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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species 1 in the reply filed on 17 February 2026 is acknowledged.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1, 2, 6, 11, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiroaki Hokazono et al. (US 20210280534 A1; hereinafter Hokazono).
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Regarding Claim 1, Hokazono discloses a semiconductor device (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2) comprising:
a semiconductor chip (1; ¶0040);
a conductive sheet (2; which comprises 3,4a,4b and is a conductive sintered silver sheet; ¶0042 ¶0046) provided on the semiconductor chip (1); and
a metal plate (7; which is a metal plate; ¶0041) provided on the conductive sheet (2), wherein
the metal plate (7) has a step portion that is provided on a lateral surface, or a groove portion that is provided on a bottom surface (7 has a step and/or groove as pointed to in annotated Hokazono Fig. 1).
Regarding Claim 2, Hokazono discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein
the metal plate (7) has the step portion, and
a lower end corner portion of the step portion has an angular shape (as shown in annotated Fig. 1 wherein the lower end corner portion has an angular shape).
Regarding Claim 6, Hokazono discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 1, further comprising
a control terminal provided on the semiconductor chip (1) (as described in ¶0041 wherein the semiconductor chip 1 is a three-terminal element such as an IGBT thereby implicitly satisfying this limitation), wherein
the control terminal controls drive of the semiconductor chip (one of the three terminals of the disclosed IGBT implicitly drives the semiconductor chip as one of a gate, collector, and emitter terminal).
Regarding Claim 11, Hokazono teaches a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2), comprising:
forming a step portion on a lateral surface of a metal plate, or forming a groove portion on a bottom surface of the metal plate (as shown in annotated Fig. 1; a step and/or groove portion is formed in a metal plate 7; ¶0041);
by pressing the metal plate (7) onto a conductive sheet (2; which comprises 3,4a,4b and is a conductive sintered silver sheet; ¶0042 ¶0046), bonding the conductive sheet (2) onto the bottom surface of the metal plate (bottom of 7) (as described in ¶0061); and
mounting the metal plate (7) on a semiconductor chip (1; ¶0040) via the conductive sheet (2) (as shown in Fig. 1 in view of Fig. 22).
Regarding Claim 15, Hokazono discloses the manufacturing method of a semiconductor device according to claim 11, comprising forming a control terminal configured to control drive of the semiconductor chip (1) on the semiconductor chip (as described in ¶0041 wherein the semiconductor chip 1 formed and is a three-terminal element such as an IGBT wherein one of the three terminals of the disclosed IGBT implicitly drives the semiconductor chip as one of a gate, collector, and emitter terminal).
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.
Claims 5, 7, 14, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hokazono in view of Yoshimitsu Kuwahara et al. (US 20160111554 A1; hereinafter Kuwahara).
Regarding Claim 5, Hokazono discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein
the conductive sheet (2) is a sintered sheet of silver (¶0042 ¶0046) or copper.
Hokazono is silent regarding wherein the metal plate (7) is a molybdenum plate, but states in ¶0041 that the metal plate may include various metals and in ¶0045 that the semiconductor chip comprises silicon.
In the same field of endeavor, Kuwahara teaches a similar semiconductor device (Fig. 1A) wherein molybdenum (¶0025) is used as a metal plate for a semiconductor element comprising silicon (¶0025).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the molybdenum as the metal of the metal plate of Kuwahara as the metal of the metal plate in Hokazono in order to provide a thermal expansion coefficient for the metal plate close to a thermal expansion coefficient of the silicon-comprising semiconductor chip (Kuwahara; ¶0025).
Regarding Claim 7, Hokazono discloses the semiconductor device according to claim 6, wherein the semiconductor chip having a gate electrode electrically connected to the control terminal (this is implicitly satisfied in ¶0041 as one of the 3 terminals of the semiconductor chip 1 is electrically connected to the gate electrode for control of the transistor).
However, Hokazono is silent regarding wherein the semiconductor chip is an IEGT (Injection Enhanced Gate Transistor) chip.
In the same field of endeavor, Kuwahara teaches a similar semiconductor device (Fig. 1A) including an IEGT chip (10; ¶0015). Kuwahara discloses in ¶0015 that an IEGT chip is an IGBT (as in Hokazono).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the IEGT of Kuwahara replace the IGBT of Hokazono in order to enhance the electron injection (as disclosed in ¶0015 of Kuwahara).
Regarding Claim 14, Hokazono discloses the manufacturing method of a semiconductor device according to claim 11, the conductive sheet (2) is a sintered sheet of silver (¶0042 ¶0046) or copper.
Hokazono is silent regarding wherein the metal plate (7) is a molybdenum plate, but states in ¶0041 that the metal plate may include various metals and in ¶0045 that the semiconductor chip comprises silicon.
In the same field of endeavor, Kuwahara teaches a similar semiconductor device (Fig. 1A) wherein molybdenum (¶0025) is used as a metal plate for a semiconductor element comprising silicon (¶0025).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the molybdenum as the metal of the metal plate of Kuwahara as the metal of the metal plate in Hokazono in order to provide a thermal expansion coefficient for the metal plate close to a thermal expansion coefficient of the silicon-comprising semiconductor chip (Kuwahara; ¶0025).
Regarding Claim 16, Hokazono discloses the manufacturing method of a semiconductor device according to claim 11, wherein the semiconductor chip having a gate electrode electrically connected to the control terminal (this is implicitly satisfied in ¶0041 as one of the 3 terminals of the semiconductor chip 1 is electrically connected to the gate electrode for control of the transistor).
However, Hokazono is silent regarding wherein the semiconductor chip is an IEGT (Injection Enhanced Gate Transistor) chip.
In the same field of endeavor, Kuwahara teaches a similar semiconductor device (Fig. 1A) including an IEGT chip (10; ¶0015). Kuwahara discloses in ¶0015 that an IEGT chip is an IGBT (as in Hokazono).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have the IEGT of Kuwahara replace the IGBT of Hokazono in order to enhance the electron injection (as disclosed in ¶0015 of Kuwahara).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hironobu et al. (US 6147368 A) teaches a similar device in Fig. 7 including a metal plate 46 including a groove or step portion, a conductive sheet 43a, and an IEGT 42a.
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NATHAN PRIDEMORE
Examiner
Art Unit 2898
/NATHAN PRIDEMORE/Examiner, Art Unit 2898 /JULIO J MALDONADO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2898