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 .
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.
Claim 1-3, 7, 10-12 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US PG Pub 2013/0093103, herein after Kim).
Regarding claim 1, figure 1 of Kim discloses a semiconductor package, comprising:
a printed circuit board (110, ¶ 27);
a first stack of semiconductor dies (120);
a second stack of semiconductor dies (130); and
a thermally conductive spacer (140) provided between the first stack of semiconductor dies and the second stack of semiconductor dies, the thermally conductive spacer comprising:
a thermal conductivity feature that moves heat generated by the semiconductor dies adjacent to the thermally conductive spacer away from the adjacent semiconductor dies (¶ 31).
Regarding claim 2, figure 1 of Kim discloses a set of dimensions of the thermally conductive spacer are greater than a set of dimensions of at least one semiconductor die associated with the first stack of semiconductor dies.
Regarding claim 3, figure 1 of Kim discloses the thermal conductivity feature comprises a thermal conductive material provided on one or more of a top surface of the thermally conductive spacer and a bottom surface of the thermally conductive spacer (¶ 31).
Regarding claim 7, figure 1 of Kim discloses one or more tines (145, ¶41) extending from a surface of the thermally conductive spacer to a surface of the PCB.
Regarding claim 10, figure 1 of Kim discloses the thermally conductive spacer (140) is comprised of a thermal conductive material (¶ 31).
Regarding claim 11, figure 1 of Kim discloses a semiconductor package, comprising:
a printed circuit board (PCB)(110, 27);
a stack of memory dies (120/130), each memory die of the stack of memory dies having a first set of dimensions (height); and
a thermally conductive spacer (140) provided between a first memory die of the stack of memory dies and a second memory die of the stack of memory dies, the thermally conductive spacer having a thermal conductivity feature (¶ 31) and having a second set of dimensions (length) that are larger than the first set of dimensions.
Regarding claim 12, figure 1 of Kim discloses the entire claimed invention as noted in the above rejections.
Regarding claims 19-20, figure 1 of Kim discloses the entire claimed invention as noted in the above rejections.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim.
Regarding claim 9, Kim discloses at least one of the first stack of semiconductor dies and the second stack of semiconductor dies is a stack of memory dies (¶ 35).
Kim does not explicitly disclose NAND memory dies.
However, it would have been obvious to use NAND memory dies since they are a well known type of memory die for memory devices.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 8 and 13-18 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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/YU-HSI D SUN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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