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 .
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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 02/09/2025 and 07/29/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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(s) 1 and 3-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Huang et al. (PG Pub 2018/0182671; hereinafter Huang).
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Regarding claim 1, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches a substrate comprising
a core as a glass or ceramic support (para [0022]), wherein the substrate is divided into a product region (annotated “active” Fig. 2b) and a dummy region (annotated “dummy” in Fig. 2b), the product region is a region where one or more individual products (dies not shown; para [0022]) are disposed, the dummy region is a region of the substrate other than the product region (see Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b above),
wherein a breakage prevention portion 103,107,109 is disposed in the product region or the dummy region (see figures above), the breakage prevention portion is a region in which one or more crack stopping structures (grooves and vias) are disposed (para [0023]), and the crack stopping structure is grooves 103,107 or vias 109 who stops cracks generated from the side of the core from growing toward the center of the individual product, and
wherein the groove is a depression in a surface of the core (see Fig. 2a), and the via is a through hole that has been removed so that a portion of the core being penetrate in a thickness direction (see Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b above),
Regarding claim 3, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches the breakage prevention portion 103,107,109 comprises a plurality of grooves 013,107 or vias 109 disposed adjacent to a boundary line (annotated “boundary line” in Fig. 2a above) between the product area (active) and the dummy area (dummy) (see Fig. 2b).
Regarding claim 4, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches the groove 103, 107 or via has an opening (portion filled with metal) having a diameter A , and a pitch of the grooves or vias adjacent to each other is 1.3 to 20 times of A (para [0023]; “if the width of trenches 103 and 107 is 25 µm, then the pitch between the trenches 103 and 107 (center-to-center) would be 50 µm”).
Regarding claim 5, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches the crack stopping structure (grooves and vias) comprises a curved structure (see Fig. 2b) in which the grooves or vias 103,107,109 are disposed along a shape of an edge (outer perimeter of “active”) of the individual product (see Fig.2a and Fig. 2b above).
Regarding claim 6, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches the groove 109 is a filled groove (see figures above), the via is a filled via (see figures above), and an opening of the groove or via comes into contact with a via pad 201 (see figures above).
Regarding claim 7, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches the crack stopping structure (grooves and vias) further comprises a side surface protection layer (side portion of 201) which is a structure covering a part or all of side surfaces of the core (middle portion of 101) (see figures above).
Regarding claim 8, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches a stabilization layer (201 on top, bottom and sides of 101), and wherein the stabilization layer covers surfaces comprising an upper surface and a lower surface of the core (see figures above).
Regarding claim 9, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches a surface comprising the side surface of the core (left and right side), a portion of the upper surface (top) connected to the side surface, and a portion of the lower surface (bottom) connected to the side surface are a side surface to be protected (by 201), and the side surface protection layer (201-side) is disposed on part or all of the side surface to be protected (see figures above).
Regarding claim 10, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches the stabilization layer 201 comprises an insulating layer (para [0026]) and the side surface protection layer (side portion of 201) comprises an insulating layer (see figures above).
Regarding claim 11, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches the stabilization layer 201 comprises an insulating layer (para [0026]) and the side surface protection layer (side portion of 201) comprises an insulating layer (see figures above).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
2. Claim(s) 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Bae et al. (PG Pub 2020/0058551; hereinafter Bae).
Regarding claim 2, refer to the Examiner’s mark-up of Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b provided above, Huang teaches individual product (dies), a center point (center of the active area), and an inner border (border between 201 and 101) when viewed from above (see Fig. 2), the center point is an imaginary point corresponding to a geometric center of the individual product (see Fig. 2), he does not explicitly teach the “individual product has a cutting line and an inner border when viewed from above, the cutting line is a line forming an outline of the individual product when the individual product is separated, and the inner border line is an imaginary line that approaches the center point as much as 20% of a length from the cutting line.
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In the same field of endeavor, refer to Fig. 1 provided above, Bae teaches a semiconductor substrate 100 comprising: an individual product 102 has a cutting line 104 and an inner border (outline of 102) when viewed from above (see Fig. 1), the cutting line is a line forming an outline of the individual product when the individual product is separated (see Fig. 1), and the inner border line is an imaginary line that approaches the center point as much as 20% of a length from the cutting line (see Fig. 1).
In light of such teachings, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate a cutting line, forming an outline of the individual product as taught by Bae, to separate the individual products.
Prior Art
3. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
a. Unemera et al. (PG Pub 2021/0351094) teaches a package substrate.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Christina A Sylvia whose telephone number is (571)272-7474. The examiner can normally be reached on 8am-4pm (M-F).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Marlon Fletcher can be reached on 571-272-2063. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTINA A SYLVIA/Examiner, Art Unit 2817 /MARLON T FLETCHER/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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