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
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 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.
Claim(s) 31-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by US Patent Application Publication 2018/0235064.
Regarding claims 31-33, ‘064 teaches a laser source (Fig. 1, Item 3) producing laser light at first and second power levels [0090], the first, or pre-pulse level, being insufficient to cause ionization into plasma, and the second, or main pulse, level being higher and sufficient to ionize a target into plasma. ‘064 additionally teaches a steering system (Fig. 1, Item 22) for steering a beam to an irradiation region.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 20-30 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior art fails to teach or fairly suggest a method of using a laser to irradiate target material, the method comprising: controlling a beamwidth of a focusing module to increase the beamwidth of a beam; causing the laser to emit a metrology pulse through the beam steering and focusing module; using the target material to reflect at least a portion of a reflected portion of the metrology pulse; using the at least a portion of a reflected portion of the metrology pulse to determine a position of the target material; determining a timing for emission by the laser of an operational pulse based at least in part on the position of the target material as determined; controlling the beamwidth of the beam steering and focusing module to decrease the beamwidth of a beam passing through the beam steering and focusing module; and causing the laser to emit the operational pulse through the focusing module at the timing as determined as recited in claim 1 and similarly in claim 21. Claims 22-30 are allowable by virtue of their dependency.
The conventional art employing metrology such as US PGPUB 2013/0043401, and the additional elements of the prior art made of record, in an EUV generating device to target a droplet for ionization utilizes an initial pulse to either 1) partially ionize the target and detect the resultant radiation for metrology or 2) partially ablate the target into smaller components for subsequent ionization to generate EUV radiation. The claimed invention requires that the initial, or pre-pulse, reflect light off the target to perform metrology, thus rendering the art of record unreadable on the claimed invention.
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 A VANORE whose telephone number is (571)272-2483. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday 7AM to 6 PM.
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DAVID A. VANORE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2881
/DAVID A VANORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2878
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