DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
2. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group 1, claims 1-12 in the reply filed on 7/23/2025 is acknowledged. Claims 13-29 are withdrawn.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/20/2023, 8/9/2024 and 11/15/2024 were filed timely. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Claims 1-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over (CN 111316401 A) to Ogino et al. (hereinafter Ogino) in view of (JP 2008266433 A) to Shingo et al. (hereinafter Shingo).
Ogino is directed to laminates for semiconductors. Ogino discloses in the Abstract that the “laminated body in the invention is middle layer between the supporting body and the object to be processed has to capable of separating adhesive”. “The invention is a multilayer body support back grinding for the wafer circuit face of body and the wafer has manner capable of separating adhesive intermediate layers, the intermediate layer comprises an adhesive layer and a release layer in contact with the one side of the wafer and the support-side contact, a peeling layer can absorb novolac resin.” Ogino discloses in the Background that the semiconductor is releasably mounted on the support for thinning. Ogino discloses in the description that
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Ogino discloses in the problem to be solved section that a novolac resin is present in the peeling (release) layer. Ogino discloses that the adhesive may contain a polysiloxane, which is curable by a platinum catalyst that is a hydrosilyation cure catalyst. Ogino discloses the SAME organic NOVOLAK resin for the release layer.
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As shown above Ogino discloses the SAME materials used to perform the SAME purpose in securing a chip to a support. Ogino discloses each and every element, but is silent regarding the release layer containing a branched polysilane.
Shingo is directed toward curing agents for resins. Ogino and Shingo are both directed toward compositions of resins that are used to form a film. Shingo teaches in the Abstract that polysilanes are excellent curatives for resins like an epoxy or a hydrosilation cured resin, such as a NOVOLAK resin cured by a hydrosilation reaction. Shingo teaches in the technical field that it is good for use in an optoelectronic material, Ogino discloses that be transparent is a benefit. Shingo teaches in the background section teaches why one skilled in the art would be motivated to add a silane to the novolac epoxy such as improved physical properties including heat resistance and etching resistance and cure a thin film, which are desirable when manufacturing semiconductor wafers mounted by adhesive to a support.
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Shingo teaches in paragraph [0016] the branched silane (1a) (shown below) that reads on Applicants formula (B):
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Shingo teaches that R1a may be an aryl group or a phenyl group to increase solvent solubility.
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Shingo teaches that the polysilane has a MW of 500 to 50,000 that overlaps and reads On Applicants range of 50 to 30,000.
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Shingo can be used as a curing agent even without the presence of an epoxy.
It would be obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of the filing of the disclosure of Ogino in view of the teachings of Shingo to modify the release layer of the film of Ogino by including the branched polysilane that improves properties and cures into a high strength film with a novolac epoxy allowing for machining of silicon wafers on a support and then allows removal for use, which forms a prime facie case of obviousness for claims 1-12.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEFFREY D WASHVILLE whose telephone number is (571)270-3262. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-5.
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9. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Randy Gulakowski can be reached at 571-272-1302. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JEFFREY D WASHVILLE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1766