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 .
Drawings
In view of Applicant’s amendments, the prior drawing objection is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
In view of Applicant’s amendments, the prior drawing objection is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Rejection 1/2
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hayashi (US 2017/0110389), of record.
(Re Claim 1) Hayashi teaches a component that is configured to be used for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the metal component comprising: a substrate (10; Fig. 1B) having a conductivity (copper; ¶48); and a noble metal plating layer (silver plating is performed on the upper surface of the lead frame 10; ¶48; the noble metal plating layer is then the deposited silver layer) formed directly on all or part of a surface (the surface is the flat portion between two of the irregularities; Fig. 1C and the Fig. 1C markup) of the substrate, wherein the noble metal plating layer has a surface with irregularities (the noble metal plating layer is formed on the substrate 10, and so the noble metal plating layer is also inside of individual portions 13, such that the protrusions of the substrate 10 are transferred to the noble metal plating layer, thereby forming irregularities with protrusions in the surface of the noble metal plating layer; Fig. 1C markup) having a plurality of protrusions (each noble metal plating layer protrusion corresponding to each substrate protrusion as just described; Fig. 1C markup, and the schematic showing dimensions after plating below, ¶48),
substrate contains copper as a main component (substrate 10 is made from copper; ¶48);
the plurality of protrusions contain Ag as a main component (¶48); and
an entirety of the surface of the substrate on which the noble metal plating layer that has the surface with the irregularities having the plurality of protrusions is directly formed is flat (the flat surface is shown in the Fig. 1C markups below; the entirety of the surface identified is flat).
Hayashi does not explicitly teach that an aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less, the aspect ratio being a ratio of height of one of the plurality of protrusions to a width of one of the plurality of protrusions.
However, a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would find it obvious that conformally depositing the noble metal plating layer (“the S ratio [that is] about the same as before the silver plating can be maintained”; ¶48) where the diameter of each portion 13 is given as e.g., 30 µm (middle of preferred range in ¶42), the depth of each 13 is given as e.g., 30 µm (middle of provided range in ¶42) and the pitch between each 13 is given as e.g., 60 µm (middle of preferred range in ¶42), results in a protrusion of the noble metal plating layer - formed with a thickness of e.g., 4 µm (middle of range in ¶48) layered on top of the substrate - having a protrusion with a height of 30 µm (measured from an uppermost surface of the protrusion to the top surface of the noble metal plating layer within element 13), and a width of .038 µm (adding 4 µm to either side of the protrusion of the substrate), resulting in an aspect ratio ≈0.78950.
A PHOSITA would find it obvious to choose values in the middle of the preferred ranges as these would have the greatest expectation of success, and values at the extremes of the range are less likely to produce a satisfactory device. To make and use Hayashi’s invention one must use values from the disclosed range and would be led to utilize preferred ranges when described as such.
As each protrusion has the same aspect ratio, the aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less (≈0.78950; see above).
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(Re Claim 3) Hayashi teaches the metal component according to claim 1, wherein the aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions is 0.5 or more and 1.2 or less (currently, ≈0.78950; see the rejection of claim 1).
Rejection 2/2
Claims 1, 3, 9-10, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Seki et al. (US 2004/0232534), of record.
(Re Claim 1) Seki teaches a metal component that is configured to be used for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the metal component comprising: a substrate (1; Fig. 5) having a conductivity (copper; ¶5); and a noble metal plating layer (6b formed from silver+2b; ¶97) formed directly on all or part of a surface of the substrate (¶¶96-97), wherein the noble metal plating layer has a surface with irregularities (irregularities are demonstrated by the triangular pattern of the noble metal plating layer as shown in Fig. 8; ¶95) having a plurality of protrusions (demonstrated by each chevron in the connected chevron pattern of the layer 6b as shown in Fig. 8; that is the protrusions here are understood only to be due to layer 6b);
the substrate contains copper as a main component (¶5);
the plurality of protrusions contain Ag as a main component (silver plating; ¶97); and
an entirety of the surface of the substrate on which the noble metal plating layer that has the surface with the irregularities having the plurality of protrusions is directly formed is formed is flat (the top surface of substrate 1 is flat; Fig. 8;).
