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(s) submitted on December 8, 2023 and May 28, 2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-11 and 14-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2007/0023919 A1 (hereinafter “Lin”) in view of US 2012/0007231 A1 (hereinafter “Chang”).
Regarding claim 1, Lin discloses in Fig. 3 and related text an electronic device comprising:
an integrated circuit (IC) substrate (10; [0047]);
an aluminum pad (12; [0048]) on the IC substrate; and
a stack comprising, in sequence:
a barrier layer (18; [0052]) directly deposited on the aluminum pad;
a seed layer (32; [0053]) directly deposited on the barrier layer, the seed layer comprising copper and having a thickness less than 800 nanometers (nm); and
a metal layer (20, 22; [0054]-[0055]) directly deposited on the seed layer, the metal layer comprising nickel and palladium.
Lin does not explicitly disclose the IC substrate is a semiconductor substrate.
Chang teaches in Fig. 1A and related text the IC substrate is a semiconductor substrate (10; [0010]).
Lin and Chang are analogous art because they both are directed to IC fabrication and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Lin with the specified features of Chang because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide a semiconductor substrate as the IC substrate, as taught by Chang, in order to enable semiconductor devices such as transistors to be formed therein (Chang: [0010]; see also Lin: [0047]).
Regarding claim 2, Lin in view of Chang disclose the metal layer comprises a first metal sub-layer (Lin: 22; Fig. 3; [0054]) comprising nickel directly deposited on the seed layer and a second metal sub-layer (Lin: 20; Fig. 3; [0055]) comprising palladium directly deposited on the first metal sub-layer.
Regarding claim 3, Lin in view of Chang disclose the first metal sub-layer entirely covers a top surface of the seed layer (Lin: Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 4, Lin in view of Chang disclose the metal layer consists of the first and second metal sub-layers (Lin: Fig. 3; [0054]-[0055]).
Regarding claim 5, Lin in view of Chang disclose the seed layer has a thickness of 250-600 nm (Lin: [0053]).
Regarding claim 6, Lin in view of Chang disclose the metal layer has a thickness greater than 500 nm (Lin: [0054] and [0056]).
Regarding claim 7, Lin in view of Chang disclose a sectional view of the seed layer has a substantially constant width from the barrier layer to the metal layer (Lin: Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 8, Lin in view of Chang disclose the seed layer consists of a single layer of copper (Lin: Fig. 3; [0053]).
Regarding claim 9, Lin in view of Chang disclose the barrier layer comprises titanium, titanium-nitride, titanium-tungsten, tantalum, and/or tantalum-nitride (Lin: [0032]).
Regarding claim 10, Lin in view of Chang disclose the barrier layer consists of a layer made of titanium, titanium-nitride, titanium-tungsten, tantalum, and/or tantalum-nitride (Lin: Fig. 3; [0032]).
Regarding claim 11, Lin discloses in Fig. 3 and related text a method of manufacturing an electronic device, the method comprising:
providing an aluminum pad (12; [0048]) on an integrated circuit (IC) substrate (10; [0047]) of the electronic device; and
forming a stack on the aluminum pad, the forming comprising:
depositing a barrier layer (18; [0052]) directly on the aluminum pad;
depositing a seed layer (32; [0053]) directly on the barrier layer, the seed layer comprising copper and having a thickness less than 800 nanometers (nm); and
depositing a metal layer (20, 22; [0054]-[0055]) directly on the seed layer, the metal layer comprising nickel and palladium.
Lin does not explicitly disclose the IC substrate is a semiconductor substrate.
Chang teaches in Fig. 1A and related text the IC substrate is a semiconductor substrate (10; [0010]).
Lin and Chang are analogous art because they both are directed to IC fabrication and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Lin with the specified features of Chang because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide a semiconductor substrate as the IC substrate, as taught by Chang, in order to enable semiconductor devices such as transistors to be formed therein (Chang: [0010]; see also Lin: [0047]).
Regarding claim 14, Lin in view of Chang disclose depositing the metal layer directly on the seed layer comprises depositing a first metal sub-layer (Lin: 22; Fig. 3; [0054]) comprising nickel directly on the seed layer and depositing a second metal sub-layer (Lin: 20; Fig. 3; [0055]) comprising palladium directly on the first metal sub-layer.
Regarding claim 15, Lin in view of Chang disclose the first metal sub-layer substantially entirely covers a top surface of the seed layer (Lin: Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 16, Lin in view of Chang disclose the seed layer is deposited with a thickness of 250-600 nm (Lin: [0053]).
Regarding claim 17, Lin in view of Chang disclose the metal layer is deposited with a thickness greater than 500 nm (Lin: [0054] and [0056]).
Regarding claim 18, Lin in view of Chang disclose a sectional view of the seed layer has a substantially constant width from the barrier layer to the metal layer (Lin: Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 19, Lin in view of Chang disclose the seed layer is deposited as a single layer of copper (Lin: Fig. 3; [0053]).
Regarding claim 20, Lin in view of Chang disclose the barrier layer is deposited as a single layer of titanium, titanium-nitride, titanium-tungsten, tantalum, and/or tantalum-nitride (Lin: Fig. 3; [0032]).
Claim(s) 12 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin in view of Chang as applied to claim 11 above, and further in view of US 2006/0267203 A1 (hereinafter “Test”).
Regarding claim 12, Lin in view of Chang disclose the method of claim 11.
Lin in view of Chang do not disclose depositing the metal layer is performed via electroless deposition. Lin discloses depositing the palladium sub-layer (20) of the metal layer is performed via electroless deposition (Lin: [0056]). However, Lin does not disclose depositing the nickel sub-layer (22) of the metal layer is performed via electroless deposition.
Test teaches in Figs. 5A, 6A and related text depositing the metal layer (501, 601; [0031]-[0032]) is performed via electroless deposition.
Lin, Chang and Test are analogous art because they each are directed to IC fabrication and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Lin in view of Chang with the specified features of Test because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to deposit the metal layer via electroless deposition, as taught by Test, because electroless deposition offers superior, uniform thickness on complex shapes without using electrical current.
Regarding claim 13, Lin in view of Chang disclose the method of claim 11.
Lin in view of Chang do not disclose depositing the barrier layer and the seed layer are performed via physical vapor deposition. Lin discloses depositing the barrier layer (18) is performed via physical vapor deposition (Lin: [0032]). However, Lin does not disclose depositing the seed layer (32) is performed via physical vapor deposition.
Test teaches in Fig. 4A and related text depositing the barrier layer (401; [0028]) and the seed layer (402; [0029]) are performed via physical vapor deposition (sputter deposition is a type of physical vapor deposition).
Lin, Chang and Test are analogous art because they each are directed to IC fabrication and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Lin in view of Chang with the specified features of Test because they are from the same field of endeavor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to deposit the barrier layer and the seed layer via physical vapor deposition, as taught by Test, because sputter deposition of metals offers high-quality, dense, and uniform films with excellent adhesion, making it ideal for precision engineering.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER M ALBRECHT whose telephone number is (571)272-7813. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30 AM - 6:30 PM (CT).
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/PETER M ALBRECHT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2811
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