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 December 18, 2024 has been entered. Claims 16-35 are pending in this application.
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) 16-31 and 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Okada [US 20040179175 A1].
As per Claims 16 and 26, Okada teaches a method of controlling a projection system during exposure of a substrate by a lithographic apparatus; a substrate table configured to hold a substrate; a projection system 101 configured to project a patterned radiation beam from a patterning device 140 onto a substrate 132, the projection system comprising a plurality of lens elements 102-110 (See fig. 1, Para 7), the method comprising:
obtaining a measurement signal of a change of a differential pressure across one or more lenses of the projection system (Para 31-33);
calculating an imaging error caused by movement of one or more lens elements of the projection system due to the change of differential pressure during exposure;
calculating lens element adjustments, which compensate for the calculated imaging error; applying the lens element adjustments (Para 31, wherein the correction calculation unit 10 instructs the laser driving unit 70 to change the wavelength of the laser beam, instructs the lens driving unit 50 to drive the lens in the optical axis direction, and instructs the stage driving unit 65 to drive the stage in Z direction);
identifying which exposure areas of the substrate were exposed during a delay between the change of differential pressure occurring and the lens element adjustments being applied; and
storing information of the identified exposure areas together with the calculated imaging error (See fig. 3, Para 42-43, wherein First, a focus error caused by a change in air pressure, as well as a focus error caused by the aforementioned lens driving or wavelength change, are calculated separately by the aberration correction calculation unit 28 to obtain the wafer stage driving amount for focus correction. The wafer stage driving amount is inputted to the adder 36, and outputted to the stage driving unit 65. The stage driving unit 65 displaces the wafer stage 130 with respect to the optical-axis direction, thereby correcting the focus).
As per Claims 17 and 27, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, further comprising, during a subsequent exposure of the identified exposure areas of the substrate, applying lens element adjustments which apply an imaging error based on the calculated imaging error during exposure of the identified exposure areas (Para 31).
As per Claims 18 and 28, Okada teaches the method of claim 17, wherein the imaging error that is applied during the subsequent exposure corresponds with the calculated imaging error (Para 33).
As per Claim 19, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, wherein a time duration of the delay between the change of differential pressure occurring and the lens element adjustments being applied is determined, the determination taking into account a time duration between the change of differential pressure occurring and the measurement of the change of differential pressure being obtained (See fig. 3, Para 35).
As per Claim 20, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, wherein a time duration of the delay between the change of differential pressure occurring and the lens element adjustments being applied is determined, the determination taking into account a time duration during which the lens element adjustments are calculated (Para 33).
As per Claims 21 and 30, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the measured differential pressure is between a pressure below a last lens element (external portion of the projection optical system) of the projection system and a pressure between a penultimate lens element (the ambient pressure of the lenses in the projection optical system) and a preceding lens element of the projection system or between a pressure below a last lens element of the projection system and a pressure above the last lens element of the projection system (Para 33).
As per Claim 22, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, further comprising using at least one differential pressure sensor to measure the differential pressure.
As per Claim 23, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, wherein more than one measured differential pressure is used (Para 33).
As per Claim 24, Okada teaches the method of claim 19, wherein determining the time duration of the delay between the change of differential pressure occurring and the lens element adjustments being applied takes place during a calibration performed before exposure of the substrate has commenced (See fig. 3, Para 35).
As per Claims 25 and 31, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, further comprising identifying up to ten identified exposure areas (See fig. 3B).
As per Claim 29, Okada teaches the lithographic apparatus of any of claim 26, wherein the apparatus comprises at least one differential pressure sensor 120 arranged to measure a pressure difference over at least one lens element (Para 33).
As per Claim 33, Okada teaches the method of claim 16, wherein the change of the differential pressure is a change of differential pressure across a single side of a surface of the one or more lenses (Para 31 and 33).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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) 32, 34 and 35 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okada.
As per Claim 32, Okada teaches the lithographic apparatus of claim 26.
Okada does not explicitly teach wherein two or more pressure sensors are provided at a same side of a lens surface of the one or more lenses to measure a pressure difference over the lens surface.
However, Okada further disclosed an exposure apparatus comprising: a first barometer for detecting an absolute value of air pressure; a second barometer for detecting an absolute value or a relative value of air pressure at higher speed than the first barometer; calibration means for calibrating an output of the second barometer based on an output of the first barometer, and outputting a calibration result as a measured air pressure value; and aberration correction means for performing aberration correction based on the air pressure value outputted by the calibration means (Para 8).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the arrangement of pressure sensors as claimed in order to perform a desired aberration correction.
As per Claims 34 and 35, Okada does not explicitly teach a computer program product comprising non-transitory computer readable instructions configured to cause a computer to carry out the method according to claim 16.
However, Okada further disclosed he barometer 120 may be arranged in any place of the exposure apparatus, or in the neighborhood of the projection optical system 101, or in the internal portion of the projection optical system 101. An output signal of the barometer 120 is inputted to a correction calculation unit 10. Based on the measurement value inputted by the barometer 120, the correction calculation unit 10 instructs the laser driving unit 70 to change the wavelength of the laser beam, instructs the lens driving unit 50 to drive the lens in the optical axis direction, and instructs the stage driving unit 65 to drive the stage in Z direction, thereby correcting an aberration caused by a change in air pressure (Para 9 and 31, wherein a non-transitory computer readable medium is commonly used in the art).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in order to perform the method steps as expressed in paragraph 9 of Okada.
Conclusion
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/MESFIN T ASFAW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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