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 .
Claim Objections
Claims 1-4 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1, the phrase “so that each crack reaches corresponding one of the second to-be-removed portions” is missing an article “a” to clearly establish antecedent basis;
Regarding claim 2, the phrase “through corresponding one of intermediate portions” is missing an article “a/an” or “a plurality of” to clearly establish antecedent basis for both “intermediate portions” and “corresponding one of [an/a plurality of] intermediate portions”;
Claims 3 and 4 inherit the above deficiencies and are objected to due to dependency upon objected-to claim.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arai, JP 2004228218 A, in view of Fujii et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 11424162 B2.
Claim 1. Arai discloses a method for manufacturing a plurality of chips by removing, from a workpiece with a plurality of devices formed on a side of a front surface thereof, first to-be-removed portions located around the respective devices and second to-be-removed portions located on a side of a back surface of the workpiece with respect to the respective devices, (Arai, [0020] a dividing groove 111 is formed along streets (cutting lines) 101, the sliver of material between the chips cut partially by the dividing grove 111 corresponding to the claimed removing the first-to-be-removed portions, as annotated below; and [0022] the back surface of the semi-conductor is subjected to grinding with grinding wheel 92 contacting with 10b until dividing groove 111 is exposed, a portion of the back surface 10b corresponding to the claimed removing the second-to-be-removed portions.)
the chips being thinner than the workpiece, (Arai, Fig. 5 and 6b shows semi-conductor wafer 10 layered with a circuit 102 and a protective member 8, corresponding to the claimed workpiece, prior to grinding; Fig. 7 shows the grinding step of the surface 10b until the dividing grove 111 is exposed; and Fig. 8 shows the result of grinding the surface of 10b, creating the semi-conductor chips which are thinner than the workpiece.)
the method step comprising: […] a first removal step of, […] removing the first to-be-removed portions; and (Arai, [0020] “The dividing groove 111 is formed along the street 101 by indexing and feeding the cutting means 72 for each street interval in the direction indicated by Y”; and Fig. 3 shows the streets (cutting lines) 101 is arranged in a lattice pattern on the surface of 10a.)
a second removal step of, after the first removal step, grinding and removing the second to-be-removed portions […] to separate, from the chips, back surface side peripheral edge portions thereof. (Arai, [0022] “As shown in FIG. 7, the dividing groove exposing step is performed by a grinding apparatus 9 including a grinding unit 92 including a chuck table 91 and a grinding wheel 921… Grinding is performed by contacting with 1 Ob, and grinding is performed until the dividing groove 111 is exposed on the back surface 1 Ob as shown in FIG. 9” where the remaining portions of streets 111 left by the dividing groove 111 corresponding to the claimed back surface side peripheral edge portions, as annotated below.)
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Arai does not explicitly disclose an internal processing step of irradiating the first to-be-removed portions with a laser beam of a wavelength having transmissivity for the workpiece to form a plurality of modified regions located in the first to-be-removed portions, respectively, and a plurality of cracks spreading from the modified regions, respectively, so that each crack reaches corresponding one of the second to-be-removed portions through corresponding one of intermediate portions located between the devices and the second to-be-removed portions; a first removal step of, after the internal processing step, removing the first to-be-removed portions; and a second removal step [of, after the first removal step,] grinding and removing the second to-be-removed portions and using the cracks as boundaries to separate, from the chips, back surface side peripheral edge portions thereof.
Fujii discloses [the method comprising:] an internal processing step of irradiating the first to-be-removed portions with a laser beam of a wavelength having transmissivity for the workpiece to form a plurality of modified regions located in the first to-be-removed portions, respectively, and a plurality of cracks spreading from the modified regions, respectively, so that each crack reaches corresponding one of the second to-be-removed portions through corresponding one of intermediate portions located between the devices and the second to-be-removed portions; [a first removal step of,] after the internal processing step, [removing the first to-be-removed portions; and] (Fujii, col. 13 line 17 “In Example 1, the starting point region for cutting is formed at a position near the front face 3 side within the semiconductor substrate 1 in the above-mentioned step of forming a starting point region for cutting, and a fracture is generated in the thickness direction of the semiconductor substrate 1 from the starting point region for cutting acting as a start point”; Fig. 16 shows the starting point regions made within the semiconductor substrate 1 are formed in a grid between the plurality of functional devices, the grid corresponding to the claimed first-to-be-removed portions; and Fig. 8-10 show the laser processing in accordance with the embodiment where a crack propagates from point P in the thickness direction of the substrate, corresponding to the claimed each crack reaching the second to-be-removed portions through the intermediate portions between devices and second to-be-removed portions.)
[a second removal step of, after the first removal step, grinding and removing the second to-be-removed portions] and using the cracks as boundaries [to separate, from the chips, back surface side peripheral edge portions thereof.] (Fujii, Fig. 17 show fractures 15 on the semiconductor substrate 1 before the grinding step; and Fig. 18 shows the semiconductor substrate 1 after the grinding step of the rear face 21, where the fractures 15 are used as boundaries by sufficiently grinding down the rear face 21 until they reach the fractures and the chips are divided into semiconductor chips.)