Seki does not explicitly teach that an aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less, the aspect ratios being a ratio of a height of one of the plurality of protrusions to a width of each one of the plurality of protrusions.
However, Seki does demonstrate photographs of some irregularities of a nickel layer 2b (Fig. 19(B), ¶¶38, 95) that underlies the noble metal of 6b (¶97), where a protrusion of that layer has an aspect ratio, which is a height of the protrusion to a width of the protrusion, of 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less (Fig. 19(B) markup below).
A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would find it obvious for the noble metal plating layer of Seki, after plating with silver, to have irregularities such that a protrusion of the irregularities, corresponding to the plating layer 6b shown in Fig. 8, has an aspect ratio of 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less, as the deposited silver part of the noble metal plating layer 6b is e.g., about 0.01 µm thick (¶96), and so is very thin compared to the irregularities of the underlying layer 2b, allowing for the projections on the surface of the underlying layer 2b to be reproduced in the noble metal plating layer 6b (¶97), causing the protrusions of the irregularities of the noble metal plating layer 6b to have the same or about the same aspect ratio. And so, given the thickness of the noble metal plating layer, an aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions (the plurality of protrusions are contained within each box outline in the Fig. 19(B) markup below) of the irregularities of the noble metal plating layer is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less (See the Fig. 19(B) markup, where after deposition of the noble metal plating layer the aspect ratio will be about less than 1 but greater than 0.5).
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(Re Claim 3) Modified Seki teaches the metal component according to claim 1, wherein the average value of the aspect ratios of the plurality of protrusions is 0.5 or more and 1.2 or less (given the noble metal plating layer thickness of about 0.01 µm).
(Re Claim 9) Seki teaches a metal component that is configured to be used for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the metal component comprising:
a substrate (1; Fig. 5) having a conductivity (copper; ¶5); and
a noble metal plating layer (6b formed from silver+2b; ¶97) formed directly on all or part of a surface of the substrate (¶¶96-97),
wherein the noble metal plating layer has a surface with granular irregularities (irregularities are shown in the SEM images of Fig. 19 and are represented by the triangular shapes shown in Fig. 8; “some of the projections may have rounded ends without being sharpened” ¶77; see also ¶95) having a plurality of protrusions (demonstrated by each chevron in the connected chevron pattern of the layer 6b as shown in Fig. 8);
the substrate contains copper as a main component (¶5);
the plurality of protrusions contain Ag as a main component (silver plating ¶97); and
an entirety of the surface of the substrate on which the noble metal plating layer that has the surface with the irregularities having the plurality of protrusions is directly formed is flat (the top surface of substrate 1 is flat; Fig. 8).
Seki does not explicitly teach an aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less, the aspect ratio being a ratio of a height of one of the plurality of protrusions to a width of one of the plurality of protrusions.
However, Seki does demonstrate photographs of some irregularities of a nickel layer 2b (Fig. 19(B), ¶¶38, 95) that underlies the noble metal of 6b (¶97), where a protrusion of that layer has an aspect ratio, which is a height of the protrusion to a width of the protrusion, of 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less (Fig. 19(B) markup below).
A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would find it obvious for the noble metal plating layer of Seki, after plating with silver, to have irregularities such that a protrusion of the irregularities, corresponding to the plating layer 6b shown in Fig. 8, has an aspect ratio of 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less, as the deposited silver part of the noble metal plating layer 6b is e.g., about 0.01 µm thick (¶96), and so is very thin compared to the irregularities of the underlying layer 2b, allowing for the projections on the surface of the underlying layer 2b to be reproduced in the noble metal plating layer 6b (¶97), causing the protrusions of the irregularities of the noble metal plating layer 6b to have the same or about the same aspect ratio. And so, given the thickness of the noble metal plating layer, an aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions (the plurality of protrusions are contained within each box outline in the Fig. 19(B) markup below) of the irregularities of the noble metal plating layer is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less (See the Fig. 19(B) markup, where after deposition of the noble metal plating layer the aspect ratio will be about less than 1 but greater than 0.5).
