DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-7 in the reply filed on 06/08/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-7 are pending for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/18/2024, 03/08/2024 were filed after the mailing date of the application. The submission 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 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 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiyama, U.S. Pub. No. 2004/0130018, in view of Becker, U.S. Patent No. 7284992.
Regarding claim 1, Sugiyama discloses a semiconductor device comprising:
Porous SiC [0010] impregnated with metal including Al as a main component (abstract),
A ceramic substrate 12,
A circuit pattern 4/14 provided on the ceramic substrate (layer 4/14; Fig. 8), and
A semiconductor chip 5 [0044] joined to the circuit pattern 4 (Figs. 8-9),
Sugiyama fails to disclose wherein the porous SiC includes a holding portion that holds the ceramic substrate.
Becker discloses a bottom substrate having support frame 200 disposed around and supporting the ceramic substrate 202 (Fig. 2A; the support frame 200 ceramic substate 202).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in art at the time the invention was made to modify Sugiyama’s device by forming the metal-impregnated porous SiC substrate with a support frame portion as taught by Becker in order to support and accurately position the ceramic substrate, thereby improving support, assembly, and package reliability.
Regarding claim 2, Becker discloses wherein the holding portion holds the ceramic substrate by surrounding an entire outer periphery of the ceramic substrate (Fig. 2A).
Regarding claim 3, Becker discloses wherein the holding portion is in contact with a side surface of the ceramic substrate at three or more locations (207, 208) and holds the ceramic substrate (Fig. 2A).
Regarding claim 4, Becker discloses the ceramic substrate has a quadrangular shape in plan view and the holding portion holds different sides of the ceramic substrate (Figs. 2A-5; the support frame 200 includes 261a, 261b…and the ceramic substrate 202 is quadrangular shape in plan view).
Regarding claim 5, Sugiyama and Becker fail to disclose wherein the holding portion is key-shaped. However, the selection of such parameters such as energy, concentration, temperature, time, molar fraction, depth, thickness, etc., would have been obvious and involve routine optimization which has been held to be within the level of ordinary skill in the art. "Normally, it is to be expected that a change in energy, concentration, temperature, time, molar fraction, depth, thickness, etc., or in conbination of the parameters would be an unpatentable modification. Under some circumstances, however, changes such as these may impart patentability to a process if the particular ranges claimed produce a new and unexpected result which is different in kind and not merely degree from the results of the prior art ... such ranges are termed "critical ranges and the applicant has the burden of proving such criticality.... More particularly, where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation." In re Aller 105 USPQ233, 255 (CCPA 1955). See also In re Waite 77 USPQ 586 (CCPA 1948); In re Scherl 70 USPQ 204 (CCPA 1946); In re Irmscher 66 USPQ 314 (CCPA 1945); In re Norman 66 USPQ 308 (CCPA 1945); In re Swenson 56 USPQ 372 (CCPA 1942); In re Sola 25 USPQ 433 (CCPA 1935); In re Dreyfus 24 USPQ 52 (CCPA 1934).
Regarding claim 6, Becker discloses the ceramic substrate is divided into two or more pieces (Fig. 2A).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugiyama, U.S. Pub. No. 2004/0130018, in view of Becker, U.S. Patent No. 7284992, further in view of Parsons et al., U.S. Patent No. 6,319,757.
Regarding claim 7, Sugiyama fails to disclose the semiconductor chip 5 is formed of a wide-bandgap semiconductor.
Parsons discloses a die is formed of SiC material (abstract). It is inherent that SiC is universally recognized as a wide-bandgap semiconductor with bandgap is about 3.2 eV.
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the semiconductor device of Sugiyama to have a wide bandgap chip as taught by Parsons because the use of wide bandgap chip on ceramic substrate would provide advantages in high power and high temperature semiconductor.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THAO P LE whose telephone number is (571)272-1785. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 9AM-6PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeff Natalini can be reached on 571-272-2266. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.
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/THAO P LE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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