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 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 1-4, 7-11, and 14-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Doub et al. (U.S. Patent No. 9,472,458) in view of Yamashita et al. (U.S. Patent No. 9,093,519).
Regarding to claim 1, Doub teaches a method of increasing an adhesion of a dicing tape, the method comprising:
mounting the dicing tape to a frame (Fig. 2, tape 30 is mounted to frame 401);
adhering a substrate directly to the dicing tape through mounting the substrate to the dicing tape after the dicing tape is mounted to the frame (Fig. 2, adhering substrate (including wafer 11 with metal coating 26/28) directly to the dicing tape 30 through mounting the substrate (back surface of conductive back metal 28) to the dicing tape 30 after the dicing tape is mounted to the frame);
at least partially singulating the substrate on the dicing tape (Figs. 3-4);
flipping the substrate onto a second tape after at least partially singulating the substrate (Fig. 7, flipping the substrate onto second tape 301 after at least partially singulating the substrate); and
removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the second tape from the one or more portions after heating the second tape (Figs. 10-11).
Doub does not disclose heating the second tape after flipping the substrate at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the second tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape.
Yamashita discloses heating a tape at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the tape to the substrate through the heating of the tape (column 2, lines 34-39; column 8, lines 1-3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Doub in view of Yamashita to heat the second tape after flipping the substrate at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the second tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape, in order to secure the dies on the tape during the die picking step, thus to increase process yield.
Regarding to claim 2, Doub teaches further comprising flipping a plurality of semiconductor die singulated from the substrate onto a third tape (Fig. 10, flipping a plurality of semiconductor die singulated from the substrate onto third tape 302).
Regarding to claim 3, Doub as modified discloses the one or more temperatures is a single temperature during the predetermined period of time (Yamashita, column 8, lines 1-3).
Regarding to claim 4, Doub as modified discloses heating the second tape further comprises heating using a heating chuck (Yamashita, Fig. 9, column 7, lines 54-56).
Regarding to claim 7, Doub teaches the one or more portions of the substrate are semiconductor die (column 7, lines 6-8).
Regarding to claim 8, Doub teaches a method of increasing an adhesion of a dicing tape, the method comprising:
mounting the dicing tape to a frame (Fig. 2, tape 30 is mounted to frame 401);
adhering a substrate directly to the dicing tape through mounting the substrate to the dicing tape after the dicing tape is mounted to the frame (Fig. 2, adhering substrate (including wafer 11 with metal coating 26/28) directly to the dicing tape 30 through mounting the substrate to the dicing tape 30 after the dicing tape is mounted to the frame);
at least partially singulating the substrate on the dicing tape (Figs. 3-4);
mounting the substrate to a second tape after at least partially singulating the substrate (Fig. 7, mounting the substrate onto second tape 301 after at least partially singulating the substrate); and
removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the second tape from the one or more portions (Figs. 10-11).
Doub does not disclose heating only the second tape and the substrate after mounting the substrate at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the second tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape, and the removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the second tape from the one or more portions happens after heating the second tape.
Yamashita discloses heating only a tape and the substrate after mounting the substrate at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape (column 2, lines 34-39; column 8, lines 1-3, since the reinforcing sheet is between the substrate and the tape during the heating step, the substrate and the tape are heated only during this step, which happens after mounting the substrate to the tape. The heating temperature is 130C and the predetermined period of time is 2 hours. The adhesion is reinforced by heating) and removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the tape from the one or more portions after heating the second tape (Fig. 12A). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Doub in view of Yamashita to heat only a tape and the substrate, after mounting the substrate and before removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the second tape from the one or more portions, at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape, in order to secure the dies on the second tape during the die picking step, thus to increase process yield.
Regarding to claim 9, Doub teaches further comprising mounting one or more portion of the substrate to a third tape (Fig. 10, mounting one or more portion of the substrate to third tape 302).
Regarding to claim 10, Doub as modified discloses the one or more temperatures is a single temperature during the predetermined period of time (Yamashita, column 8, lines 1-3).
Regarding to claim 11, Doub as modified discloses heating the second tape further comprises heating using a heating chuck (Yamashita, Fig. 9, column 7, lines 54-56).
Regarding to claim 14, Doub teaches the one or more portions of the substrate are semiconductor die (column 7, lines 6-8).
Regarding to claim 15, Doub teaches a method of increasing an adhesion of a dicing tape, the method comprising:
mounting only the dicing tape to a frame (Fig. 2, tape 30 is mounted to frame 401);
adhering a substrate directly to only the dicing tape after the dicing tape is mounted to the frame (Fig. 2, adhering substrate (including wafer 11 with metal coating 26/28) directly to the dicing tape 30 through mounting the substrate to the dicing tape 30 after the dicing tape is mounted to the frame);
at least partially singulating the substrate on the dicing tape (Figs. 3-4);
flipping the substrate onto a second tape after at least partially singulating the substrate (Fig. 7, flipping the substrate onto second tape 301 after at least partially singulating the substrate); and
removing one or more semiconductor die from the second tape (Fig. 11).
Doub does not disclose heating the second tape after flipping the substrate at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the second tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape, and the removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the second tape from the one or more portions happens after heating the second tape.
Yamashita discloses heating a tape at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the tape to the substrate through the heating of the tape (column 2, lines 34-39; column 8, lines 1-3), and removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the tape from the one or more portions after heating the second tape (Fig. 12A). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Doub in view of Yamashita to heat the second tape, after flipping the substrate and before removing one or more portions of the substrate through releasing the second tape from the one or more portions, at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the second tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape, in order to secure the dies on the tape during the die picking step, thus to increase process yield.
Regarding to claim 16, Doub teaches further comprising flipping a plurality of semiconductor die singulated from the substrate onto a third tape (Fig. 10, flipping a plurality of semiconductor die singulated from the substrate onto third tape 302).
Regarding to claim 17, Doub as modified discloses the one or more temperatures is a single temperature during the predetermined period of time (Yamashita, column 8, lines 1-3).
Regarding to claim 18, Doub as modified discloses heating the second tape further comprises heating using a heating chuck (Yamashita, Fig. 9, column 7, lines 54-56).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 12-13, and 19-20 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:
Regarding to claim 5, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “heating the second tape further comprises heating using two or more heating chucks” in combination with the limitations recited in claim 1.
Regarding to claim 6, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “the one or more temperatures are less than 100 C” in combination with the limitations recited in claim 1.
Regarding to claim 12, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “heating the second tape further comprises heating using two or more heating chucks” in combination with the limitations recited in claim 8.
Regarding to claim 13, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “the one or more temperatures are less than 100 C” in combination with the limitations recited in claim 8.
Regarding to claim 19, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “heating the second tape further comprises heating using two or more heating chucks” in combination with the limitations recited in claim 15.
Regarding to claim 20, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “the one or more temperatures are less than 100 C” in combination with the limitations recited in claim 15.
Pertinent Art
For the benefits of the Applicant, US-8664089-B1 and US-10056297-B1 are cited on the record as being pertinent to significant disclosure through some but not all claimed features of the defined invention. These references do not disclose heating the second tape after flipping the substrate at one or more temperatures for a predetermined period of time to increase an adhesion of the second tape to the substrate through the heating of the second tape.
Conclusion
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/VU A VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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