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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 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.
With respect to claim 3, the prior art fails to teach in combination with the rest of the limitations in the claim: “at least one fine-measurement sensor plate, the at least one fine-measurement sensor plate having an area smaller than an area of a the sensor plate of the at least one sensor plate, the at least one fine-measurement sensor plate being operable to identify one or more sub-regions within each of the one or more regions having defects in which the defects are located on the basis of changes in capacitance between the at least one fine-measurement sensor plate and the substrate during the relative movement between the at least one fine-measurement sensor plate and the substrate.”
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.
Claims 1, 2 and 4-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yamaoka et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2004/0150409 A1).
With respect to claim 1, Yamaoka et al. discloses an apparatus for inspecting a conductive pattern on a substrate (Figs. 1 and 3, para 0025-para 0040), the apparatus comprising:
at least one sensor plate (sensor plate shown in Fig. 1; para 0033, sensor plate 130 with sensors 131-133);
a table configured and arranged to support the substrate (para 0048);
a voltage source, configured to generate an electric field between the at least one sensor plate and the conductive pattern on the substrate (Fig. 1, para 0038, AC signal generating unit 220 and 230);
an actuator configured to provide for relative movement between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate (para 0048); and
a controller (para 0039, lines 7-13), the controller configured and arranged to identify one or more regions having a defect on the basis of changes in capacitance between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate during the relative movement between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate (Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, para 0036, para 0051, para 0056; sensor output processing unit 210 executes steps s7-s8 and s12-s15).
With respect to claim 2, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein each sensor plate has an area greater than 100 times an area of a representative feature in the conductive pattern to be inspected (para 0028, lines 1-6, see element 20 shown in Fig. 1).
With respect to claim 4, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the actuator is configured to move the at least one sensor plate relative to the substrate in a first direction (sensor plate shown in Fig. 1; para 0033, sensor plate 130 with sensors 131-133), displace the at least one sensor plate in a second direction (see sensors 131-133), perpendicular and co-planar with the first direction, then move the at least one sensor plate relative to the substrate in a third direction, opposite to the first direction, such that the scans in the first and third directions cover an entire area of a die under inspection on the substrate (Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, para 0036, para 0051, para 0056; sensor output processing unit 210 executes steps s7-s8 and s12-s15).
With respect to claim 5, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to measure the capacitance substantially continuously during relative movement between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate (para 0030, lines 1-7; comb-shaped pattern 20, Fig. 1).
With respect to claim 6, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the table includes a clamp configured and arranged to hold the substrate during measurements (para 0028, lines 1-6, see element 20 shown in Fig. 1).
With respect to claim 7, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the actuator allows relative movement between the at least one sensor plate plurality of sensor plates and the substrate in three mutually perpendicular dimensions (sensor plate shown in Fig. 1; para 0033, sensor plate 130 with sensors 131-133).
With respect to claim 8, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 7, wherein the actuator further allows relative rotation about the three mutually perpendicular dimensions (para 0067, lines 1-10).
With respect to claim 9, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor plate comprises a plurality of sensor plates , and each sensor plate is held in fixed relation to each of the other sensor plates of the plurality of sensor plates (AC signal to the base-region feed panel 110 and the common feed panel 120 at different timings can provide a detection result corresponding to the respective outputs of the sensors 131, 132, 133, which is significantly different from a detection result in a case where only one pattern includes a disconnected portion; para 0069, lines 1-9).
With respect to claim 10, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein a region having a defect is determined by comparing a measured capacitance to an expected capacitance (para 0076, lines 1-4).
With respect to claim 11, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the expected capacitance is derived from a measurement of a reference substrate or from a model (para 0030, lines 4-13).
With respect to claim 12, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein relative movement between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate comprises moving in a continuous fashion (para 0033, lines 1-6).
With respect to claim 13, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein relative movement between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate comprises moving in a step-wise fashion (see S2-S8; positioning the substrate such that it is located apart from sensor panel at a given distance).
With respect to claim 14, Yamaoka et al. discloses the apparatus as in claim 1, wherein relative movement between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate comprises moving in a combination of a step-wise and a continuous fashion (para 0033, lines 1-6).
With respect to claim 15, Yamaoka et al. discloses a method of inspecting a conductive pattern on a substrate, the method comprising:
applying a voltage to at least one sensor plate a plurality of sensor plates and an opposing voltage to the conductive pattern, generating an electric field therebetween (sensor plate shown in Fig. 1; para 0033, sensor plate 130 with sensors 131-133); relatively scanning the at least one sensor plate plurality of sensor plates with respect to the substrate (para 0048);
during the relatively scanning, measuring changes in capacitance between the at least one sensor plate sensor plates and the substrate; and identifying one or more regions of the conductive pattern having a defect on the basis of the measured changes in capacitance (Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, para 0036, para 0051, para 0056; sensor output processing unit 210 executes steps s7-s8 and s12-s15).
With respect to claim 16, Yamaoka et al. discloses the method as in claim 15, wherein the relatively scanning the at least one sensor plate comprises moving the at least one sensor plate relative to the substrate in a first direction (sensor plate shown in Fig. 1; para 0033, sensor plate 130 with sensors 131-133), displacing the at least one sensor plate in a second direction, perpendicular and co-planar with the first direction, then moving the at least one sensor plate relative to the substrate in a third direction, opposite to the first direction (see sensors 131-133), such that the scans in the first and third directions cover an entire area of a die under inspection on the substrate (Fig. 1 and Fig. 3, para 0036, para 0051, para 0056; sensor output processing unit 210 executes steps s7-s8 and s12-s15).
With respect to claim 17, Yamaoka et al. discloses the method as in claim 15, wherein the capacitance is measured continuously during relative movement between the at least one sensor plate and the substrate (sensor plate shown in Fig. 1; para 0033, sensor plate 130 with sensors 131-133).
With respect to claim 18, Yamaoka et al. discloses the method as in claim 15, wherein the identifying one or more regions of the conductive pattern comprises comparing the measured changes in capacitance to respective expected capacitances (para 0030, lines 1-10).
With respect to claim 19, Yamaoka et al. discloses the method as in claim 18, further comprising deriving the expected capacitances from a measurement of a reference substrate (para 0034, lines 1-9).
With respect to claim 20, Yamaoka et al. discloses the method as in claim 15, wherein the at least one sensor plate comprises a plurality of sensor plates, and each sensor plate is held in fixed relation to each of the other sensor plates of the plurality of sensor plates (sensor plate shown in Fig. 1; para 0033, sensor plate 130 with sensors 131-133).
Conclusion
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/FARHANA A HOQUE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2858
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