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(Re Claim 10) Seki teaches a metal component that is configured to be used for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the metal component comprising:
a substrate having a conductivity (copper; ¶5); and
a noble metal plating layer (6b formed from silver+2b; ¶97) formed directly on all or part of a surface of the substrate (¶¶96-97),
wherein the noble metal plating layer has a surface with irregularities (represented by the triangular shapes shown in Fig. 8) having a plurality of protrusions (demonstrated by each chevron in the connected chevron pattern of the layer 6b as shown in Fig. 8),
the substrate contains copper as a main component (¶5);
the plurality of protrusions contain Ag as a main component (silver plating; ¶97), and
the entirety of the surface of the substrate on which the noble metal plating layer that has the surface with the irregularities having the plurality of protrusions is directly formed is flat (the top surface of substrate 1 is flat; Fig. 8).
Seki does not explicitly teach a metal component wherein an aspect ratios of the one of plurality of protrusions is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less, the aspect ratio being a ratio of a height of one of the plurality of protrusions to a width of one of the plurality of protrusions; and
a shear strength of the noble metal plating layer in a shear strength test according to a procedure specified by SEMI standard G69-0996 performed at 260°C is 2 MPa or more.
However, Seki does demonstrate photographs of the irregularities of a nickel layer 2b (Fig. 19(B), ¶¶38, 95) that underlies the noble metal of 6b (¶97), where a protrusion of that layer has an aspect ratio, which is a height of the protrusion to a width of the protrusion, of 0.3 or more (Fig. 19(B) markup below).
However, Seki does demonstrate photographs of some irregularities of a nickel layer 2b (Fig. 19(B), ¶¶38, 95) that underlies the noble metal of 6b (¶97), where a protrusion of that layer has an aspect ratio, which is a height of the protrusion to a width of the protrusion, of 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less (Fig. 19(B) markup below).
A person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would find it obvious for the noble metal plating layer of Seki, after plating with silver, to have irregularities such that a protrusion of the irregularities, corresponding to the plating layer 6b shown in Fig. 8, has an aspect ratio of 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less, as the deposited silver part of the noble metal plating layer 6b is e.g., about 0.01 µm thick (¶96), and so is very thin compared to the irregularities of the underlying layer 2b, allowing for the projections on the surface of the underlying layer 2b to be reproduced in the noble metal plating layer 6b (¶97), causing the protrusions of the irregularities of the noble metal plating layer 6b to have the same or about the same aspect ratio. And so, given the thickness of the noble metal plating layer, an aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions (the plurality of protrusions are contained within each box outline in the Fig. 19(B) markup below) of the irregularities of the noble metal plating layer is 0.3 or more and 1.2 or less (See the Fig. 19(B) markup, where after deposition of the noble metal plating layer the aspect ratio will be about less than 1 but greater than 0.5).
Furthermore, as the prior art has been shown to be identical to the claimed structure of the invention, a PHOSITA would find it obvious for Seki’s metal component to possess the shear strength under the claimed test conditions. Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. In re Best, 562 F.2d 1252, 1255, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977). "When the PTO shows a sound basis for believing that the products of the applicant and the prior art are the same, the applicant has the burden of showing that they are not." See MPEP 2112, particularly 2112.01.
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(Re Claim 12) Modified Seki teaches the metal component according to claim 10, wherein the aspect ratio of one of the plurality of protrusions is 0.5 or more (given the noble metal plating layer thickness of about .01 µm) and 1.2 or less.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 3/3/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
For both Hayashi and Seki, an entirety of the surface of the substrate is flat. Hayashi’s surface is defined to be the flat part of substrate 10 (11) between two protrusions. This is shown in the provided Figures for Hayashi. As for Seki, see the top surface of substrate 1 in Fig. 5 and 8.
For Hayashi, the claim language does not require that surface of the substrate must be defined over some particular extent (remarks, p. 7); and for Seki, the substrate is 1, not 2b (remarks, p. 7).
The remainder of Applicant’s remarks are moot.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christopher A Schodde whose telephone number is (571)270-1974. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 1000-1800 EST.
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/CHRISTOPHER A. SCHODDE/Examiner, Art Unit 2898
/JESSICA S MANNO/SPE, Art Unit 2898