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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 11/14/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-11 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Hu in view of Canelas.
The Applicant argues that DBC teaches a polyether oligomeric backbone with a molecular weight of 114 g/mol. This is outside of the claimed range of 2,000 to 20,000 g/mol.
The Applicant argues that there would be no motivation to use a higher of a higher molecular weight polymer multifunctional oligomer because higher molecular weight polymers have higher viscosities, which would not be suitable for the application of Hu.
The Examiner acknowledges DBC does not teach a polyether oligomer in the claimed range.
However, Hu also teaches some of the oligomers used in the application can be CN293 (Paragraph [0085]). This polymer has a molecular weight of 3700 (From small molecules to polymer fibers: Photopolymerization with electrospinning on the fly, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry 353 (2018) 101–107, (Page 103).
Therefore the oligomers of Hu can fall in the claimed range of 2,000 to 20,000 and a higher molecular weight oligomer is not necessarily outside of the claims of Hu.
Claim 1 is rejected over Hu in view of Canelas 20070082203A1 (see below).
Regarding claim 9, the Applicant argues Hu would not benefit from the addition of an optical brightener because the underfill is used inside the device.
However, Hu also teaches the incorporation of pigments (Paragraph [01014]), indicating Hu that the appearance of the underfill material is at least somewhat important. Additionally at least a portion of the underfill protrudes visibly beyond the edges of the chip (Figure 2) and the cured package is checked to visually determine whether it is contaminated by the underfill composition (Paragraph [0146]). Therefore, there is motivation to modify the visual characteristics of the underfill to improve the appearance of the exposed portions and improve the visibility during post cure inspection.
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.
Claims 1-5, 7-8, and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu US 20150322309A1 in view of Canelas US 20070082203A1 as evidenced by SR9036 Data Sheet Sartomer.
Regarding claim 1, Hu teaches a composition that comprises an epoxy resin, a latent epoxy curing agent, a photocurable monomer, and a photoinitiator (Abstract). Hu teaches these compositions are used to form underfill (Title). This reads on the claimed first and second reactive system (epoxy resin with an epoxy curing agent and photocurable monomer with a photoinitiator).
Hu teaches that the latent epoxy curing agent is activated at temperatures over 50C. This reads on the claimed thermally curable resin and thermal curing initiator.
Hu also teaches the photoinitiator can be based on a free radical initiation mechanism (Paragraph [0090]). This reads on the claimed free-radical polymerization initiator.
Hu also teaches the photocurable monomer can be a multifunctional methacrylate monomer (Paragraph [0084]). However Hu is silent on the multifunctional methacrylate oligomer comprising a polyether oligomeric backbone and at least one free-radical (co)polymerizable reactive group at each terminal position of the oligomer backbone.
Canelas teaches a one part liquid underfill (Abstract). Hu also teaches a one part liquid underfill (Abstract). Canelas teaches that the underfill comprises a multifunctional photopolymerizable oligomer component (Paragraph [0042]). Canelas teaches the multifunctional photopolymerizable oligomer component can be SR9036 (Paragraph [0042]). SR 9036 has a polyether oligomer backbone and has a molecular weight of 2156 g/mol (Sartomer Data Sheet Page 1). This overlaps with the claimed range of 2000-20000 g/mol.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use the multifunctional photopolymerizable (meth)acrylate oligomer component of Canelas as the multifunctional (meth)acrylate oligomer component of Hu because SR9036 is a commercially available photopolymerizable oligomer identified by Canelas as being suitable for use in applications similar to Hu. The selection of a known material based on its suitability for its intended use is prima facie obvious. See MPEP 2144.07
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Hu teaches that the photoinitiator can be activated in a range from about 250 nm to 850 nm (Paragraph [0091]). This overlaps with the claimed ranges of 350-750nm and 450-485nm.
Regarding claims 4 and 5, Hu teaches the photoinitiator can be aromatic ketones or phosphine oxides (Paragraph [0092]). Phosphine oxides reads on the claimed “Norrish type 1 initiator.”
Regarding claim 7, Hu teaches the composition additionally comprises a monofunctional epoxy resin (Paragraph [0064]). Hu teaches this monofunctional epoxy resin behaves as a reactive diluent (Paragraph [0072]). This reads as the claimed “reactive diluent.”
Regarding claim 8, Hu teaches the monofunctional epoxy resin can be 2-ethylhexyl glycidyl ether (Paragraph [0072]). This reads on the claimed glycidyl ethers of linear or branched alkanols.
Regarding claim 10, Hu teaches the multifunctional epoxy resin of the composition can be based on N,N,N',N'-tetraglycidyl-4,4'-diaminodiphenyl methane (Paragraph [0069]). This reads on the claimed “glycidyl groups.”
Regarding claim 11, Hu teaches the latent curing agent can be 2-heptadeoylimidazole (Paragraph [0077]). This reads on the claimed “secondary amine.”
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu US 20150322309A1 in view of Canelas US 20070082203A1 in further view of Science Direct, (Camphorquinone, Antibacterial quaternary ammoniumcompounds in dental materials: A systematic review, Restorative Materials 2018 and 2019) as evidenced by SR9036 Data Sheet Sartomer
Regarding claim 6, Hu teaches the photoinitiators can be based on a free radical mechanism. However Hu is silent on the photoinitiator being specifically camphorquinone. Camphorquinone is known as being the most common commercially available photoinitiator (Science Direct, Page 1 and Page 2) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to select the aromatic ketone camphorquinone as the photoinitiator of Hu because it is well known in the art as a common commercially available photoinitiator.
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu US 20150322309A1 in view of Canelas US 20070082203A1 in further view of Optical brighteners: improving the color of plastics (Plastics Additives & Compounding, 5(6), 2003, 42-46) as evidenced by SR9036 Data Sheet Sartomer
Regarding claim 9, Hu teaches the composition can comprise additional additives however Hu is silent on the additional additive being an optical brightener (Paragraph [0104]). Hu teaches that the additional additives can include pigments (Paragraph [0104]). Hu’s teaching that pigments can be added to the composition results in an aesthetic improvement of the final product, indicates that the color of the product is important to the composition of Hu.
Optical brighteners are known to improve the color of plastics making whites look whiter and removing off-white or yellow stains (Optical brighteners, Page 2). This would result in an improvement of the color of the final product of Hu. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to use an optical brightener like any of the ones mentioned in Optical Brighteners, for the advantage of a brighter looking product.
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hu US 20150322309A1 in view of Canelas US 20070082203A1 in further view of Katoh US 20090142884A1 as evidenced by SR9036 Data Sheet Sartomer.
Regarding claim 16, Hu teaches the incorporation of silica as a filler (Paragraph [0034]). Hu is silent on the silica being fumed silica.
Katoh teaches an epoxy resin underfill composition (Paragraph [0030]) including an inorganic filler such as fumed silica to decrease thermal expansion coefficient (Paragraph [0031]). It would have been obvious to use the fumed silica as used in the underfill composition of Katoh in the composition of Hu for the advantage of decreasing the thermal expansion coefficient. Although the prior art discloses fumed silica as a filler, it is identical to and therefore capable of functioning as a thixotropic agent as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LILY K SLOAN whose telephone number is (703)756-5875. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:30 ET.
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/LILY K SLOAN/Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/ROBERT S JONES JR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1762