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 .
Prior Art
D1 WO 2021 /151754 A 1
D2 "MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES METROLOGY SYSTEM, LITHOGRAPHIC
APPARATUS, AND METHODS THEREOF", RESEARCH DISCLOSURE,
KENNETH MASON PUBLICATIONS, HAMPSHIRE, UK, GB, vol. 681, no. 58,
10 December 2020 (2020-12-10), XP007149029, ISSN: 0374-4353
D3 WO 2016/015987
D4 "SHIP-WHEEL DESIGN FOR ILLUMINATION MODE SELECTOR (IMS)
WHEEL", RESEARCH DISCLOSURE, KENNETH MASON PUBLICATIONS,
HAMPSHIRE, UK, GB, vol. 685, no. 7, 25 March 2021 (2021-03-25),
XP007149338, ISSN: 0374-4353
D5 "OPTICAL ELEMENT FOR USE IN METROLOGY SYSTEMS", RESEARCH
DISCLOSURE, KENNETH MASON PUBLICATIONS, HAMPSHIRE, UK, GB,
vol. 689, no. 43, 17 August 2021 (2021-08-17), XP007149633, ISSN:
0374-4353
D6 US 2016/027707
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1 and claims bellow are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by D1.
Regarding claim 1 D1 teaches
(fig. 19 and the corresponding text) a metrology system (par. [0002]), comprising:
an optical element (IMW) comprising at least one multiaperture pattern (cf. multiple holes (H)) with transmissive (H) and reflective (M) portions, the optical element positioned in a pupil plane of the system (par. [00126]), the optical element (IMW) configured to:
receive radiation (ILL) from a radiation source (the illumination (ILL) must be generated by a light source) along a first optical path (fig. 19), and transmit portions of the radiation (ILL) through
the transmissive portions (H) of the at least one multiaperture pattern toward a diffraction grating target (S) (par. [00148]); and
reflect, with the reflective portions (M) of the at least one multi-aperture pattern, diffracted radiation from the diffraction grating target (S) along a second optical path toward a detector (implicit for a metrology tool - par. [0002]; see also par.[0046]).
Regarding claim 4 D1, fig. 19, pars. [00126]-[00127]
16. (Currently Amended) The system of any of claims 1-15 claim 1, further comprising
the radiation source, the radiation source configured to generate the radiation along the
first optical path.(fig. 5, 6) (source (11, SO), ).
18. (Currently Amended) The system of any of claims 1-17 claim 1, wherein the optical
element forms a portion of an alignment sensor and/or an overlay detection sensor.[0148](implicit)
19. (Original) The system of claim 18, wherein the alignment sensor and/or the overlay
detection sensor is configured for a semiconductor wafer, and is used in a semiconductor
manufacturing process.(intended use no patentable weight)
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(s) 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D2 in view of D3 .
Degrading claim 20 D2 teaches
a second optical element (816) comprising a quad beam splitter with transmissive portions and reflective portions (par. [0119]: "quad mirror"; see fig. 5B for a possible structure of a quad mirror, with two opposed transmissive quadrants and two opposed reflective quadrants),
the quad beam splitter (816) configured to transmit a first portion of radiation along a first optical path (828), and a second portion of the radiation along a second optical path (830), toward the diffraction grating (par. [0070]) target (808), and focus corresponding spots of radiation on the diffraction grating (par. [0070]) target (808) (cf. the objectives (802, 804)), the reflective portions of the quad beam splitter configured to reflect diffracted radiation from the diffraction grating target (808) along a third optical path toward a detector (822).
D2 does not teach a first optical element formed by a rotatable disk comprising at least one multi-aperture pattern, the first optical element positioned in a pupil plane of the system, the first optical element configured to receive radiation from a radiation source, and transmit portions of the radiation through transmissive portions of the at least one multi-aperture pattern and a relay lens pair toward a diffraction grating target; wherein the radiation transmitted by the second optical element is radiation received from received from the first optical element.
The technical effect of this difference is associated with the possibility of selecting between various beam profiles incident on the second optical element.
