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 of claims 1-8 without traverse in the reply filed on 03/10/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 9-15 are withdrawn by applicant.
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 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 teaches d 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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HUANG et al. (TW-202147533-A)
Regarding claim 1, Huang teaches,
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A thin semiconductor device (FIG. 1A) comprising:
a substrate (10) comprising a first surface (top surface), a second surface (bottom surface) opposite to the first surface, and a circuit layer;
an electronic device (12) is disposed on the first surface and is coupled to the circuit layer (substrate 10 has a circuit layer, see FIG. 1A description);
a wire (conductive element 16A) is disposed on the first surface and is coupled to the circuit layer;
a molding layer (encapsulant layer 17) covers the substrate and covers a part of the electronic device and the wire;
a plurality of antenna units (19) is disposed on the molding layer and is coupled to the wire;
and a plurality of connecting units (11 on bottom surface of 10) is disposed on the second surface and is coupled to the circuit layer (bonding pads 11 are electrically connected to the circuit layer)
But Huang does not explicitly teach conductive element 16A is a wire.
However, it is widely known in art that metal wire is a conductive element.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use metal wire to form the conductive element 16A, according to the teaching of Chang, in order to use minimal material while conductively connecting antenna 19 with bonding pad 11, thereby saving manufacturing cost.
Regarding claim 2, Huang teach the thin semiconductor device of claim 1 and further teach, wherein the wire is coupled to the circuit layer through wire bonding (16A connected to circuit layer of the substrate 10 via bonding pad 11).
Regarding claim 3, Huang teach the thin semiconductor device of claim 1 and further teach, wherein an adhesive layer is disposed on a sealing layer, and the plurality of antenna units is fixed on the sealing layer through the adhesive layer (according to the description “the antenna element 19 can be directly attached to the sealing layer 17 by means of screen printing, and the material can be aluminum glue or silver glue”, adhesive layer can be defined as the lower portion of 19 disposed on 17 with upper portion of 19 as antenna fixed on 17 through the lower portion (adhesive layer)).
Regarding claim 4, Huang teach the thin semiconductor device of claim 3 and further teach, wherein the sealing layer is Epoxy Molding Compound (encapsulant layer 17 may be formed of epoxy-based resin).
Regarding claim 5, Huang teaches the thin semiconductor device of claim 1 and further teach, wherein the electronic device is a radio frequency transceiver (12 may be RF circuits), and each of the plurality of antenna units is a conductive pattern (the material of 19 can be aluminum glue or silver glue which are conductive as widely known in art).
Regarding claim 6, Huang teaches the thin semiconductor device of claim 1 and further teach, wherein the circuit layer includes a plurality of conductive contacts (bonding pad 11 on top surface of 10), which is exposed on the first surface (as seen).
Regarding claim 7, Huang teaches the thin semiconductor device of claim 6 and further teach, wherein the plurality of conductive contacts (11 on top surface of 10) is coupled to the electronic device (12) and the plurality of antenna units (coupled to 19 via 16A).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HUANG et al. and further in view of LIN et al. (US 20190288374 A1)
Regarding claim 8, Hunag teaches the thin semiconductor device of claim 1 but does not explicitly teach, wherein the plurality of connecting units is solder balls.
Hunag is not explicit about type of connecting unit 11
Meanwhile, Lin teaches,
the metal bump 110 (connecting unit) is formed on the first surface of the redistribution layer 109. The metal bump 110 comprises a solder material….(para [0050], Fig. 28)
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It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to form the connecting unit 11 as solder balls, according to teaching of Lin above, in order to electrically connect the circuit layer to external circuits.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KHATIB A RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-0494. The examiner can normally be reached on MON-FRI 8:00 am- 5:00 pm (Arizona).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor Steven Gauthier, can be reached on (571)270-0373. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/K.A.R/Examiner, Art Unit 2813
/STEVEN B GAUTHIER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2813