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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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(s) 1 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2025/0016921 (Jeong).
Jeong discloses, referring primarily to figures 4-6, a manufacturing method of circuit board structure, comprising: providing a temporary substrate (200, 210); forming a dielectric layer (220) having at least one through hole (232) on the temporary substrate; forming a surface treatment layer (141) on the temporary substrate in the at least one through hole; forming at least one pad (142) on the surface treatment layer; forming a built-up structure (111, 112) on the dielectric layer; assembling the built-up structure to a substrate (150); removing the temporary substrate (figure 6; [0070]); and removing the dielectric layer. (figure 6; [0072]) [claim 1].
Similarly, Jeong discloses, a manufacturing method of circuit board structure, comprising: providing a temporary substrate (200, 210); forming a dielectric layer (220) having at least one through hole (232) on the temporary substrate; forming a surface treatment layer (141) on the temporary substrate in the at least one through hole; and forming at least one pad (142) on the surface treatment layer [claim 4].
Claim(s) 5-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 2019/0103288 A1 (Cho).
Cho discloses, referring primarily to figures 3-5(c), a circuit board structure, comprising: a built-up structure (110; [0068]); at least one pad (121), disposed on the built-up structure; and a surface treatment layer (122,123, 130), disposed on the at least one pad; and wherein, the surface treatment layer and the at least one pad are not overlapped with each other in a horizontal direction, and the horizontal direction is perpendicular to a stacking direction of the surface treatment layer and the at least one pad [claim 5], wherein the surface treatment layer comprises a first metal layer (123; [0110]) and a second metal layer (130; [0088]), the second metal layer is disposed on the at least one pad, and the first metal layer is disposed on the second metal layer (figure 3) [claim 6], wherein a material of the first metal layer (123, [0110]) is different from a material of the second metal layer (130; [0088]) [claim 7], wherein the surface treatment layer further comprises a third metal layer (122) disposed between the second metal layer and the at least one pad [claim 8].
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jeong in view of 2021/0120677 A1 (Hwang)
Regarding claim 2, Jeong discloses the claimed invention as described above with respect to claim 1 including wherein the temporary substrate comprises a base (201), a release layer (202) and a seed layer (210), the release layer is disposed on the base, the seed layer is disposed on the release layer, the surface treatment layer is formed on the seed layer (figure 5). Jeong does not specifically state that the base is a ceramic substrate, a glass substrate, a silicon substrate or a stainless substrate [claim 2]. However, Jeong teaches that the base may comprise insulating material. Glass is a well known insulating material as evidenced by Hwang ([0113]). Therefore, it would have been obvious, to one having ordinary skill in the art, to use glass as the insulating material in the invention of Jeong as is known in the art and evidenced by Hwang. The motivation for doing so would have been to use a known material to prevent unwanted shorting.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 8, 10, and 11-14 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 3 states the limitation “further comprising: forming a seed layer on the surface treatment layer after forming the surface treatment layer; and removing a part of the seed layer after removing the dielectric layer.” This limitation, in conjunction with the other claimed features, was neither found to be disclosed in, nor suggested by the prior art. Claim 8 states the limitation “wherein a material of the first metal layer is identical to a material of the second metal layer.” This limitation, in conjunction with the other claimed features, was neither found to be disclosed in, nor suggested by the prior art. Claim 10 states the limitation “wherein a material of the first metal layer is different from a material of the second metal layer, and the material of the first metal layer is identical to a material of the third metal layer.” This limitation, in conjunction with the other claimed features, was neither found to be disclosed in, nor suggested by the prior art. Claims 11 and 12 state the limitation “wherein the surface treatment layer further comprises a fourth metal layer disposed between the first metal layer and the second metal layer.” This limitation, in conjunction with the other claimed features, was neither found to be disclosed in, nor suggested by the prior art. Claims 13 and 14 state the limitation “wherein the at least one pad comprises a buried part and a protruding part, the buried part is buried in the built-up structure, the protruding part protrudes from the buried part, and at least a part of the protruding part is located outside the built-up structure.” This limitation, in conjunction with the other claimed features, was neither found to be disclosed in, nor suggested by the prior art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JEREMY C NORRIS whose telephone number is (571)272-1932. The examiner can normally be reached 7:15-15:15 M-F.
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JEREMY C. NORRIS
Examiner
Art Unit 2847
/JEREMY C NORRIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847