DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claims 1-30 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1-3, 5-6, 8, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Aigner et al. US 2005/0212619.
As per claims 1-3, 5-6, 8, and 11, Aigner et al. discloses in Fig. 3 an integrated circuit (e.g. chip S), comprising:
as per claim 1, a filter (e.g. lattice filter 200) having first and second filter terminals (e.g. terminals 210 and 212) and including: a first inductor (e.g. coil 220a) coupled between the first and second filter terminals; and a resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rs1) coupled between the first and second filter terminals; and a second inductor (e.g. coil 222a) coupled between differential terminals (e.g. balanced terminal 204 which includes terminals 224 and 228), the second inductor magnetically coupled to the first inductor (Paragraph 29; The coils 220a and 222a which form balun 208 are magnetically coupled to one another.);
as per claim 2, wherein the first and second inductors are part of a balun (e.g. balun 208);
as per claim 3, wherein the second filter terminal is coupled to a ground terminal (e.g. ground terminal 214); the resonator is a first resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rs1); the filter further includes a second resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rp2) and a third resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rs2); the first resonator is coupled between the first filter terminal and a first resonator terminal of the second resonator (e.g. node 216; The resonator Rs1 is connected between the terminal 210 and node 216.); the third resonator is coupled between the first filter terminal and the first inductor (Resonator Rs2 is connected between the terminal 210 and terminal 220b of coil 220a.); and a second resonator terminal of the second resonator (e.g. bottom terminal of resonator Rp2) is coupled to the ground terminal;
as per claim 5, wherein the resonator is a first resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rs1); the filter further includes a second resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rp2); the first resonator is coupled between the first filter terminal and a first inductor terminal of the first inductor (node 220b; The resonator Rs1 is connected between the terminal 210 and node 220b.); and the second resonator is coupled between the second filter terminal and a second inductor terminal of the first inductor (node 220c; A bottom end of the resonator Rp2 is connected between the terminal 212 and node 220c.);
as per claim 6, wherein the filter further includes a third resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rs2) and a fourth resonator (e.g. BAW resonator Rp1), the third resonator is coupled between the first inductor terminal and the second filter terminal (The resonator Rs2 is connected between node 220b and terminal 212 via resonator Rp1.); and the fourth resonator is coupled between the second inductor terminal and the first filter terminal (The resonator Rp1 is connected between the node 220c and the terminal 210 via resonator Rs1.);
as per claim 8, wherein one of the differential terminals is coupled to a ground terminal (Paragraph 45 and Fig. 3; Port 204a of the balanced terminal 204 comprises node 226 (not labeled in Fig. 3 but described therein) which is connected to ground terminal 214.); and
as per claim 11, wherein the resonator includes a BAW resonator (Resonator Rs1 is a BAW resonator.).
Claims 15-17 and 21-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Reisner US 2008/0315356.
As per claims 15-17 and 21-22, Reisner discloses in Figs. 1a-1b an integrated circuit (e.g. semiconductor die 100), comprising:
as per claim 15, a semiconductor die (e.g. semiconductor die 100) including a resonator (Paragraph 28; Die 100 includes an active surface 102 which comprises a BAW filter, which inherently is formed of at least one BAW resonator, as well-known in the art.); a first metal layer (e.g. active surface 102) on the semiconductor die, the first metal layer including a terminal of the resonator (Paragraph 28; Active surface 102 includes the BAW filter, where the components of the filter are disposed within the surface 102 including a terminal thereof.); and a second metal layer (e.g. backside surface 104) on the first metal layer, the second metal layer including an inductor (Paragraph 28, inductor 110);
as per claim 16, an insulation layer (e.g. substrate 106) between the first and second metal layers;
as per claim 17, wherein: the inductor is a first inductor of a balun; the second metal layer further includes a second inductor (e.g. inductor 112) of the balun; and the first inductor is magnetically coupled to the second inductor (Paragraph 28; Backside surface 104 includes inductors 110 and 112 which are a part of a balun. The inductors are inherently magnetically coupled together by virtue of being a part of a balun, as well-known in the art.);
as per claim 21, wherein the second metal layer includes copper (Paragraph 24; Backside surface 104 includes copper.); and
as per claim 22, wherein the resonator includes a BAW resonator (e.g. BAW filter which comprises the BAW resonator).
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Liu et al. US 2022/0013441.
As per claim 23, Liu et al. discloses Fig. 6 an integrated circuit (e.g. package structure 600), comprising: a first semiconductor die (e.g. semiconductor die 106) having a first surface (e.g. top surface of die 106); a second semiconductor die (e.g. semiconductor die 112) having a second surface (e.g. bottom surface of die 112) facing the first surface; and a metal layer (e.g. layer that comprises component 144 and structures 114) on the first surface and including: an inductor (Paragraph 84; Component 144 includes an inductor.); and metal interconnects (e.g. conductive structures 114) coupled between the first surface and the second surface.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reisner US 2008/0315356 in view of Ella US Patent 5,872,493.
As per claim 20, Reisner discloses the integrated circuit of claim 15, but does not disclose wherein the first metal layer includes aluminum.
Ella exemplarily discloses in Fig. 7a a BAW filter comprising mirror 17 that is formed of materials including aluminum (Col. 8 lines 54-60 of Ella). Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have replaced the generic BAW filter of Reisner with the specific BAW filter of Ella as being an obvious art substitution of equivalence. As an obvious consequence of the modification, the combination would have necessarily included wherein the first metal layer includes aluminum.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7, 9-10, 12-14, 18-19, and 24-30 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.
Conclusion
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/RAKESH B PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843