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
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) 1-3, 5 and 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyai et al. [US 5581324 A, hereafter Miyai] in view of Yasuda et al. [US 6549271 B2, hereafter Yasuda].
As per Claims 1 and 7, Miyai teaches a method for adjusting deformation of a mask (Column 3 lines 36-53), comprising:
(a) checking whether a first image is stored, wherein the first image is formed by projecting structured light onto a surface of the mask before the mask makes contact with a wafer; if not stored, then projecting the structured light onto the surface of the mask and capturing the resulting pattern as the first image (Column 19 lines 23-49);
(b) placing the wafer on a support platform and moving the support platform beneath the mask (See fig. 1, Column 19 lines 23-49).
Miyai does not explicitly teach (c) moving the support platform upward so that the wafer contacts the mask, causing the mask to form a convex pattern on the surface where the structured light is projected, and capturing an image of the structured light on the mask's surface as a second image;
(d) using a computing device to compare a difference between the first image and the second image; and
(e) adjusting the support platform with the computing device based on the difference between the first image and the second image so that the deformation of the mask is below a predetermined range.
Yasuda teaches from the measured surface shape of the pattern-bearing surface of the distortion evaluation mask, a distribution of expected displacements of projected images of the evaluation patterns from their desired projection positions is calculated. Then, the measurements of the distortion is adjusted with the expected displacements so as to derive a distortion to be produced solely by the projection optical system. In the actual exposure process, the surface shape of the mask for the actual exposure process is measured, and the measurement result is used to calculate the expected lateral displacements of the points in the projected image which are expected to be produced by the surface shape (See fig. 3, Column 7 lines 1-48, wherein the prior art to Yasuda implemented platens to be disposed inside the piezoelectric actuator elements to apply pressure on the mask surface, instead of the substrate).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the method for mask deformation adjustment steps as claimed in order to improve the accuracy of image transferred.
As per Claims 2, 3, 9 and 10, Miyai in view of Yasuda teaches the method for adjusting mask deformation as claimed in claim 1.
Yasuda further disclosed wherein the structured light is fringe light (Column 18 lines 5-19, wherein a diffraction grating may be used to produce a plurality of light beams from a single light beam output from a single light source, which enables simplification of the arrangement).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the claimed light source in order to improve the accuracy of measurement result.
As per Claim 5, Miyai in view of Yasuda teaches the method for adjusting mask deformation as claimed in claim 1.
Yasuda further disclosed wherein the structured light is generated by irradiating a light source onto a grating (Column 18 lines 5-19, wherein a diffraction grating may be used to produce a plurality of light beams from a single light beam output from a single light source, which enables simplification of the arrangement).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the claimed light source in order to improve the accuracy of measurement result.
As per Claim 8, Miyai in view of Yasuda teaches the system for adjusting mask deformation as claimed in claim 7.
Yasuda further disclosed wherein the structured light source includes a light source and a grating, and the structured light is generated by projecting the light source through the grating (Column 18 lines 5-19, wherein a diffraction grating may be used to produce a plurality of light beams from a single light beam output from a single light source, which enables simplification of the arrangement).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the claimed light source in order to improve the accuracy of measurement result.
Claim(s) 4, 6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miyai in view of Yasuda as applied above, further in view of Arima et al. [US 20230160835 A1, hereafter Arima].
As per Claims 4, 6 and 11, Miyai in view of Yasuda teaches the method for adjusting mask deformation as claimed in claim 2.
Miyai in view of Yasuda does not explicitly teach wherein the structured light is generated by irradiating a light source onto a spatial light modulator and then being modulated thereby.
Arima teaches reference numeral 1028 denotes a lens array, which forms images of the illumination spot 20 on the photoelectric conversion unit 103 correspondingly to the number of the arrays (Para 79-80).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was made to incorporate the claimed light source in order to improve the accuracy of measurement result.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MESFIN ASFAW whose telephone number is (571)270-5247. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8 am - 4 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Toan Ton can be reached at 571-272-2303. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MESFIN T ASFAW/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2882
