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
Claims 30-33 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 04/06/2026. Applicant elected the group that is about semiconductor package. Claims 30-33 are related to ultrasonic bonding device which has nothing to do with the semiconductor package. Furthermore, the ultrasonic bonding device is classified outside of the examiners specialty.
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.
Claim(s) 15-18,21-22,25-29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi (US Pub No. 20210343631), in view of Cate et al (US Pub No. 20150262950).
With respect to claim 15, Choi discloses a semiconductor package (Fig.1A) having a double-sided substrate (110A-B) comprising: at least one upper substrate (110B); at least one lower substrate (110A) which faces and is spaced apart from the upper substrate by a regular distance (Fig.1A); connecting members (170) to the upper substrate or the lower substrate (Fig.1A); semiconductor chips (140) comprising one side surface bonded to the upper substrate or the lower substrate (110A) by using a first bonding member (120) interposed therebetween (Fig.1A) and other side surface electrically connected to the connecting member by using a second bonding member (160) interposed therebetween (Fig.1A); an electrical connecting member (the wire) electrically connected between the semiconductor chip and the upper substrate or the lower substrate (Fig.1A); a package housing covering the entire semiconductor chips and at least a part of the electrical connecting member (Para 70, Fig.1A); and at least one terminal electrically connected to the upper substrate, the lower substrate (Para 9, Fig.1A), or the upper and lower substrates and exposed to the outside of the package housing (Fig.1A). However, Choi does not explicitly disclose the connecting member which comprises at least two layers formed of each different metal and is structurally or electrically ultrasonic bonded; by using an ultrasonic bonding device. On the other hand, Wang et al discloses the connecting member (108,110,Fig.1) which comprises at least two layers (Fig.1) formed of each different metal (Para 26, para 23). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify Choi such that solder layer is used to attach a metal pillar to a sintered metal powder layer, in order to have a mechanically sound structure. With respect to the limitation ultrasound bonding “[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process.” In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985). However, the arts cited above do not explicitly disclose ultrasonic bonding device. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify the arts cited above such that ultrasonic bonding device is nearby in the fabrication lab in order to be able to bond devices using clean ultrasonic bonding system, which has minimal residue.
With respect to claim 16, Choi discloses wherein the first bonding member and the second bonding member contain 50% or more of any one of Ag, Cu (Para 58), and Sn.
With respect to claim 17, the limitation “wherein the terminal is ultrasonic bonded to the upper substrate or the lower substrate”, “[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process.” In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985). Furthermore, Choi discloses that the terminal is attached to the supper substrate (Fig.1A).
With respect to claim 18, the arts cited above do not explicitly disclose wherein the upper substrate or the lower substrate comprises at least one radiation fin structurally bonded thereto. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify the arts cited above such that the upper substrate or the lower substrate comprises at least one radiation fin structurally bonded thereto, in order to prevent the overheating of the device, thereby increasing the lifetime of the device.
With respect to claim 21, Choi discloses wherein the upper substrate or the lower substrate comprises at least one insulating layer (Para 44), at least one ceramic layer, a metal material (Para 44), or a structure where at least one lower metal layer, an insulating layer, and at least one upper metal layer are stacked (Fig.1A).
With respect to claim 22, the arts cited above do not explicitly disclose wherein a thickness of each metal layer included in the connecting members is 0.01 mm through 3 mm. However,"[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
With respect to claim 25,Cate et al discloses outer metal layer at the lower part of connecting member (Fig.1); however, the arts cited above do not explicitly disclose wherein most outer metal layers disposed at the upper part of the connecting members each contain 50% or more of Cu. On the other hand, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify the arts cited above such that the most outer metal layer is formed at the upper part of the connection member because Choi has the same metal layer at the top and the bottom of the connection layer, thereby it is necessary to solder the connection member to the upper metal powder layer using the same solder material at the bottom, in order to ease the manufacturing process. Furthermore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the inventio to modify the arts cited above so we have 50 percent or more copper layer in the solder layer in order to create a strong enough bonding of the connection member to increase the lifetime of the device.
With respect to claim 26, the arts cited above do not explicitly disclose, wherein most outer metal layers disposed at the upper part and the lower part of the connecting members are formed of the same metal. However, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify the arts cited above such that wherein most outer metal layers disposed at the upper part and the lower part of the connecting members are formed of the same metal, in order to increase the lifetime of the device, while simplifying the manufacturing of the device.
With respect to claim 27, Choi discloses wherein the connecting members comprise at least one layer (Fig.1A). With respect to limitation plating, “[E]ven though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself. The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production. If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior product was made by a different process.” In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698, 227 USPQ 964, 966 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
With respect to claim 28, Choi discloses wherein at least one micro gap is formed on an ultrasonic bonded surface disposed between the upper substrate or the lower substrate and the connecting members (Fig.1A, the gap between upper substrate and the lower substrate and the ultrasonic bonded surface is a product by process limitation as was described above.
With respect to claim 29, the arts cited above do not explicitly disclose wherein a size of the micro gap is 0.01 um through 1 mm. However,"[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Claim(s) 23-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choi (US Pub No. 20210343631), in view of Cate et al (US Pub No. 20150262950), in view of Yu et al (US Pub No. 20120028411)
With respect to claim 23, Cate et al discloses that layer 108 is made from copper (Para 23); however, it does not explicitly disclose wherein at least one metal layer from among the metal layers included in the connecting members contains 50% or more of any one of Mo and Mn. On the other hand, Yu et al discloses that pillar can be made from copper or molybdenum (Para 21). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the filing of the invention to modify the arts cited above according to the teachings of the Yu et al such that Mo is used instead of Cu as the pillar layer, because they are interchangeable.
With respect to claim 24, the arts cited above do not explicitly disclose wherein a thickness of the metal layer containing any one of Mo and Mn is 10 um or above. However,"[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Conclusion
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/ALI NARAGHI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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