Attorney’s Docket Number: 067237-2187
Filing Date: 2/27/2023
Claimed Priority Date: 4/14/2022 (JP 2022-066689)
Inventors: Nakashiba et al.
Examiner: Marcos D. Pizarro
DETAILED ACTION
This Office action responds to the election filed on 11/26/2025.
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 . In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for a 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.
Species Restriction
Applicant’s election without traverse of the species including the inductor shape reading on figure 12A, the chip configuration reading on figure 4 including CHP1, CHP2 and CHP3, and the transformer chip CHP3 reading on figure 10, in the reply filed on 11/26/2025, is acknowledged. The applicant indicated that claims 1-5 and 8 read on the elected species. The examiner agrees. Accordingly, claims 6, 7 and 9 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Tanaka (US 2024/0021598).
Regarding claim 1, Tanaka (see, e.g., figs. 5 and 6) shows all aspects of the instant invention including a semiconductor device 80 comprising:
A multilayer wiring layer
A lower inductor 41A formed in the wiring layer
An upper inductor 42A formed in the wiring layer and overlapping the lower inductor in a plan view
A first wiring 123 formed in wiring layer and surrounding the upper inductor in a plan view, and
A second wiring 122 formed in the wiring layer and surrounding the first wiring in a plan view
wherein:
The first wiring 123 is at a first reference potential
The second wiring 122 is at a second reference potential
The first and second potentials are different from each other
The first wiring 123 includes first, second, third and fourth sides
The first and second sides extend in a first direction X
The third and fourth sides extend in a second direction Y
The first direction X intersects the second direction Y
The second wiring 122 includes fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth sides
The fifth and sixth sides extend in the first direction X, and
The seventh and eighth sides extend in the second direction Y
Regarding claim 2, Tanaka (see, e.g., fig. 6) further shows that distances between the first and fifth sides, the second and sixth sides, the third and seventh sides, and the fourth and eighth sides are equal to each other.
Regarding claim 3, Tanaka (see, e.g., fig. 6) further shows that:
a crossing portion of the first and third sides has a curvature
a crossing portion of the first and fourth sides has a curvature
a crossing portion of the second and third sides has a curvature, and
a crossing portion of second and fourth sides has a curvature
Regarding claim 5, Tanaka (see, e.g., fig. 6) shows that the upper inductor 42A includes:
A first tap pad 48
A spiral wiring 46A connected to the tap pad, and
A first transformer pad 47A connected to and inside the spiral wiring
wherein the first wiring 123 is connected to the tap pad 45.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 8 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
Papers related to this application may be submitted directly to Art Unit 2814 by facsimile transmission. Papers should be faxed to Art Unit 2814 via the Art Unit 2814 Fax Center. The faxing of such papers must conform to the notice published in the Official Gazette, 1096 OG 30 (15 November 1989). The Art Unit 2814 Fax Center number is (571) 273-8300. The Art Unit 2814 Fax Center is to be used only for papers related to Art Unit 2814 applications.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Marcos D. Pizarro at (571) 272-1716 and between the hours of 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) Monday through Thursday or by e-mail via Marcos.Pizarro@uspto.gov. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Wael Fahmy, can be reached on (571) 272-1705.
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/Marcos D. Pizarro/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814
MDP/mdp
February 6, 2026