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 .
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 1-2, 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tatsuo (JP 2008-198663 A; which is cited in the IDS filed 1/24/2025) in view of Shimizu et al (U.S.Pat. 5,490,013).
With respect to claims 1, 9, Tatsuo discloses an optical apparatus and a corresponding method for shifting an optical path of input light in a shift direction orthogonal to an incident direction and outputting output light along an optical path parallel to and different from the optical path of the input light. More particularly, Tatsuo discloses a projection optical system including an image-shift element (42) for changing the position of an image projected onto a projection surface (see paragraphs [0073-0074] and figure 1). Tatsuo teaches that image-shift element (42) may be a plane-parallel plate. Thus, rotating or tilting of the plane-parallel plate changes the amount by which the transmitted optical path or projected image is shifted. Thus, Tatsuo discloses or suggests: a shift optical element which is a plane-parallel plate having mutually parallel first and second surfaces, input light entering through one surface and output light exiting through the other surface and a driving or adjustment mechanism which rotates or tils the shift optical element to change a shift amount. Tatsuo further expressly recognizes that tilt adjustment of the plane-parallel image-shift plate may generate coma and astigmatism and states that such aberrations are corrected by another adjustment mechanism. Tatsuo, however, does not expressly describe the particular structure of the other adjustment mechanism or expressly identify the correction optical element as a second plate whose orientation is adjusted in conjunction with the image-shift plate. Shimizu teaches that transmission of light through a tilted plane-parallel plate (21; see figures 5-6) produces optical aberrations, including astigmatism, and that the astigmatism can be eliminated or substantially reduced by arranging a second plane-parallel (22) compensation in the optical path and orienting the second plate relative to the first tilted plane (see col.2, lines 22-47). Shimizu teaches that rotating the second plate by approximately 90 degrees about the optical axis relative to the first plate compensates astigmatism generated by the first plate. Shimizu further teaches embodiments in which the plates have the same thickness and refractive index (see col.5, lines 5-45). In view of such teachings, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to provide the aberration-adjustment of Tatsuo with the plane-parallel compensation plate (21, 22) taught by Shimizu and to adjust or displace that compensation plate according to the orientation of Tatsuo’s image-shift plate for the purpose of correcting an astigmatic difference appearing in the output light and thereby improving the quality of the optical apparatus.
As to claims 7-8, Tatsuo discloses a plate-stage (4) which holds a substrate (P); a projection optical unit (40) having the image-shift element (42); illumination and projection optical system which direct output light onto the substrate to expose the substrate and a mask stage which relative move the exposure system and the substrate during scanning exposure and a light modulator which modulates light to be emitted from a light source on a basis of exposure data (see figure 1).
With respect to claim 2, the rotation range of the plane parallel plate is a design matter for a skilled artisan. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to place the plane-parallel plate at zero tilt for adjusting aberration of the optical exposure.
As to claim 10, although Tatsuo as modified by Shimizu, does not expressly state that the shift amount is adjusted on the basis of a table associating of the shift amount, as recited in the claims. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to determine the required settings for a plurality of desired shift amounts and store the resulting association in a lookup-table. The use of a lookup table would have been obvious and predictable implementation because the combined system has a repeatable functional relationship between the desired optical shift, the tilt or rotation of the shift plate and the compensating position or orientation of the correction table.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6 are 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claims 3-6 have been found allowable because the prior art of record, either alone or in combination, fails to teach or suggest the particular coordinated rotational arrangements recited in these claims.
As to claim 3, the prior art of record, either alone or in combination, neither discloses nor makes obvious a combination of an optical apparatus comprising among other features, a lens having different powers in the shift direction and in a perpendicular direction and together with movement of that lens toward and away from the shift optical element along the optical path, as recited in the claim.
As to claim 4, the claim requires a correction optical element in the form of a second plane-parallel plate different from the shift optical element, wherein the shift optical element is rotated about first and second rotation axes having the claimed mutually perpendicular relationships, and the correction optical element is correspondingly rotated about third and fourth rotation axes respectively parallel to the first and second rotation axes, in conjunction with rotation of the shift optical element.
Although the prior art teaches the general use of a tilted plane-parallel plate to shift an optical path and further recognizes that a second optical element may be used to compensate aberrations caused by the tilted plate, the prior art does not disclose or suggest the claimed four-axis coordinated driving arrangement. In particular, the prior art does not teach rotating the shift optical element about two separate axes while correspondingly rotating the correction optical element about respective parallel axes in the manner required by claim 4.
Claim 5 further requires that the shift optical element and the correction optical element have the same thickness and that, for a predetermined rotation angle, the two optical elements are rotated in the same direction about one corresponding pair of rotation axes and in reverse directions about another corresponding pair of rotation axes. While the prior art may disclose compensation plates having similar or equal optical thicknesses, it does not teach or suggest the claimed combination of equal thickness together with the specific same-direction and reverse-direction coordinated rotations recited in claim 5.
Claim 6 recites a different coordinated arrangement in which the shift optical element is rotated about a fifth rotation axis perpendicular to the incident direction and inclined by 45 degrees relative to the shift direction, while the correction optical element is rotated about a sixth rotation axis perpendicular to both the incident direction and the fifth rotation axis, in conjunction with rotation of the shift optical element. The prior art does not disclose or suggest this particular 45-degree rotation-axis geometry or the claimed coordinated rotation of the two plane-parallel plates about the recited mutually related axes.
Accordingly, the prior art of record does not teach or render obvious the specific coordinated rotational configurations recited in claims 4-6. These limitations, considered in combination with the limitations of the claims from which they depend, distinguish claims 4-6 from the prior art of record.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Matsuyama et al (US 2002/0171815 A1); Bittner et al (U.S.Pat. 10,061,206) and Andre et al (U.S.Pat. 10,591,825 B2) disclose optical devices and have been cited for technical background.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HUNG HENRY NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2124. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7:00AM-4:30PM.
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HUNG HENRY NGUYEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2882
Hvn
7/22/26
/HUNG V NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
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