DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 1, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-13, 21-27 in the reply filed on 05/06/26 is acknowledged.
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.
Claim(s) 1-13, 21-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Makabe(USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2022/0059418, hereinafter Makabe) in view of Chang (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2022/0139851, hereinafter Chang).
Re claim 1 Makabe discloses a semiconductor die stack structure comprising:
a base die(10);
a plurality of semiconductor die stack units stacked over the base die(10); and
bumps(31B) between the base die(10) and the plurality of semiconductor die stack units and between the plurality of semiconductor dies stack units,
wherein each of the plurality of semiconductor die stack units includes a lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and an upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) stacked over the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25),
wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) includes:
body having a front-side and a back-side; and
a third front-side pad portion(31C/30) under the first front-side pad portion(31C/30), wherein the first front-side pad portion(31C/30) and the third front-side pad portion(31C/30) form a reverse staircase (since 31C/30 form bottom steps this may be interpreted as a reverse staircase), wherein the first front-side pad portion(31C/30), the second front-side pad portion, and the third front-side pad portion(31C/30) include a same metal.
Makabe does not discloses a front-side pad structure disposed over the front-side of the body,
wherein the front-side pad structure includes:
a front-side pad seed layer; and
a front-side pad pattern over the front-side pad seed layer,
wherein the front-side pad pattern includes:
a first front-side pad portion(31C/30) having a plate shape;
a second front-side pad portion over the first front-side pad portion(31C/30), wherein the first front-side pad portion(31C/30) and the second front- side pad portion forms a staircase; and
Chang discloses a front-side pad structure disposed over the front-side of the body,
wherein the front-side pad structure includes:
a front-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038]; and
a front-side pad pattern over the front-side pad seed layer,
wherein the front-side pad pattern includes:
a first front-side pad portion(122/123) having a plate shape;
a second front-side pad portion over the first front-side pad portion(122/123), wherein the first front-side pad portion(122/123) and the second front- side pad portion forms a staircase(since 122/123 form steps this may be interpreted as a staircase); and
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Chang to the teachings of Makabe in order to minimize reliability issues [0022, Chang].
Re claim 2 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) further comprises: a back-side passivation layer under the back-side of the body; and a back-side pad structure under the back-side passivation layer, wherein the back-side pad structure includes a back-side pad seed layer under the back-side of the body, and a back-side pad pattern[0011] 1under a lower surface of the back-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038of Chang], wherein the back-side pad pattern[0011] includes: a first back-side pad portion having a plate shape; and a second back-side pad portion under the first back-side pad portion, wherein the first back-side pad portion and the second back- side pad portion form a reverse staircase, wherein the first back-side pad portion, the second back-side pad portion include a same metal.
Re claim 3 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 2,
wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) further comprises: a back-side pad liner layer conformally surrounding a side surface and a lower surface of the first back-side pad portion and a side surface of the second back-side pad portion; and a back-side bonding insulating layer under the back-side pad liner layer, wherein a lower surface of the second back-side pad portion, a lower end of the back-side pad liner layer, and a lower surface of the back-side bonding insulating layer are co-planar.
Re claim 4 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 3, wherein: a width(see Fig 2 of Chang) of the second front-side pad portion is different from a width(see Fig 2 of Chang) of the second back-side pad portion in a first horizontal direction, 1and a width(see Fig 2 of Chang) of the second front-side pad portion is different from a width(see Fig 2 of Chang) of the second back-side pad portion in a second horizontal direction, wherein the first horizontal direction and the second horizontal =~ direction are perpendicular with each other.
Re claim 5 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 3, wherein: the second front-side pad portion of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) is directly in contact with and bonded to the second back-side pad
portion of the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26), and the front-side bonding insulating layer of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) is directly in contact with and bonded to the back-side bonding insulating layer of the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26).
Re claim 6 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 2, wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) further comprises: a top metal pattern disposed in the body to be adjacent to the ‘front-side of the body; and a front-side passivation layer over the front-side of the body to expose an upper surface of the top metal pattern.
Re claim 7 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim , 1wherein the front-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038of Chang] includes: a first-side pad seed portion disposed over an upper surface of the front-side passivation; a second front-side pad seed portion disposed over a side surface of the front-side passivation layer; and a third front-side pad seed portion disposed over the exposed upper surface of the top metal pattern.
Re claim 8 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim , wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper
semiconductor die further comprises:
a front-side pad liner layer conformally surrounding a side surface and an upper surface of the first front-side pad portion(31C/30) and a side surface of the second front-side pad portion; and
a front-side bonding insulating layer over the front-side pad liner layer,
wherein an upper surface of the second front-side pad portion, an upper end of the front-side pad liner layer, and an upper surface of the front-side bonding insulating layer are co-planar.
