shearing distances.
Regarding claim 22, Rosakis et al. discloses further comprising: a lens to generate an image of the sample on an entrance slit of the spectrometer based on interfering the two sheared beams, wherein the measurement data is spatially resolved (paragraph [0034] teaches using the element 160 to transmit the interference pattern).
Regarding claim 23, Rosakis et al. discloses wherein the one or more spatially-varying metrology measurements comprise: at least one of an overlay measurement, a tilt measurement, a critical dimension measurement, or an edge roughness measurement (see claim 20 teaches the surface slope of the specimen).
Regarding claim 24 and 25, Rosakis et al. discloses wherein the one or more spatially-varying metrology measurements comprise: two or more spatially-varying metrology measurements, wherein the two or more spatially-varying metrology measurements comprise: at least a critical dimension measurement and an edge roughness measurement (paragraph [0032] teaches the system 100 can simultaneously measure each and every point in the illuminated area on the specimen surface to obtain information on the flatness, topography, slope, curvature and stress).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 are allowed.
With respect to claims 1 and 17, neither Rosakis et al., Shchegrov et al. or Kuchel, either alone or on combination does not teach “a spectrometer configured to generate measurement data of the sample on a multi-pixel detector based on the two sheared beams, wherein the measurement data is spectrally resolved along one direction on the multi-pixel detector and has spatially varying components along an orthogonal direction on a length scale smaller than a spot size of the illumination beam on the sample.”
Claims 2-16, 18 and 19 are allowed as a result of their dependency.
Conclusion
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/DEORAM PERSAUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882