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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Applicant’s election, without traverse, of Specie 3 (Figs. 4-5), claims 1-2 and 6-14, in the reply filed on March 2nd, 2026 is acknowledged. Non-elected invention and species, claims 3-5 and 15-19 have been withdrawn from consideration. Claims 1-19 are pending.
Action on merits of Species 3, claims 1-2 and 6-14 follows.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on November 14th, 2023 has been considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 11/14/2023 are acceptable.
Specification
The specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
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.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the 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.
Claims 1-2 and 6-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adachi (US 2022/0122902, hereinafter as Adac ‘902) in view of Kim (US 2021/0066163, hereinafter as Kim ‘163).
Regarding Claim 1, Adac ‘902 teaches a power module comprising:
a first board including an insulation layer (Fig. 2, (6b); [0030]), a first metal layer (6c; [0033]) disposed on a first side of the insulation layer, and a second metal layer (6a; [0031]) disposed on a second side of the insulation layer opposed to the first side of the insulation layer;
a semiconductor chip (2; [0026]) disposed on the first metal layer (6c);
a heat dissipation plate (33) connected to the second metal layer (6a) in a first direction thereof;
a housing (case member (4); [0025]) connected to the heat dissipation plate to form an integral cooling channel therein; and
a connecting body made of a clad metal in which a first material (16; [0040]), which is connected to the heat dissipation plate and is disposed to face an inside of the cooling channel, and a second material (13; [0044]), which is connected to the housing (4) overlap each other in the first direction.
Thus, Adac ‘902 is shown to teach all the features of the claim with the exception of explicitly the limitations: “a clad metal in which is a first material and the second material is different”.
Kim ‘163 teaches a clad metal (Fig. 4; [0038]) in which is a first material (copper, Fig. 4, (520); [0038]) and the second material (Nickel, (500); [0037]) is different.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Adac ‘902 by having a clad metal in which is a first material and the second material is different for the purpose of improving the cooling performance (see para. [0030]) as suggested by Kim ‘163.
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Fig. 2 (Adac ‘902)
Regarding Claim 2, Kim ‘163 teaches the heat dissipation plate is at least a portion of the second metal layer (500) (auxiliary cooling plate; see Fig. 2; [0036]-[0037]).
Regarding Claim 6, Adac ‘902 teaches the heat dissipation plate (33) includes at least one projection which extends toward an inside of the cooling channel (see Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 7, Adac ‘902 teaches an end of the at least one projection (33c) extends to contact an inner surface of the housing (4) (see Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 8, Kim ‘163 teaches the first material is identical to a material forming 100 the heat dissipation plate (see Fig. 2).
Thus, Adac ‘902 and Kim ‘163 are shown to teach all the features of the claim with the exception of explicitly the limitations: “the second material is identical to a material forming the housing”.
However, it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select the second material is identical to a material forming the housing on the basis of it suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416. A person of ordinary skills in the art is motivated to select the second material is identical to a material forming the housing in order to improve the cooling performance of the semiconductor device.
Claims 9-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Adac ‘902 and Kim ‘163 as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Deguchi (US 2022/0360189, hereinafter as Degu ‘189).
Regarding Claim 9, Adac ‘902 teaches the housing (4) extends in a second direction intersecting the first direction from a position which is spaced in the first direction apart from one side of the heat dissipation plate that faces the cooling channel (see Fig. 2).
Adac ‘902 and Kim ‘163 are shown to teach all the features of the claim with the exception of explicitly the limitations: “the housing is bent at first and second end portions thereof toward the heat dissipation plate in the first direction”.
Degu ‘189 teaches the housing (Fig. 9, (150); [0062]) is bent at first and second end portions thereof toward the heat dissipation plate (131; [0062]) in the first direction.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Adac ‘902 and Kim ‘163 by having the housing is bent at first and second end portions thereof toward the heat dissipation plate in the first direction in order to effectively cool the same power module by a plurality of surfaces of the cooler (see para. [0005]) as suggested by Degu ‘189.
Regarding Claim 10, Adac ‘902 teaches the connecting body (16/13) is disposed between the heat dissipation plate and the first and second end portions of the housing (4) in the second direction to connect the heat dissipation plate (33) and the housing (4) to each other (see Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 11, Adac ‘902 teaches the second material (13) of the connecting body is disposed so as not to be in contact with the heat dissipation plate (33).
Regarding Claim 12, Adac ‘902 teaches the first material (16) of the connecting body extends in the second direction toward the heat dissipation plate (33) from a portion thereof that overlaps the second material (13).
Regarding Claim 13, Adac ‘902 teaches the first material (16) of the connecting body is disposed so as not to be in contact with the housing (4) (see Fig. 2).
Regarding Claim 13, Adac ‘902 teaches the second material (13) of the connecting body extends in the second direction toward the first and second end portions of the housing (4) from a portion thereof that overlaps the first material (16).
Examiner’s Note
Applicant is reminded that the Examiner is entitled to give the broadest reasonable interpretation to the language of the claims. Furthermore, the Examiner is not limited to Applicants' definition which is not specifically set forth in the claims. See MPEP 2111, 2123, 2125, 2141.02 VI, and 2182.
Examiner has cited particular paragraph numbers in the references applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
In the case of amending the claimed invention, Applicant is respectfully requested to indicate the portion(s) of the specification which dictate(s) the structure relied on for proper interpretation and also to verify and ascertain the metes and bounds of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The following patents are cited to further show the state of the art with respect to semiconductor devices:
Ryu et al. (US 2021/0272923 A1)
Maldo et al. (US 2020/0258824 A1)
Ku et al. (US 2019/0385929 A1)
Murata (US 2019/0221494 A1)
Kim et al. (2013/0134571 A1)
For applicant’s benefit portions of the cited reference(s) have been cited to aid in the review of the rejection(s). While every attempt has been made to be thorough and consistent within the rejection it is noted that the PRIOR ART MUST BE CONSIDERED IN ITS ENTIRETY, INCLUDING DISCLOSURES THAT TEACH AWAY FROM THE CLAIMS. See MPEP 2141.02 VI.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DZUNG T TRAN whose telephone number is (571) 270-3911. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8 AM-5PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sue Purvis can be reached on (571) 272-1236. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DZUNG TRAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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