Appeal 2006-2870
Application 10/401,509
Appellants’ invention relates to lithography process control and
particularly to a method for controlling the alignment of layers in a multi-
layer sample. (Specification 8:12-15).
Claim 29 is illustrative of the invention and it reads as follows:
29. A method for controlling layers alignment in a multi-layer
sample, the method comprising the steps of:
(i) providing a measurement site on said sample including two
regions located one above the other in two different layers,
respectively, said regions containing patterned structures of a certain
known periodicity;
(ii) illuminating said site with electromagnetic radiation and
detecting a diffraction efficiency of radiation diffracted from the
patterned structures indicative of a lateral shift between the patterned
structures; and
(iii) analyzing said diffraction efficiency to determine an existing
lateral shift between the layers.
Claims 29-40, all of the appealed claims, stand rejected under 35
U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as being drawn to an inadequate disclosure.
Rather than reiterate the arguments of Appellants and the Examiner,
reference is made to the Briefs and Answer for the respective details. Only
those arguments actually made by Appellants have been considered in this
decision. Arguments which Appellants could have made but chose not to
make in the Briefs have not been considered and are deemed waived [see 37
C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(vii)].
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