Arai and Fujii are analogous art because they are related to the processing and manufacturing of semiconductor wafers and chips. Arai differs from the claimed invention only in that it does not explicitly disclose an internal processing step performed by a laser beam along the first-to-be-removed portions in order to form a plurality of modified regions on said first-to-be-removed portions, wherein the modified regions include a plurality of cracks spreading from the modified regions. However, Arai discloses the step following the internal processing step where the streets 102 between the chips are partially cut into to divide them with dividing grooves 111 and removing the slivers of material between the chips which corresponds to the claimed first-to-be-removed portions, and then grinding the opposite surface 10b down until the second-to-be-removed portions of surface 10b is separated from the chips, including the remainder of the first-to-be-removed portions annotated above as “back surface side peripheral edge portions,” until the dividing grooves 111 emerge from the surface of 10b.
Fujii discloses creating a modified region inside the wafer using a laser, which generates a crack spreading in the thickness direction towards both the front and the back of the wafer along the grid lines which correspond with the streets to be cut as taught by Arai. In combination with Arai, the fracture 15 formed by the laser method step of Fujii along the streets (cutting lines) 101 of Arai prior to cutting would propagate through the area annotated above as “back surface side peripheral edge portions.” These back surface side peripheral edge portions are removed from the chips with the aid of the fractures as the rear side of the substrate is ground down to a sufficient thickness.
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the wafer cutting method of Arai with a step of irradiating the wafer with a laser in order to form a molten processed region that generates a fracture in the thickness direction as taught by Fujii, prior to cutting into the streets as taught by Arai. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification in order to form a molten processed region as “when a molten processed region is formed within the substrate, unnecessary fractures deviating from a line along which the substrate should be cut are hard to occur at the time of fracturing, which makes it easier to control the fracturing” (see Fujii, col. 9 line 31) and because during the grinding step of the rear face of the semiconductor substrate, “even if the rear face 21 reaches the fractures 15 generated from the starting point region for cutting acting as a start point, the cut surfaces of the semiconductor substrate 1 cut by the fractures 15 are in close contact with each other, whereby the semiconductor substrate 1 can be prevented from chipping and cracking because of the surface grinding. Therefore, the semiconductor substrate 1 can be made thinner and divided while preventing the chipping and cracking from occurring” (see Fujii, col. 14 line 40).
Claim 4. Modified Arai discloses the method according to claim 1,
further comprising: before the internal processing step, after the internal processing step and before the first removal step, or after the first removal step and before the second removal step, a bonding step of bonding the devices to a support substrate such that the second to-be-removed portions are exposed. (Arai, Fig. 6 and [0021] describes a protective member 8 for grinding is stuck on the surface side after cutting dividing grooves 111 is cut into the wafer, corresponding to the claimed the first removal step; and [0022] details how the back surface 10b is ground after the protective member 8 is stuck to the front surface.)
Claim(s) 2 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Arai, JP 2004228218 A, in view of Fujii et al., US Patent Application Publication No. 11424162 B2, in further view of US Patent Application Publication No. 20230249285 A1.
Claim 2. Modified Arai discloses the method according to claim 1.
Modified Arai does not explicitly disclose wherein, in the internal processing step, the laser beam is split to form a plurality of focal points, and the workpiece is irradiated with the laser beam such that the focal points are formed at locations different from one another in corresponding one of a thickness direction of the workpiece and directions orthogonal to the thickness direction.
Sakamoto discloses wherein, in the internal processing step, the laser beam is split to form a plurality of focal points, and the workpiece is irradiated with the laser beam such that the focal points are formed at locations different from one another in corresponding one of a thickness direction of the workpiece and directions orthogonal to the thickness direction. (Sakamoto, Fig. 21 shows laser lights L1 and L2 converging at different spots C1 and C2 in the z direction, corresponding to the claimed thickness direction, and the y direction, corresponding to the claimed orthogonal to the thickness direction; and [0128] “The first forming step (first forming process) and the second forming step (second forming process) may be performed simultaneously (multifocal processing) or sequentially (single-pass processing).”)
Arai, Fujii and Sakamoto are analogous art because they are related to the processing and manufacturing of semiconductor wafers and chips. Modified Arai differs from the claimed invention only in that it does not explicitly disclose multiple laser beams converging at different spots in a thickness direction and in a direction orthogonal to the thickness direction. Sakamoto discloses a first forming step associated with L1 and C1 and second forming step associated with L2 and C2, performed simultaneously through multifocal processing. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the step of irradiating the wafer with a laser in order to form a molten processed region that generates a fracture in the thickness direction as taught by Fujii with a multifocal processing step to simultaneously irradiate multiple spots inside the wafer. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make such a modification to form the modified region 12a and 12b and their corresponding fractures 13a and 13b in the wafer, as the forming of the second fracture “can stop the extension of the fracture when the first fracture begins to extend to the first surface side along the Z direction because the first fracture is connected to the second fracture. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the extension of the fracture according to this method” and “the influence of the formation of the second fracture that is an inclined fracture is reduced by removing the second fracture by grinding the grinding planned area” thereby more reliably suppressing the extension of the fracture according to the manufacturing specification of the wafer (see Sakamoto, [0007]-[0008]).
Claim 3. Modified Arai discloses the method according to claim 2,
further comprising: before the internal processing step, after the internal processing step and before the first removal step, or after the first removal step and before the second removal step, a bonding step of bonding the devices to a support substrate such that the second to-be-removed portions are exposed. (Arai, Fig. 6 and [0021] describes a protective member 8 for grinding is stuck on the surface side after cutting dividing grooves 111 is cut into the wafer, corresponding to the claimed the first removal step; and [0022] details how the back surface 10b is ground after the protective member 8 is stuck to the front surface.)
Conclusion
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/K.B.M./Examiner, Art Unit 3761
/JUSTIN C DODSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761
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