DETAILED ACTION
The office action sent 9/24/25 has been withdrawn and a new rejection is recited below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 16 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 16 and 18-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 2020/0411461) (“Lee”).
With regard to claim 16, fig. 9 of Lee discloses a wiring structure 100 comprising: a first conductive structure 140; and a second conductive structure 110 disposed over the first conductive structure 140, wherein the second conductive structure 110 includes a plurality of dielectric layers (111a-111c), and defines an accommodating hole 110H extending through at least one of the plurality of dielectric layers (111a-111c), wherein an insulation material 130 is disposed in the accommodating hole 110H, and covers a portion of a bottommost (bottom of 111b) one of the plurality of dielectric layers (111a-111c), and a conductive via 153 laterally overlapping the insulation material 130.
With regard to claim 18, fig. 9 of Lee discloses that the conductive via 153 is electrically connected P1 to the first conductive structure 140.
With regard to claim 19, fig. 9 of Lee discloses that the conductive via (153, 112dM, 135E) includes a convex surface (side of 135E is round).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 and 11-15 are allowed.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
The primary reason for the allowance of claim 7 is that the closest prior art Lee et al. (US 2020/0411461) (“Lee”) does not disclose that one of the plurality of conductive vias has a concave lateral surface. Claims 8 and 11-15 depend on claim 7 and are also allowed.
Claim 20 is 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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/BENJAMIN TZU-HUNG LIU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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