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
This office action is in response to the filing of the Applicant Arguments/Remarks Made in an Amendment on 01/29/2024. Currently, claims 1-17 are pending in the application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-2, 7-9 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over YAMADA et al (US 20210287978 A1) in view of SHIRAO (US 20200043818 A1).
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Regarding claim 1, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose a power converter apparatus ([0021]), comprising:
a substrate (2, [0022]) including a first conductive portion (26a, [0037]) and a second conductive portion (30a, [0037]) provided on a front surface thereof;
a first wire (W2, [0040]) that is connected to the first conductive portion and to the second conductive portion and includes:
first and second bonding portions (BP, portion of W2 at 6a-61 and at 7a-71, please see the annotated Figure above) that are bonded respectively to the first and second conductive portions and each have at opposite ends thereof respectively a bonding end (BE, please see the annotated Figure above) and a joining end (JE, please see the annotated Figure above); and
a wiring portion (WP, portion of W2 between 61 and 71, please see the annotated Figure above) having opposite ends, one of the opposite ends of the wiring portion being connected to the joining end of the first bonding portion and the other of the opposite ends of the wiring portion being connected to the joining end of the second bonding portion, the wiring portion (WP) being located away from the front surface (top surface) of the substrate (2);
a case (11, [0022], Figure 2) including a housing region that houses the substrate and the first wire; and
a sealing member (12, [0022], Figure 2) that fills the housing region and seals the substrate and the first wire,
wherein in a plan view of the power converter apparatus, a first extending direction in which the first bonding portion (BP) of the first wire extends from the bonding end of the first bonding portion to the first joining end of the first bonding portion is inclined at a first acute angle ([0045], Figure 4), from a first direction of a first line passing through the bonding ends of first and second bonding portions, toward a second direction of a force that acts on the first bonding portion due to thermal expansion of the sealing member (anticipated to have an angle in the direction of force due to bending, even a small degree, during the sealing operation towards the flow of the sealing member 12 as the wire W2 is very thin, [0041]-[0042]).
YAMADA does not explicitly teach the first acute angle being greater than 1o------ and less than 90 o.
However, SHIRAO is a pertinent art which teaches a semiconductor device includes a case surrounding a region that contains semiconductor elements and wires with suppressed generation of bubbles in the situation where a region containing a semiconductor element and a wire is filled with an encapsulation member. Figure 1/2 of SHIRAO teaches a plan view of such a semiconductor device wherein the wires W1 connecting different elements in the devices having inclination in XY plane and XZ plane with a an angle greater than 1o------ and less than 90 o.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wires having bonding portions with angles as claimed according to the teaching of SHIRAO in the device of YAMADA in order to have a power converter apparatus with improved mechanical strength and improved manufacturing and suppress stress on the wires during encapsulation.
Regarding claim 9, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose a power converter apparatus ([0021]), comprising:
a substrate (2, [0022]) including a first conductive portion (26a, [0037]) and a second conductive portion (30a, [0037]) provided on a front surface thereof;
a first wire (W2, [0040]) that is connected to the first conductive portion and to the second conductive portion and includes:
first and second bonding portions (BP, portion of W2 at 6a-61 and at 7a-71, please see the annotated Figure above) that are bonded respectively to the first and second conductive portions and each have at opposite ends thereof respectively a bonding end (BE, please see the annotated Figure above) and a joining end (JE, please see the annotated Figure above); and
a wiring portion (WP, portion of W2 between 61 and 71, please see the annotated Figure above) having opposite ends, one of the opposite ends of the wiring portion being connected to the joining end of the first bonding portion and the other of the opposite ends of the wiring portion being connected to the joining end of the second bonding portion,
the wiring portion (WP, portion of W2 between 61 and 71, please see the annotated Figure above) being located away from the front surface (top surface in the figure) of the substrate (21);
a case (11, [0022], Figure 2) including a housing region that houses the substrate and the first wire;
a sealing member (12, [0022], Figure 2) that fills the housing region and seals the substrate and the first wire; and
a covering member (10, [0022]) that includes, at a position that is lower than an upper surface of the sealing member (12), a facing surface (top surface of 10) that faces the substrate (2) and covers the first bonding portion (BP),
wherein in a plan view of the power converter apparatus, a first extending direction in which the first bonding portion (BP) extends from the bonding end (BE) of the first bonding portion to the joining end (JE) of the first bonding portion is inclined (please see Figure 4 for the angle) at a first acute angle (greater than 0 and less than 90), from a first direction of a first line passing through the bonding ends (BE) of the first and second bonding portions (BP) toward a second direction is that perpendicular to a center line that is parallel to the first line and passes through a center of the facing surface (top surface of 10 in the Figure 2).
