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 September 06, 2024 has been entered. Claims 16-30 are pending in this application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a process without significantly more. The claim(s) recite(s) a series of steps. This judicial exception is not integrated into a practical application because the claim does not recite any of the judicial exceptions enumerated in the 2019 PEG. For instance, the claim limitation of “determine an estimate of the source spectrum” and “correcting the measured spectrum using the estimate of the source spectrum” appear to be math/mental process. Additionally, “estimate of source spectrum” appears to be a mathematical calculation. At least para [0109] seem to support math being involved. The claim(s) does/do not include additional elements that are sufficient to amount to significantly more than the judicial exception because obtaining a measured spectrum in terms of a measurement parameter appears to be is mere data-gathering/insignificant extra-solution activity. MPEP 2106.05(g); and a well-understood, routine, conventional activities previously known to the industry per MPEP 2106.05(d). The measurement is performed using a generic hardware for performing the judicial exception (MPEP 2106.05).
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because
the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the BRI of the claim directed to a computer program, which is not a statutory class of invention
Claims 17-30 are rejected by virtue of their dependency to a rejected claim.
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) 16 and 28-30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Willis et al. [US 20080074677 A1, hereafter Willis].
As per Claim 16, Willis teaches a method of correcting a measured spectrum for the effects of a source spectrum resulting from an illumination source (Para 9), the method comprising:
obtaining a measured spectrum in terms of a measurement parameter (Para 158, wherein a first enhanced profile data space, and the first enhanced profile data space can be determined using the measured signal), the measured spectrum being obtained from captured diffracted radiation from a periodic structure following illumination of the periodic structure using source radiation from the illumination source (Para 78 and 128),
determining an estimate of the source spectrum from the measured spectrum (comparing the measured diffraction spectrum to a new best estimate diffraction spectrum associated with the new best estimate structure); and
correcting the measured spectrum using the estimate of the source spectrum (Para 80-81, establishing a new accuracy value for the substrate when the measured diffraction spectrum and the new best estimate diffraction spectrum match within a matching criterion).
As per Claim 28, Willis teaches the method of claim 16, further comprising measuring the periodic structure (OTSM structure 410) to obtain the measured spectrum (See fig. 4A, Para 130).
As per Claim 29, Willis teaches a computer program comprising computer readable instruction operable to perform the method of claim 16 (Para 47).
As per Claim 30, Willis teaches a metrology device operable to perform the method of claim 28 (Para 9).
Conclusion
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/MESFIN T ASFAW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882