Appeal No. 2003-1392
Application No. 09/593,867
Claim 1 is illustrative of the claimed invention, and it
reads as follows:
1. A scanning charged-particle beam instrument having a
specimen stage capable of moving in X- and Y-directions and
providing positional information on a plurality of positions, and
a charged-particle beam illumination means for illuminating a
specimen held on the specimen stage with a charged-particle beam,
a scanning means for scanning the charged-particle beam in two
dimensions across the specimen in each of the plural positions
providing different fields of view, a detector for detecting
signals arising from the specimen, and a control means for
displaying a scanned image of the specimen in response to an
output signal from the detector, said scanning charged-particle
beam instrument comprising:
a storage means for storing image signals of different
fields of view on the specimen together with positional
information relating to the fields of view on the specimen;
a means for displaying plural specimen images simultaneously
in response to the stored image signals of the plural fields of
view;
a selecting means for permitting an operator to select a
desired specimen image from the displayed specimen images; and
a moving means for moving the specimen into a position
corresponding to the selected specimen image in response to said
stored positional information.
The reference relied on by the examiner is:
Iwabuchi et al. (Iwabuchi) 6,225,628 May 1, 2001
(filed Dec. 9, 1997)
Claims 1 through 4 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e)
as being anticipated by Iwabuchi.
Claims 5 through 8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
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