YAMADA does not explicitly teach the first acute angle being greater than 1o------ and less than 90 o.
However, SHIRAO is a pertinent art which teaches a semiconductor device includes a case surrounding a region that contains semiconductor elements and wires with suppressed generation of bubbles in the situation where a region containing a semiconductor element and a wire is filled with an encapsulation member. Figure 1/2 of SHIRAO teaches a plan view of such a semiconductor device wherein the wires W1 connecting different elements in the devices having inclination in XY plane and XZ plane with a an angle greater than 1o------ and less than 90 o.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wires having bonding portions with angles as claimed according to the teaching of SHIRAO in the device of YAMADA in order to have a power converter apparatus with improved mechanical strength and improved manufacturing and suppress stress on the wires during encapsulation.
Regarding claim 12, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose a power converter apparatus ([0021]), comprising:
a substrate (2, [0021]) including a first conductive portion (26a, [0037]) and a second conductive portion (30a, [0037]) provided on a front surface thereof;
a first wire (W2, [0040]) that is connected to the first conductive portion and to the second conductive portion and includes:
first and second bonding portions (BP, portion of W2 at 6a-61 and at 7a-71, please see the annotated Figure above) that are bonded respectively to the first and second conductive portions and each have at opposite ends thereof respectively a bonding end (BE, please see the annotated Figure above) and a joining end (JE, please see the annotated Figure above); and
a wiring portion (WP, portion of W2 between 61 and 71, please see the annotated Figure above) having opposite ends, one of the opposite ends of the wiring portion being connected to the joining end of the first bonding portion and the other of the opposite ends of the wiring portion being connected to the joining end of the second bonding portion, the wiring portion being located away from the front surface of the substrate (2);
a case (11, [0022], Figure 2) including a housing region that houses the substrate and the first wire; and
a sealing member (12, [0022], Figure 2) that fills the housing region and seals the substrate and the first wire,
wherein in a side view of the power converter apparatus, a first erect direction (upward in the Figure 2) in which the wiring portion (portion of W2 at 6a and at 7a) is erected on the front surface of the substrate (2) is inclined at a first angle, from a first direction that is perpendicular to the front surface, toward a second direction of a force that acts on the first wire due to thermal expansion of the sealing member (anticipated to have an angle in the direction of force due to bending, even a small degree, during the sealing operation towards the flow of the sealing member 12 as the wire W2 is very thin, [0041]-[0042]).
YAMADA does not explicitly teach in a view along a direction of a line passing through the bonding ends of the firs and second bonding portions wherein the first acute angle being greater than 1o------ and less than 90 o.
However, SHIRAO is a pertinent art which teaches a semiconductor device includes a case surrounding a region that contains semiconductor elements and wires with suppressed generation of bubbles in the situation where a region containing a semiconductor element and a wire is filled with an encapsulation member. Figure 1/2 of SHIRAO teaches a plan view of such a semiconductor device wherein the wires W1 connecting different elements in the devices having inclination in XY plane and XZ plane with a an angle greater than 1o------ and less than 90 o.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have wires having bonding portions with angles as claimed according to the teaching of SHIRAO in the device of YAMADA in order to have a power converter apparatus with improved mechanical strength and improved manufacturing and suppress stress on the wires during encapsulation.
