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 the invention of group I in the reply filed on February 23, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 4 – 11 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.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 February 23, 2026.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the “second microelectronic component having second terminals pads on an additional surface thereof facing the surface of the first microelectronic component” as recited in claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Objections
Claims 1, 2, and 12 – 17 are objected to because of the following informalities: in claims 1, 12, 13, and 15 – 17, the phrase “second terminals pads” should be replaced with –second terminal pads--. Dependent claims 2, and 14 inherit this informality. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0061436 to Yang et al.
Regarding claim 3, Yang et al. teach an electronic system (Figs. 10 – 13) comprises microelectronic components in the form of:
one or more input devices (¶ [0006]);
one or more output devices (¶ [006], chip scale packages such as camcorders, mobile phones, laptop computers inherently including input and output devices);
one or more microprocessor devices (¶ [0006]);
one or more memory devices (¶ [0006]); and
at least one substrate (100) on which at least some of the one or more input devices, output devices, microprocessor devices or memory devices are mounted, the at least one substrate having terminal pads (400) integral with and of a same thickness of associated conductive traces (300) and respectively configured with an irregular surface topography comprising:
at least one protruding portion (420) of a same thickness as a thickness of a respectively associated conductive trace; and
at least one recess portion (440) extending at least to a depth proximate a dielectric material (200).
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 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. in view of US Patent Application Publication No. 2020/0020638 to Heo et al.
Regarding claim 1, Yang et al. teach A microelectronic component assembly, comprising:
a first microelectronic component having first terminal pads (400) on a surface thereof;
the first terminal pads comprising:
at least one protruding portion (420); and
at least one recess portion (440);
conductive traces (300) associated with the first terminal pads, the conductive traces individually being integral with, having a same material composition as, and having a same thickness as the at least one protruding portion of the first terminal pads (Fig. 13, ); and
solder balls (600) bonded to, the first terminal pads and extending into the at least one recess portion of respective ones of the first terminal pads.
Yang et al. do not teach a second microelectronic component having second terminals pads on an additional surface thereof facing the surface of the first microelectronic component, the second terminals pads bonded to, the first terminal pads and respective ones the solder balls extending into the at least one recess portion of respective ones of the first terminal pads and the at least one recess portion of respective ones of the second terminal pads. Heo et al. teach a second microelectronic component (10A) bonded to a first microelectronic component (10B) via solder balls (195, see Fig. 15). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to include the second microelectronic component connected to the first microelectronic component since it is desirable to add the functionality to the chip scale package via the included solder balls since the purpose of the solder balls is for connection to external devices. It would further be obvious to use the terminal pad taught by Yang et al. for the second microelectronic component since it only involves the mere duplication of parts.
Regarding claim 2, the proposed modification of Yang et al. in view of Heo et al. teach a microelectronic component assembly wherein a depth of the at least one recess portion of the irregular surface topography of a respective one of the first terminal pads or a respective one of the second terminal pads is between about 80% and 100% of the thickness of the respective one of the respective one of the second terminal pads.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0237855 to Kroehnert et al. teach a microelectronic component assembly including a terminal pad with protruding portions. Kroehnert et al. do not teach a conductive trace being integral with the terminal pad.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS W OWENS whose telephone number is (571)272-1662. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 5:30-1:30.
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DOUGLAS W. OWENS, Esq.
Primary Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2897
/DOUGLAS W OWENS/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2897