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 without traverse of Group 1, claims 1-12 and 15, in the reply filed on January 12, 2026 is acknowledged.
Accordingly, claims 13 and 14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on January 12, 2026.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on October 31, 2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1 and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iguchi et al (US Pub 2013/0292646) in view of Yamashita et al (US Pub 2014/0376097).
In re claim 1, Iguchi et al discloses a semiconductor chip comprising: an imaging element (i.e. layers 71, 79, 9, 17, 5, 4, 33 are considered an imaging element); a substrate (i.e. 1) provided on the imaging element; and a lens (i.e. 21) formed on the glass substrate, wherein the glass substrate has a groove (i.e. 22) around a region where the lens is formed (i.e. see at least Figure 9A).
Iguchi et al does not explicitly disclose the substrate is a glass substrate.
However, Yamashita et al discloses microlens 11 formed on a glass substrate 1 (i.e. see at least Figures 1 and 2 and paragraph 0049).
The advantage is to obtain an imaging element package that can prevent noise generation (i.e. see at least paragraph 0014).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the semiconductor chip as taught by Iguchi et al with the use of a glass substrate as taught by Yamashita et al in order to obtain an imaging element package that can prevent noise generation.
In re claim 15, Iguchi et al discloses an electronic device comprising: a semiconductor chip (i.e. 50) including: an imaging element (i.e. layers 71, 79, 9, 17, 5, 4, 33 are considered an imaging element); a substrate (i.e. 1) provided on the imaging element; and a lens (i.e. 21) formed on the glass substrate; and the glass substrate having a groove (i.e. 22) around a region where the lens is formed (i.e. see at least Figure 9A), a signal processing circuit (i.e. ROIC) that processes signals from the semiconductor chip (i.e. see at least paragraph 0013).
Iguchi et al does not explicitly disclose the substrate is a glass substrate.
However, Yamashita et al discloses microlens 11 formed on a glass substrate 1 (i.e. see at least Figures 1 and 2 and paragraph 0049).
The advantage is to obtain an imaging element package that can prevent noise generation (i.e. see at least paragraph 0014).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the electronic device as taught by Iguchi et al with the use of a glass substrate as taught by Yamashita et al in order to obtain an imaging element package that can prevent noise generation.
Claim(s) 2 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Iguchi et al (US Pub 2013/0292646) in view of Yamashita et al (US Pub 2014/0376097) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Jeong et al (US Pub 2010/0044819).
In re claim 2, Iguchi et al, as modified by Yamashita et al, as discussed above, does not explicitly disclose wherein a side surface of the groove is an inclined surface.
However, Jeong et al discloses openings/grooves 205 in areas surrounding microlenses 228A (i.e. see at least Figures 2B, 2D), and wherein these openings/grooves 205 show an inclined surface (i.e. see at least Figures 2B, 2D).
The advantage is to obtain an image sensor with enhanced photosensitivity and optical properties (i.e. see at least paragraph 0015).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the semiconductor chip as taught by Iguchi et al, as modified by Yamashita et al, with wherein a side surface of the groove is an inclined surface as taught by Jeong et al in order to obtain an image sensor with enhanced photosensitivity and optical properties.
In re claim 4, Iguchi et al, as modified by Yamashita et al, as discussed above, does not explicitly disclose wherein the groove has a curved bottom surface.
However, Jeong et al discloses openings/grooves 205 in areas surrounding microlenses 228A (i.e. see at least Figures 2B, 2D), and wherein these openings/grooves 205 show a curved bottom surface (i.e. see at least Figures 2B, 2D).
The advantage is to obtain an image sensor with enhanced photosensitivity and optical properties (i.e. see at least paragraph 0015).
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to have modified the semiconductor chip as taught by Iguchi et al, as modified by Yamashita et al, with wherein the groove has a curved bottom surface as taught by Jeong et al in order to obtain an image sensor with enhanced photosensitivity and optical properties.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 5-12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ANTHONY HO whose telephone number is (571)270-1432. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 5PM, Monday-Friday.
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/ANTHONY HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817