Re claim 9 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim ,
wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) further comprises a through-via[0024of Chang] passing through the body to electrically connect the top metal pattern to the back-side pad
1structure.
Re claim 10 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 9,
wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) further comprises:
a dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad structure disposed over the front-side of the body, wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad structure is not electrically connected to the through-via[0024of Chang],
wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad structure includes:
a dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038of Chang]; and
a dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad pattern[0011] over the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038of Chang], wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad pattern[0011] includes: a first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion having a plate shape;
a second dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion over the first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion, wherein the first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion and the second dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion form a staircase; and
a third dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion under the first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion, wherein the first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion and the third dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion form a reverse staircase, wherein the first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion, the second dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion, the third dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion includes a same metal.
Re claim 11 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim , wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) further comprises: a dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad structure under the back-side passivation layer, wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad structure is not electrically connected to the through-via[0024of Chang], wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad structure includes: a dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038of Chang] over the back-side of the body; and a dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad pattern[0011] under the dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad
seed layer, wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad pattern[0011] includes: a first dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad portion having a plate shape; and a second dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad portion under the first dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad portion, wherein the first dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad portion and the second dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad portion form a reverse staircase, wherein the first dummy[0031of Chang] back-side pad portion and the second back-side pad portion include a same metal.
Re claim 12 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die of stack structure claim 9, wherein: the front-side pad structure includes a signal front-side pad structure and a power front-side pad structure; the back-side pad structure includes a signal back-side pad structure and a power back-side pad structure, 1the top metal pattern includes a signal top metal patten and a power top metal pattern, the through-via[0024of Chang] includes a signal through-via[0024of Chang] and a power through-via[0024of Chang], and the power through-via[0024of Chang] includes a plurality of unit power through- ~-vias electrically and commonly connecting the power top metal pattern to the power back-side pad structure.
Re claim 13 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, further comprising:
heat dissipation molding layers disposed between the base die(10) and the plurality of semiconductor die stack units and between the plurality of semiconductor die stack units, wherein the heat dissipation molding layers surround side surfaces of the bumps(31B), wherein each of the bumps(31B) includes a soler ball, wherein each of the heat dissipation molding layers includes an epoxy resin and aluminum fillers.
Re claim 21 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, wherein in a top view, the first front-side pad portion(31C/30) and the second front-side pad portion each have a circular shape or a polygonal shape.
Re claim 22 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, wherein the front-side pad pattern[0011] is arranged with a first horizontal pitch, wherein a horizontal width(see Fig 2 of Chang) of the first front-side pad portion(31C/30) is in a range of 60% to 90% of the first horizontal pitch, and a horizontal width(see Fig 2 of Chang) of the second front-side pad portion is in a range of 20% to 60% of the first horizontal pitch.
Re claim 23 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, wherein each of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) and the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26) further comprises: a dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad structure disposed over the front-side of the body, wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad structure is electrically isolated from through- vias in the body, wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad structure includes: a dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038of Chang]; and a dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad pattern[0011] over the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad seed layer (320/420)[0038of Chang], wherein the dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad pattern[0011] includes a first dummy[0031of Chang] front- side pad portion having a plate shape, and a second dummy[0031of Chang] front-side padportion over the first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion, wherein the first dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion and the second dummy[0031of Chang] front-side pad portion form a staircase.
Re claim 24 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, further comprising a signal through-via[0024of Chang] and a power through-via[0024of Chang] disposed in the body, wherein the front-side pad structure includes a signal front-side pad structure connected to the signal through-via[0024of Chang] and a power front-side pad structure connected to the power through-via[0024of Chang], wherein the power through-via[0024of Chang] includes a plurality of unit power through- vias electrically and commonly connected to the power front-side pad structure.
Re claim 25 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, wherein the second front-side pad portion has an elongated bar shape(see Fig 2 of Chang) extending in a first horizontal direction.
Re claim 26 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of The semiconductor die stack structure of wherein the second front-side pad portion of the lower semiconductor die(21/23/25) is directly in contact with and bonded to the second front-side pad portion of the upper semiconductor die(22/24/26).
Re claim 27 Makabe and Chang disclose the semiconductor die stack structure of claim 1, further comprising a heat dissipation molding layer disposed on side surfaces of the plurality of semiconductor die stack units(see Fig 2 of Chang), wherein the heat dissipation molding layer includes an epoxy resin and aluminum nitride fillers.
Conclusion
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/PATRICIA D VALENZUELA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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