Regarding claim 2, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose that the power converter apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substrate (2) further includes a third conductive portion and a fourth conductive portion provided on the front surface thereof (please see Figure 4 for similar wire W2 connected to bonding portions), the power converter apparatus further comprises a second wire that is connected to the third conductive portion and to the fourth conductive portion, is sealed by the sealing member (12), and includes: first and second bonding portions (please see the above annotated Figure for bonding portions BE) that are bonded respectively to the third and fourth conductive portions and each have at respective opposite ends thereof a bonding end and a joining end; and a wiring portion (WP, please see annotated Figure above) having opposite ends, one of the opposite ends of the wiring portion of the second wire being connected to the joining end (JE) of the first bonding portion of the second wire and the other of the opposite ends of the wiring portion of the second wire being connected to the joining end of the second bonding portion of the second wire, the wiring portion of the second wire being located away from the front surface of the substrate, the force in the second direction also acts on the first bonding portion of the second wire, a direction of a line that passes through the joining ends of the first and second bonding portions of the second wire is parallel to the first line, and in the plan view, a second extending direction in which the first bonding portion of the second wire extends from the bonding end of the first bonding portion of the second wire to the joining end of the first bonding portion of the second wire is inclined at a second acute angle, from the first direction, toward the second direction (please see annotated Figure 4 for the angle).
Regarding claim 7, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose that the power converter apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a semiconductor chip (3, [0022]) including a main electrode (gate) on a front surface thereof, wherein the substrate (2) includes an insulating plate (20, [0030]) and a plurality of circuit patterns (patterns are in circuit board 25, [0027]) including a first circuit pattern which is provided on a front surface of the insulating plate and on which the semiconductor chip is bonded, the first conductive portion (26a, [0037]) is the main electrode or one out of the plurality of circuit patterns aside from the first circuit pattern, and the second conductive portion (30a, [0037]) is the main electrode or one out of the plurality of circuit patterns aside from the first circuit pattern.
Regarding claim 8, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose that the power converter apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a diameter of the first wire (W2) is in a range of 300 μm to 500 μm ([0041]).
Regarding claim 11, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose that the power converter apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the first acute angle (please see the annotated Figure 4 above) of the first extending direction inclined from the first direction increases as a height from the front surface (top surface of 2) of the substrate to the facing surface (top surface of 10) decreases.
Regarding claim 13, Figures 1-4 of YAMADA disclose that the power converter apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the substrate (2) further includes a third conductive portion and a fourth conductive portion provided on the front surface thereof (there are more than one 26a and 30a and considering another pair of 26a and 30a), the power converter apparatus further comprises a second wire (another W2) that is connected to the third conductive portion and to the fourth conductive portion, is sealed by the sealing member (12), and includes: first and second bonding portions (BP, please see the annotated figure above) that are bonded respectively to the third and fourth conductive portions and each have at respective opposite ends thereof a bonding end and a joining end; and a wiring portion (WP, please see the annotated Figure above) having opposite ends, one of the opposite ends of the wiring portion of the second wire being connected to the joining end (JE, please see the annotated Figure above) of the first bonding portion of the second wire and the other of the opposite ends of the wiring portion of the second wire being connected to the joining end of the bonding portion of the second wire, the wiring portion of the second wire being located away from the front surface (top surface of 2 in the Figure) of the substrate, wherein the force in the second direction also acts on the first bonding portion of the second wire, a third direction of a third line passing through the bonding ends of the first and second bonding portions of the first wire is parallel to a fourth direction of a fourth line passing through the joining ends of the first and second bonding portions of the second wire, and in the side view, a second erect direction (please see the annotated Figure above for erection) in which the wiring portion of the second wire is erected on the front surface of the substrate is inclined at a second angle from the first direction toward the second direction (anticipated that an angle can vary due to variation in location of the wire and the size).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, 10 and 14-17 are objected to as being dependent upon rejected base claims, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 3, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first bonding portion of the second wire is disposed at an upstream side with respect to the second direction of the force, and the second acute angle of the second extending direction inclined from the first direction is larger than the first acute angle of the first extending direction inclined from the first direction.
