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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 4 recites a step which would not be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art. Claim 4 recites, at the end, " obtaining the Mth flatness according to the Mth difference" and it would not be clear what it means by "according to" because the claim does not state how it is "according to" nor is it apparent how they are related so that "according to" has a definite meaning.
Claim 5 recites " M times of the second distance." The claim is reciting a mathematical relationship in prose but it is not clear what it means by " M times of the second distance."
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) 1-7, 10-13, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hill (US 7,321,432).
Hill shows the following:
1. A position measurement method, configured to measure a position of a stage, wherein the stage (140) comprises a first mirror (184) and a second mirror (182), a first laser interferometer (230) and a second laser interferometer (240) face the first mirror along (184) a first axis, a third laser interferometer (220) and a fourth laser interferometer (210) face the second mirror (182) along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis, and the position measurement method comprising:
performing a calibration operation, comprising:
moving the stage along the second axis (column 3, lines 18-22: "The mirror surface can be mapped by monitoring the displacement of the mirror surface relative to a reference point on each of the two measurement axes while scanning the mirror in a direction orthogonal to the measurement axes");
measuring, by the first laser interferometer and the second laser interferometer, N sets of first values corresponding to N consecutive sections of the first mirror along the second axis as the stage moves, wherein an Mth set of first values comprises a first distance between the first mirror and the first laser interferometer and a second distance between the first mirror and the second laser interferometer (column 3, lines 14-18: "two interferometers to monitor a plane mirror measurement object along two parallel measurement axes can be used to map the mirror surface profile along a scan line ");
measuring, by the third laser interferometer and the fourth laser interferometer, N sets of second values as the N sets of first values are measured, wherein an Mth set of second values comprises a third distance between a second mirror and the third laser interferometer and a fourth distance between the second mirror and the fourth laser interferometer (column 4, lines 35-38: "The method can include interferometrically monitoring the location of the stage along a y-axis substantially orthogonal to the first measurement axis"; With scanning, there will be numerous measurement values by each interferometer);
obtaining a first flatness profile of the first mirror along the second axis according to the N sets of first values and the N sets of the second values, wherein N and M are a positive integer, and M is less or equal to N (column 3, lines 18-22: "The mirror surface can be mapped by monitoring the displacement of the mirror surface" Each measurement is distance value so M is less or equal to N); and
generating a mapping table according to the first flatness profile (column 14, lines 17-26: "The variations may be stored in a lookup table in controller 170 and used to compensate measurements"); and
measuring and calibrating a position of the stage according to the mapping table so as to control movement of the stage during an inspection operation (column 3, line 63-column 4, line 6: "the invention features a method for determining the location of…a stage including measuring a location, x1, of a stage along a first measurement axis using an interferometer…based on…a correction term…calculated from…information characterizing imperfections in the interferometer.").
2. The position measurement method of claim 1, wherein the first flatness profile comprises a first flatness to a Nth flatness, and the first flatness to the Nth flatness correspond to a first section to an Nth section of the N consecutive sections of the first mirror, respectively (the "sections" are arbitrary because they have not been defined and thus any portion of the mirror can be considered a section producing a set of flatness profile).
3. The position measurement method of claim 2, wherein the N sets of first value and the N sets of second values includes components of the first flatness profile and a Yaw rotation (column 13, lines 13-17: "Simultaneous with translation of stage 140 in the y-direction, interferometers 210 and 220 monitor the orientation of mirror surface 182 for fixed intercept points of measurement beams 215 and 225 with surface 182. This step permits monitoring changes in theta, "), wherein the step of obtaining the first flatness profile is performed to extract the first flatness profile from the N sets of first value and the N sets of second values.
