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 claim 6 in the reply filed on 6/8/2026 is acknowledged.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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.
Claims 1 and 3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wu (20240145316), in view of Genetti (20220246408).
Regarding claim 1, Wu teaches a method, comprising:
positioning a substrate (par. 31 teaches two substrates being bonded) and a plurality of dies (par. 33 teaches one of the substrates having stacked dies) over a substrate support of a bonding tool (par. 17 teaches the substrates being bonded via a bonding tool), wherein the plurality of dies are disposed on the substrate (par. 31 teaches the substrates being over each other), and the substrate is surrounded by an edge ring (par. 30 teaches chucks with edge rings);
inflating a membrane (par. 31 teaches an inflatable structures on the chucks which deforms) of the bonding tool disposed above the substrate and the edge ring to expand the membrane downwards (par. 15 teaches the substrates are brought together via inflating the inflatable structure); and
applying a force from the inflating membrane on the plurality of dies via the PEEK layer (par. 15 teaches after inflating the inflatable structures, the wafers are later pressed together to bond).
Wu fails to teach:
a polyetheretherketone (PEEK) layer attached to the membrane rests on the edge ring
Genetti teaches a tool for manufacturing semiconductor wafers wherein the tool has an edge ring for supporting wafers, wherein the edge rings have supporting pads composed of PEEK (par. 76). Genetti teaches that the supporting pads are beneficial because they provide a non-scratch support surface for the edge ring (par. 76), which would be beneficial in the edge ring of Wu, since the chuck scratching the wafer would decrease yield.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA, at the time of filing, to utilize aforementioned teachings of the prior art(s) in the primary prior art(s) due to aforementioned reason(s).
Regarding claim 3, Wu teaches a method of claim 1, wherein the substrate support is attached to a lower tray (par. 31 teaches pin being attached to the bottom inflatable structure) of the bonding tool and the membrane is attached to an upper tray of the bonding tool (par. 31 teaches pin being attached to the up inflatable structure).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 is 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.
Claim 4 is 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.
Claim 5 is objected to based on its dependency on claim 4.
Claim 6 is 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.
Claims 8-14 allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: prior art fails to teach the temporal ordering of steps mentioned in claim 8.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claims 15-20 allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: prior art fails to teach the temporal ordering of steps mentioned in claim 8.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CALEB E HENRY whose telephone number is (571)270-5370. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eva Montalvo can be reached at (571) 270-3829. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CALEB E HENRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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