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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 17/502,082, filed on 10/15/2021.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 8/1/2024 and 6/25/2026 were filed after the mailing date of the Non-final rejection on 9/23/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The formal drawings filed on 8/1/2024 have been approved by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being clearly anticipated by Wen et al. (US 7,411,278).
With respect to Claims 1, 15, and 20, Wen teaches package having a first main face for mounting a heat sink 34 and an opposing second main face for being mounted on a mounting base. The package comprises a carrier 10, 12, 14 having a carrier thickness. An electronic component 24, 26, 28 mounted at the carrier 10, 12, 14 having a carrier thickness where the carrier comprises a patterned metal plate 14. The carrier An encapsulant 32 encapsulating at least part of the electronic component 26, 28 and at least part of the carrier. An electrically insulating material 10, 14 covering an electrically conductive material of the carrier at the first main face. The electrically insulating material 10 is a ceramic and forms an exterior portion of the package. The heat sink is mounted on a first main face of the package 32 (see col. 3 lines 65-67, col. 4 lines 1-67, and col. 5 lines 1-67; Figs. 3-7).
With respect to Claim 3, Wen teaches the package comprises 20, 22, which are electrically coupled to the electronic component (see Figs. 3-7).
With respect to Claim 7, Wen teaches the carrier 10, 12, 14 having a carrier first horizontal surface, where the electronic component24, 26, 28 is coupled to the carrier at the carrier first horizontal surface (see Figs. 3-7). .
With respect to Claim 9, Wen teaches the leads 20, 22 are coupled to the carrier at the carrier 10, 12, 14 first horizontal surface (see Figs. 3-7).
With respect to Claim 10, Wen teaches an electrically conductive material (i.e. the metal portion of lead pad of leads 20, 22) positioned between the electronic component and the carrier 10, 12, 14 (see Figs. 3-7).
With respect to Claim 14, Wen teaches a part of the leads 20, 22 is encapsulated by the encapsulant 32 and another part of the leads is exposed with respect to the encapsulant (see Figs. 3-7).
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.
Claims 2, 4, 11-13, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wen et al. (US 7,411,278) as applied to claims 1 above, and further in view of Baek et al. (US 7,847,395).
With respect to Claim 2, Wen discloses the claimed invention except for the encapsulant comprises at least one step at the first main face .
However, Baek discloses the encapsulant comprises at least one step 200 at the first main face(see col. 3 lines 30-67; Figs. 2A and 2B). Thus, Wen and Baek have substantially the same environment of a chip mounted on a substrate and electrically connected to leads that extend through encapsulated package. Therefore, one skilled in the art before the effective fling date of the claimed invention would readily recognize incorporating at least one step on the encapsulant of Wen, since the steps would facilitate in attaching semiconductor package to heat sinks of various sizes and contact areas as taught by Baek.
With respect to Claim 4, Wen discloses a thickness of the carrier 10, 12, 14 is larger than a thickness of the leads 20, 22 (see Figs. 3-7).
With respect to Claim 6, Wen discloses the leads 20, 22 comprising a lead horizontal portion and a lead down set or a double down set (see Figs. 3-7).
With respect to Claim 11, Baek discloses each of the at least one step 200, 210 is formed by a slanted or vertical surface portion connecting two vertically spaced slanted or horizontal surface portions of the encapsulant 110 at the first main face (see Figs. 2A and 3A).
With respect to Claim 12, Baek discloses a plurality of steps 200, 210 at the first main face, wherein the carrier 102-104 is arranged laterally between different ones of the steps (see Figs. 2A and 3A).
With respect to Claim 13, Baek discloses the different steps 200, 210 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the carrier 102-14 and/or with respect to the electrically insulating material (see Figs. 2A and 3A).
With respect to Claim 21, Baek discloses a mounting base 160 on which
the package is mounted (see Fig. 7).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 8 , and 16-19 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 allowance subject
matter: none of the prior art of record teaches or suggest the combination of the thickness of the carrier is 2 mm or more for ensuring a proper heat removal from the electronic component mounted thereon during operation of the package in claim 5.
The lead down set is defined by a distance between the lead horizontal portion and the carrier first horizontal surface, and wherein a ratio of the carrier thickness and the lead down set is greater than 0.5 in claim 8.
A first group of leads and a second group of leads extending side by side, wherein each adjacent pair of the leads of the first group and each adjacent pair of the leads of the second group is spaced by a lateral lead-to-lead distance being smaller than a lateral group-to-group distance between the first group and the second group of leads in claim 16.
Conclusion
12. Any inquiry concerning the communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Alonzo Chambliss whose telephone number is (571)
272-1927.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, Jacob Y. Choi can be reached on (469) 295-9060. The fax phone number
for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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AC/September 23, 2026 /Alonzo Chambliss/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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