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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of group I, claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 11/20/2024 is acknowledged.
Claims 8-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 11/20/2024.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in Application No. 18953671, filed on 11/20/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/20/2024 was filed after the filing date of the application on 11/20/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement has been considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Okamura (US 20220184768 A1) in view of Komatsu (US 20160297091 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Okamura teaches a cutting method for a height of an upper surface of a stepped portion provided to an outer circumference on a top surface side of a target object, the cutting method comprising:
a holding step of holding an undersurface side of the measurement target object by a holding table such that the stepped portion is exposed upward (paragraph 0038 and see Figure 2A).
Okamura fails to teach a measuring step of measuring the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion by a measuring unit configured to measure the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion of the measurement target object held by the holding table, wherein a width of a measurement region on the upper surface of the stepped portion to be measured by the measuring unit in one time of measurement is smaller than a width of the stepped portion, and, in the measuring step, the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion is measured at a plurality of measurement positions having different distances from the outer circumference of the measurement target object.
Komatsu teaches a method of measuring a height/width of the wafer as a cutting device is cutting.
It would have been obvious one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Okamura to add a measuring step, as taught by Kmoatsu, in order to get the desired correct size as wafer needs to be cut (abstract of Komatsu). The resulting method of modified Okamura teaches a measuring step of measuring the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion by a measuring unit configured to measure the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion of the measurement target object held by the holding table, wherein a width of a measurement region on the upper surface of the stepped portion to be measured by the measuring unit in one time of measurement is smaller than a width of the stepped portion, and, in the measuring step, the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion is measured at a plurality of measurement positions having different distances from the outer circumference of the measurement target object (as modified by Komatsu, paragraph 0013, 0015, 0027, 0036-0037 and 0047, see Figures 4-6 of Komatsu).
Regarding claim 2, modified Okamura further teaches in the measuring step, the holding table and the measuring unit are moved relative to each other such that the holding table and the measuring unit are moved along the outer circumference of the measurement target object while oscillating the holding table and the measuring unit relative to each other in a direction from a center of the measurement target object to the outer circumference and in a direction from the outer circumference to the center, and the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion is measured at the plurality of measurement positions (as modified by Komatsu, paragraph 0013, 0015, 0027, 0036-0037 and 0047, see Figures 4-6 of Komatsu).
Regarding claim 3, modified Okamura further teaches the measuring step includes a first circumferential direction measuring step of measuring the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion at the plurality of measurement positions while moving the holding table and the measuring unit relative to each other such that the holding table and the measuring unit are moved along the outer circumference of the measurement target object, a moving step of, after the first circumferential direction measuring step, moving the holding table and the measuring unit relative to each other in a direction from a center of the measurement target object to the outer circumference or in a direction from the outer circumference to the center, and a second circumferential direction measuring step of, after the moving step, measuring the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion at the plurality of measurement positions while moving the holding table and the measuring unit relative to each other such that the holding table and the measuring unit are moved along the outer circumference of the measurement target object (as modified by Komatsu, paragraph 0013, 0015, 0027, 0036-0037 and 0047, see Figures 4-6 of Komatsu).
Regarding claim 4, modified Okamura further teaches the measurement target object is an integral object obtained by laminating one surface of a disk-shaped wafer and a supporting surface of a supporting substrate to each other by a laminating member, and in the measuring step, the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion formed on another surface side of the wafer, which is the top surface side of the measurement target object, is measured (as modified by Komatsu, paragraph 0013, 0015, 0027, 0036-0037 and 0047, see Figures 4-6 of Komatsu).
Regarding claim 5, modified Okamura further teaches the stepped portion is formed by making a rotating cutting blade cut the outer circumference of the measurement target object (as modified by Komatsu, paragraph 0013, 0015, 0027, 0036-0037 and 0047, see Figures 4-6 of Komatsu).
Regarding claim 6, Okamura teaches a processing method for processing a workpiece, the processing method comprising:
a holding step of holding an undersurface side of the workpiece by a holding table such that a top surface side of the workpiece is exposed upward (see Figure 2);
a first cutting step of forming a stepped portion in the workpiece by cutting an outer circumference of the workpiece held by the holding table, with use of a first cutting blade fitted to a distal end of a rotatable spindle; and
Okamura fails to teach a measuring step of, after the first cutting step, measuring a height of an upper surface of the stepped portion by a measuring unit configured to measure the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion of the workpiece, wherein a width of a measurement region on the upper surface of the stepped portion to be measured by the measuring unit in one time of measurement is smaller than a width of the stepped portion, and, in the measuring step, information regarding the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion is obtained by measuring the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion at a plurality of measurement positions having different distances from the outer circumference of the workpiece.
Komatsu teaches a method of measuring a height/width of the wafer as a cutting device is cutting.
It would have been obvious one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Okamura to add a measuring step, as taught by Kmoatsu, in order to get the desired correct size as wafer needs to be cut (abstract of Komatsu). The resulting method of modified Okamura teaches a measuring step of, after the first cutting step, measuring a height of an upper surface of the stepped portion by a measuring unit configured to measure the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion of the workpiece, wherein a width of a measurement region on the upper surface of the stepped portion to be measured by the measuring unit in one time of measurement is smaller than a width of the stepped portion, and, in the measuring step, information regarding the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion is obtained by measuring the height of the upper surface of the stepped portion at a plurality of measurement positions having different distances from the outer circumference of the workpiece (as modified by Komatsu, paragraph 0013, 0015, 0027, 0036-0037 and 0047, see Figures 4-6 of Komatsu).
Regarding claim 7, modified Okamura further teaches a second cutting step of, after the measuring step, further cutting the stepped portion of the workpiece by the first cutting blade or a second cutting blade including abrasive grains having a diameter smaller than a diameter of abrasive grains included in the first cutting blade, wherein in the second cutting step, an amount of cutting of the first cutting blade or the second cutting blade is determined based on the information obtained in the measuring step (as modified by Komatsu, paragraph 0013, 0015, 0027, 0036-0037 and 0047, see Figures 4-6 of Komatsu, see Figure 5A-5B of Okamura).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LIANG DONG whose telephone number is (571)270-0479. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8 AM-6 PM.
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/LIANG DONG/Examiner, Art Unit 3724 9/29/2026