4. The position measurement method of claim 2, wherein the step of obtaining the first flatness profile comprises:
obtaining an Mth first offset between the second distance and the first distance of the Mth set of first value;
obtaining an Mth second offset between the fourth distance and the third distance of the Mth set of second value;
obtaining a first accumulated values by accumulating the M first offsets; obtaining a second accumulated value by accumulating the M second offsets;
obtaining an Mth difference between the first accumulated value and the second accumulated value; and
obtaining the Mth flatness according to the Mth difference (as interpreted by the Examiner, see equation 8, where M is equal to 1).
5. The position measurement method of claim 4, wherein the Mth flatness is obtained by adding the Mth difference and M times of the second distance (see comment above for claim 4).
6. The position measurement method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing the calibration operation further comprises: obtaining a second flatness profile of the second mirror along the first axis using the first laser interferometer, the second laser interferometer, the third laser interferometer, and the fourth laser interferometer (column lines 50-53: "Furthermore, mirror surface 182 and/or interferometers 210 and 220 can also be characterized using a similar error characterization mode ").
7. The position measurement method of claim 6, wherein the mapping table is generated further according the second flatness profile (column lines 50-53: "Furthermore, mirror surface 182 and/or interferometers 210 and 220 can also be characterized using a similar error characterization mode ").
10. The position measurement method of claim 1, the step of performing the calibration operation further comprises: before obtaining the first flatness profile, initializing the stage to a starting point of a calibrating path (column 13, lines 25-26: "Initially, the stage is scanned for the x-position closest to interferometers 230 and 240").
11. The position measurement method of claim 1, wherein the N consecutive sections of the first mirror have a same length along the second axis (see discussion for claim 2).
12. The position measurement method of claim 1, wherein the second distance of the Mth set of second values includes contributions of a Yaw rotation around a third axis, a roll rotation around the first axis, a straightness along the second axis, and an Mth flatness of the first flatness profile, wherein the third axis is perpendicular to the first axis and the second axis (these are inherent as the second values are measurements of distance and include any possible causes of differences in the measured distance).
13. The position measurement method of claim 1, wherein the step of measuring and calibrating the position of the stage according to the mapping table comprises: measuring a raw position of the stage when the stage is moved along an inspection path; and calibrating the raw position of the stage according to the mapping table to obtain a calibrated position of the stage (column 16, lines 55-60: "the off-axis measurement is corrected for errors prior to the off-axis position information being sent to a control system that controls the orientation of stage 140, thereby preventing transferal of these errors to the position of the stage.").
15. The position measurement method of claim 1, wherein the calibration operation is performed in parallel to the inspection operation (column 16, lines 47-50: "information about the mirror and/or the interferometers obtained during the error characterization mode can be used to correct for on-axis measurements as well").
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) 8, 9, and 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hill as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Official notice.
As to claims 8 and 14, Hill shows all the steps as recited for claim 6 but does not explicitly show the performance of calibration again if a threshold error is exceeded or periodically. Official notice is taken that it was well known in the art to perform a recalibration if an error exceeds a threshold and also periodically. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to recalibrate the interferometer when the error exceeds a threshold value in order to save time performing recalibration only when the error exceeds an acceptable error. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to perform the calibration periodically in order to correct for changes that may occur over time.
As to claim 9, Hill shows all the steps of claim 8 as discussed above but does not show the measurement of the differences in the yaw or rotation of the two mirrors. Official notice is taken that it was well known to observe the differences in the rotation angles (yaw) of the two mirrors. Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious measure the yaw difference in order to determine any changes in the yaw of the mirrors so that the error can be accounted for.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cameron (US 5,363,186) shows the measuring of flatness of mirrors of a stage using interferometers:
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Inoue (US 2003/0020924) shows the measuring of flatness of mirrors of a stage using interferometers:
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Fujiwara (US 2003/0090675) shows "Interferometric Methods And Apparatus For Determining Object Position While Taking Into Account Rotational Displacements And Warping Of Interferometer Mirrors On The Object"
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Adriaens et al. (US 2020/0409274) shows an interferometer system:
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Hwa Andrew S Lee whose telephone number is (571)272-2419. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-5:30pm.
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/Hwa Andrew Lee/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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