Regarding claim 4, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a covering member including, at a position that is lower than an upper surface of the sealing member, a facing surface that faces the substrate and covers the first bonding portion of the first wire and the first bonding portion of the second wire, wherein in the plan view, the first bonding portion of the second wire is disposed closer to a center line, which is parallel to the first line and passes through a center of the facing surface, than is the first bonding portion of the first wire, and the second acute angle of the second extending direction inclined from the first direction is larger than the first acute angle of the first extending direction inclined from the first direction.
Regarding claim 5, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a covering member including, at a position that is lower than an upper surface of the sealing member, a facing surface that faces the substrate and covers the first bonding portion of the first wire, wherein in the plan view, the first acute angle of the first extending direction inclined from the first direction increases as a distance between the first bonding portion of the first wire and a center line decreases, the center line being parallel to the first line and passing through a center of the facing surface.
Regarding claim 6, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first acute angle increases as a height from the front surface of the substrate to the facing surface decreases.
Regarding claim 10, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the substrate further includes a third conductive portion and a fourth conductive portion provided on the front surface thereof, the power converter apparatus further comprises a second wire that is connected to the third conductive portion and to the fourth conductive portion, is sealed by the sealing member, and includes: first and second bonding portions that are bonded respectively to the third and fourth conductive portions and each have at respective opposite ends thereof a bonding end and a joining end; and a wiring portion having opposite ends, one of the opposite ends of the wiring portion of the second wire being connected to the joining end of the first bonding portion of the second wire and the other of the opposite ends of the wiring portion of the second wire being connected to the joining end of the second bonding portion of the second wire, the wiring portion of the second wire being located away from the front surface of the substrate, the first bonding portion of the second wire is covered by the facing surface of the covering member, a direction of a line that passes through the joining ends of the first and second bonding portions of the second wire is parallel to the first line, the first bonding portion of the second wire is disposed closer to the center line than is the first bonding portion of the first wire, and a second extending direction in which the first bonding portion of the second wire extends from the bonding end of the first bonding portion of the second wire to the joining end of the first bonding portion of the second wire is inclined at a second acute angle from the first direction, toward the second direction, the second acute angle being larger than the first acute angle.
Regarding claim 14, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the second wire is disposed at an upstream side with respect to the second direction of the force, and in the side view, the second angle of the second erect direction inclined from the first direction is larger than the first angle the first erect direction inclined from the first direction.
Regarding claim 15, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising a covering member including, at a position that is lower than an upper surface of the sealing member, a facing surface that faces the substrate and covers the first wire and the second wire, wherein in the plan view, the second wire is disposed closer to a center line, which is parallel to the third line and passes through a center of the facing surface, than is the first wire, and the second angle of the second erect direction inclined from the first direction is larger than the first angle of the first erect direction inclined from the first direction.
Regarding claim 16, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 12, further comprising a covering member including, at a position that is lower than an upper surface of the sealing member, a facing surface that faces the substrate and covers the first wire, wherein in the side view, the first angle of the first erect direction inclined from the first direction increases as a distance on the substrate between the first wire and a center line decreases, the center line being parallel to a third direction of a third line that passes through the first and second bonding ends of the first and second bonding portions of the first wire passing through a center of the facing surface.
Regarding claim 17, there is no prior art available nor obvious motivation to combine elements of prior art which teaches a power converter apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the first angle of the first erect direction inclined from the first direction increases as a height from the front surface of the substrate to the facing surface decreases.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments/amendments regarding the rejection of claims 1, 9 and 12, filed on 07/08/2026, have been fully considered but arguments are moot because newly added limitation to the claim (s) requires a new ground of rejection necessitated by amendments.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHAJA AHMAD whose telephone number is (571)270-7991. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM (Eastern Time).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, GAUTHIER STEVEN B, can be reached on (571)270-0373. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KHAJA AHMAD/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2813
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