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D2 in order to shape the beam incident on the second optical element according to the needs.
lt is known in the art to use a multi-aperture wheel allowing to select various beam shapes, to be placed in the pupil plane of the irradiation branch, in front of a beam splitter, see D3, figs. 4-6 and the corresponding text - cf. aperture device (13) in pupil plane (P), with various possible aperture forms (fig. 6). As such an aperture device allows for the selection between different apertures (par. [0059]-[0062]), thus allowing for custom illumination which becomes more and more important in both lithography and optical metrology (par. [0064]), it would be obvious for a skilled person to implement such an aperture device in the solution of D2, which would then correspond to the first optical element claimed. Using a relay lens pair between such a multi-aperture wheel and the beam splitter would then also be obvious, cf. D3, fig. 5.
Claim(s) 2, 13, 5, 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of D3 or D4 .
The imaging mode wheel (IMW) of D1 allows for selecting the desired illumination (par. [00127]). lt is known in the art that such wheels may have apertures allowing for illumination of selected quadrants in the form of a fraction of a circle, cf. D4, figs. 2-3 or D3, fig. 6. Using an illumination
profile in two opposed quadrants would then be obvious to implement in D1 because such is the case in the embodiments of fig. 11 (a),(b). Transmitting 50% by the selected two of the four quadrants would then be the maximum transmission which the skilled person would aim
at achieving for obtaining the best signal quality, and it would be realisable because the transmission regions of the imaging mode wheel (IMW) of D1 are simple holes (H).
Claim(s) 3, 7, 8 , 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of D5 .
The imaging mode wheel (IMW) of D1 effectively acts as a beam splitter (cf. element (15) in fig. 5) in that it directs light from an illumination path onto a target and then directs light from the target into a detection path, the illumination path and the detection path being different. Using two opposing reflective quadrants and two opposing transmissive quadrants would then be an obvious choice, see D5, figs. 8-1 0 and the corresponding text.
Regarding claim 8 The radiation transmitted through the two opposing quadrants (cf. the argumentation in claim 7 above) is automatically split into two sub-beams. Using the two subbeams to form two illumination spots would then be straightforward. As to the claimed first and second optical "branch", it is considered that the two sub-beams, having different optical paths, automatically follow different optical
branches; should the invention lie in specific details of the optical branches, then these details should have been claimed; however, they seem neither claimed nor disclosed in the description and the drawings.
Regarding claim 14 D1 does not teach wherein the optical element is configured to replace a quad non polarizing beam splitter in the metrology system but
As noted for claims 3 and 7 above, the imaging mode wheel (IMW) of D1 effectively acts as a beam splitter. Because the transmissive portions are holes (H), they do not affect the polarization of the transmitted light. The function of the imaging mode wheel (IMW) is thus that of a non-polarizing
beam splitter. When transmitting light in two opposed quadrants and reflecting light in two remaining quadrants (cf. the argumentation for claims 3, 7 above), the function is of a quad beam splitter
17. (Currently Amended) The system of any of claims 1-16 claim 1, further comprising
the detector, the detector configured to receive diffracted and reflected first order
radiation from first and second illumination spots on diffraction grating targets and
generate a detection signal. (source (11, SO), sensors (19, 23) / detector (DET)). Detecting light
from two illumination spots would be obvious when using an illumination mode selector with two opposed quadrants ( the argumentation for claims 3 and 7 above).)
Claim(s) 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of D2 or D5.
Measuring + 1 and -1 diffraction orders would be obvious, see D1, par. [0055], [0057]-[0059], [0089], [0092], [0101], D2, fig. 6 and the corresponding text or D5, par. [0071 ].
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D2 or D5 in order to improve resolution or depth of field.
Claim(s) 10-12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1 in view of D2 or D5 further in view of D6.
Using an alignment branch beam splitter in the form of a transmissive optic cube and an alignment branch between a beam splitter separating irradiation and detection paths of a measurement apparatus and the measurement target is a known solution, see D6, fig. 3 and the corresponding text (cf. second beam splitter (116) and alignment inspecting unit (AU)).
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 with teachings by D6 in order to have different transmit and receive path.
Claim(s) 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over D1.
Although D1 does not explicitly say
15. (Currently Amended) The system of any of claims 1-14 claim 1, wherein the
reflective portions are formed by coating a reflective coating on select portions of an
optical element body.
D1 teaches mirror and one of the obvious well known method to make mirror is applying reflective coating,
It will be obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify teachings taught by D1 in order to produce mirror.
Conclusion
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/HOVHANNES BAGHDASARYAN/Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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