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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed on 04/22/2025 has been entered and considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 04/22/2025, has been accepted for examination.
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 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) 1-3 and 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Watanabe (2020/0406422 A1).
Regarding claims 1 and 5, Watanabe discloses a method of producing a reference-spectrum library for use in estimation of a film thickness of a workpiece is/are perform by polishing apparatus/method of determining an optimum operation recipe for the optical film-thickness measuring device (figs. 1-22), comprising:
film-thickness measuring device 40 measuring an initial film thickness of a reference workpiece (W) before being polished, as can be seen in depicted drawing (figs. 12-13);
polishing head 1 polishing the reference workpiece (W) with a polishing apparatus [pars. 0048-49];
a spectrometer 47, and a spectrum processing device 49 generating a plurality of reference spectra of reflected light from the reference workpiece obtained at a plurality of polishing times during polishing of the reference workpiece [pars. 0050-52, 0094-105, 0115];
film-thickness measuring device 40 measuring a final/last film thickness of the reference workpiece after polishing of the reference workpiece, as can be seen in depicted drawing (figs. 12-13) or determines a polishing end point at which the film thickness of the wafer W reaches a target film thickness [par. 0052];
a recipe evaluation device 75/polishing controller 9 calculating a plurality of polishing index values indicative of a progress of polishing of the reference workpiece from the plurality of reference spectra; determining a polishing-rate line indicative of a relationship between film thickness and polishing time of the reference workpiece from the initial film thickness, the polishing index values, and the final film thickness; determining a plurality of reference film thicknesses corresponding to the plurality of polishing index values based on the polishing-rate line [pars. 0011, 0018, 0081-83, 0106-112]; and
a data server 70/a memory 75a producing the reference-spectrum library by associating the plurality of reference film thicknesses with the plurality of reference spectra, respectively [pars. 0052, 0081, 0106].
For the purpose of clarity, the method structure recited in claim 5 is symmetrical to the method structure recited in claim 1, as such, method claim 5 is rejected above as being anticipated by Watanabe.
As to claim 2, Watanabe also discloses a structure (figs. 1-22) that is use in a method/system that is implementing limitations such as, wherein recipe evaluation device 75/polishing controller 9 calculating the plurality of polishing index values comprises: calculating a plurality of amounts of change between the plurality of reference spectra, each amount of change being an amount of change between temporally adjacent two of the plurality of reference spectra; and calculating the plurality of polishing index values by accumulating the plurality of amounts of change one by one arranged according to the polishing time of the reference workpiece [pars. 0107, 0109-110, 0114].
As to claim 3, Watanabe also discloses a structure (figs. 1-22) that is use in a method/system that is implementing limitations such as, wherein recipe evaluation device 75/polishing controller 9 determining the polishing-rate line comprises: calculating a provisional polishing-rate line from the initial film thickness and the final film thickness, under an assumption that a polishing rate of the reference workpiece is constant/same; and determining the polishing-rate line by correcting the provisional polishing-rate line based on changes in the plurality of polishing index values over polishing time [pars. 0072-73, 0114, and 0122-123].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 4 is/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.
Additional Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The references listed in the attached form PTO-892 teach of other prior art method of producing a reference-spectrum library for use in estimation of a film thickness of a workpiece.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Isiaka Akanbi whose telephone number is (571) 272-8658. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tarifur R. Chowdhury can be reached on (571) 272-2287. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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/ISIAKA O AKANBI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2877
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