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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The Information Disclosure Statement filed on September 28, 2023 has been considered.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang, US 2022/0310483 A1, in view of Polomoff, US 2021/0356514 A1. Claims 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang in view of Polomoff and Kang, US 2020/0235091 A1.
Claim 1: Chang discloses
an active prime region (110);
and a bypass structure having:
a contact (metallization layer in 250 [0042]) connecting to a component within the active prime region (110) and extending outside the active prime region;
a metal layer (260) connecting to the contact outside the active prime region;
Chang discloses that “the conductive contact pads 255, 260 facilitate back-side connections to the semiconductor arrangement 100.” As seen in FIG 1, pad 260 is at the bottom of via 215 that is outside the prime region. Thus there is a non-illustrated connection connecting the semiconductor elements in the device to the pad 260 and via 215.
and a through via (210) passing through the depth of the active prime region and connecting to a solder bump (245).
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Chang does not disclose the claimed barrier region. However, these were well known in the art. See Polomoff, which discloses a barrier region (guard ring 110 or crack stop 112, 114) within the active prime region to define a barrier through a depth of the active prime region (FIGS. 2, FIG. 6).
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It would have been obvious to have such elements to protect against damage in difficult conditions ([0003]).
Claim 2: the component includes a transistor device (Chang 125, FIG. 1).
Claim 3: Chang discloses a first carrier substrate (Chang 105, FIG. 1) bonded to the active prime region wherein the contact passes through a depth of the first carrier substrate.
Claim 4: the first carrier substrate includes an opposite (bottom) side of the active prime region. As layer 260 is formed on the opposite side (Chang FIG. 1).
Claim 5: the through via connects to the metal layer on the opposite side (through metallization in layer 250, [0042]).
Claim 6: in Chang in view of Pomoloff, the through via passes through the active prime region within the barrier region.
Claim 7: the active prime region has not been defined in a way that requires a define boundary, and some of the place where via 215 passes can be considered part of the active prime region outside the barrier region. Alternatively, the guard ring and/or crackstop may only surround certain more sensitive components in region 110.
Claim 8: Chang has a plurality of bypass structures (connections metallizations in 250, [0042]) wherein at least one bypass structure includes the through via passing through the active prime region within the barrier region and wherein at least one bypass structure includes the through via passing through the active prime region outside the barrier region.
“In some embodiments, the metallization layers 310A, 310B, 310C, 310D each comprise the passivation layer 220, 250, the polyimide layer 235, and the conductive contact pads 225, 230, 255, 260. At least some of the devices 300A, 300B, 300C, 300D comprise first regions 110A, 110B including the TSV structure 210 and the second region 115 including the TSV structure 215.” The bypass structures correspond to the metallizations in 250 that connect the devices to vias 210 and 215.
Claim 9: the bypass structure connects to a second semiconductor device (e.g., second transistor, FIG. 1).
Claim 10: the contact extends into the active prime region through back end of line metallization structures (metallization in 250, [0042]).
Claim 11: Chang discloses
an active prime region (110);
and an outside bypass structure having:
a contact (metallizations in 250, [0042]) connecting to a component within the active prime region and extending outside the active prime region;
a metal layer (260) connecting to the contact outside the active prime region;
and a through via (215) passing through the depth of the active prime region outside the barrier region and connecting to a solder bump (245).
Chang does not disclose the claimed barrier region. However, these were well known in the art. See Polomoff, which discloses a barrier region (guard ring 110 or crack stop 112, 114) within the active prime region to define a barrier through a depth of the active prime region (FIGS. 2, 6) and including at least a crackstop (112, 114). It would have been obvious to have such elements to protect against damage in difficult conditions ([0003]).
Claim 12: Chang discloses a first carrier substrate (105) bonded to the active prime region wherein the contact passes through a depth of the first carrier substrate (this is necessary to connect to the metallizations in 250).
Claim 13: the first carrier substrate includes an opposite side (bottom) of the active prime region and the metal layer is formed on the opposite side (in layer 250, [0042]).
Claim 14: the through via connects to the metal layer on the opposite side (FIG. 1).
Claim 15: the contact extends into the active prime region through back end of line metallization structures (in layer 250. [0042]).
Claim 16: Chang discloses
forming a contact (connections to metallizations in 250, [0042]) through a first carrier substrate (105) to connect to a component within an active prime region, the contact extending outside the active prime region (to 260),
opening a through hole through a depth of the active prime region and the first carrier substrate (steps 802, 804 FIG. 8);
filling the through hole to form a through via passing through the depth of the active prime region and the first carrier substrate (steps 802, 804 FIG. 8);
In this case the “through hole” could be through any of the device substrates or multiple substrates.
Chang does not disclose the steps of making the vias, but this was the standard way. See Kang, FIGS. 13G and 13H [0141]-[0144], for formation of a via by forming a though hole and then filing the hole.
forming one or more metal layers (metallizations in 250) on the first carrier substrate to connect to the contact and the through via outside the active prime region;
and forming a solder bump connection (240, 245) to the through via wherein the contact, the through via and one or more metal layers form a bypass structure to provide access to the active prime region.
Chang does not disclose the claimed barrier region. However, these were well known in the art. See Polomoff, which discloses a barrier region (guard ring 110 or crack stop 112, 114) within the active prime region to define a barrier through a depth of the active prime region (FIGS. 2, FIG. 6).
It would have been obvious to have such elements to protect against damage in difficult conditions ([0003]).
Claim 17 and 18: Chang, FIG. 8, discloses forming the separate devices, which are then joined. Chang at [0035] discloses that “[i]n some embodiments, at least one passivation layer 250 is formed over (or under) the substrate layer 105. For example, in some embodiments, the semiconductor arrangement 100 is flipped during processing such a bottom surface of the substrate layer 105 as shown in FIG. 1 faces upward, and the passivation layer 250 is formed on the bottom surface of the substrate layer 105 (thereby forming the passivation layer 250 over the substrate layer 105 while the semiconductor arrangement is flipped).” It is not disclosed if this is performed before or after the joining of the device layers together. It would have been obvious to do it either way, as only the bottom portion need be finished to connect the interconnects in 250 to the metal portions on the bottom of 105. Therefore, either the order of claim 17 or claim 18 would have been obvious.
Claim 19: in Chang in view of Pomoloff, the through via (210) passes through the active prime region within the barrier region (Chang FIG. 2).
Claim 20: the active prime region has not been defined in a way that requires a define boundary, and some of the place where via 215 passes can be considered part of the active prime region outside the barrier region. Alternatively, the guard ring and/or crackstop may only surround certain more sensitive components in region 110.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and is listed in the attached Notice of References Cited.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER BRADFORD whose telephone number is (571)270-1596. The examiner can normally be reached 10:30-6:30.
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/PETER BRADFORD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897