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
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed on August 28, 2024.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Electronic Package With Liquid Metal
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 and 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ando (US Pat. No. 6,380,621). Claim 1, Ando discloses (Fig. 8) an electronic package, comprising: a carrier structure (2, wiring board, Col. 4, lines: 20-25); an electronic component (3, semiconductor chip, Col. 4, lines: 6-10) disposed on the carrier structure (3 is disposed on 2); a heat dissipation structure (7/14, plate member for thermal diffusion/supporting member, Col. 5, lines: 33-50, Col. 9, lines: 24-30) disposed on the electronic component (7 is disposed on 3); a thermal interface material (7A, metallized layer is an interface for thermal diffusion of 7, Col. 5, lines: 12-15 ) provided for the heat dissipation structure to be disposed on the electronic component through the thermal interface material (7 is disposed on 3 through 7A); a back side metallization (3B, metallized layer, Col. 5, lines: 6-10) disposed on the electronic component (3B is on 3) and connected to the thermal interface material (3B is connected to 7A through 6); and a liquid metal (6, metallic solder, Col. 5, lines: 1-10) provided between the thermal interface material and the back side metallization (6 is provided between 7A and 3B), and bonded to the thermal interface material (6 is bonded to 7A). Claim 2, Ando discloses (Fig. 8) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein the electronic component (3) has an active surface (bottom surface of 3) and a non-active surface (top surface of 3) opposite to each other (bottom surface is opposite to top surface of 3), and the active surface is electrically connected to the carrier structure (2) through a plurality of conductive bumps (4, bump electrodes, Col. 5, lines: 1-5) in a flip-chip manner (3 is connected to 2 through 4 in a flip-chip manner). Claim 3, Ando discloses (Fig. 8) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein the heat dissipation structure (7/14) has a top sheet (7) and a supporting leg (14), one end of the supporting leg (top end of 14) is bonded to the top sheet (top end of 14 is bonded to 7), and another end (bottom end of 14) of the supporting leg is disposed on the carrier structure (bottom end of 14 is disposed on 2b) , and a bottom of the top sheet is opposite to a top of the electronic component (bottom of 7 is opposite to top of 3). Claim 4, Ando discloses (Fig. 8) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein the thermal interface material (7A) is a liquid metal, a metal layer, or a thermally conductive colloid (7A may be same material as 3B which could be laminated nickel and gold, Col. 5, lines: 5-20).
Claim 6, Ando discloses (Fig. 8) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein the back side metallization (3B) comprises at least one of an aluminum layer, a titanium layer, a chromium layer, a nickel layer, a nickel-vanadium alloy layer, and a copper layer (3B may comprise nickel layer, Col. 5, lines: 5-10).
Claim(s) 1, 8-11, and 13-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kubo (US 2006/0146503).
Claim 1, Kubo discloses (Figs. 1 and 5) an electronic package, comprising: a carrier structure (12, printed wiring board, Para [0027]); an electronic component (16, LSI chip, Para [0029]) disposed on the carrier structure (16 is on 12); a heat dissipation structure (22/25, heat sink/restraint member, Para [0033]) disposed on the electronic component (22/25 is on 16); a thermal interface material (26, thermal grease, Para [0034]) provided for the heat dissipation structure (22/25) to be disposed on the electronic component through the thermal interface material (22/25 is disposed on 16 through 26); a back side metallization (21, solidified mass may be silver paste, Para [0031]) disposed on the electronic component (21 is on 16) and connected to the thermal interface material (21 is connected to 26 through 19); and a liquid metal (32, heat conductive filler may be metallic particle, Para [0034]) provided between the thermal interface material and the back side metallization (as seen in Fig. 5, 32 is between 26 and 21), and bonded to the thermal interface material (32 are bonded to 26 as seen in Fig. 5).
Claim 8, Kubo discloses (Figs. 1 and 5) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein the liquid metal (32) serves as a fixing material between the thermal interface material and the back side metallization (32 fixes position of 26 relative to 21), and is melted into the thermal interface material at a high temperature (since this is a product-by-process limitation it gets little patentable weight and is taught by the liquid metal 32 having a predetermined heat conductivity, Para [0034]). Claim 9, Kubo discloses (Figs. 1 and 5) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein the liquid metal (32) has a viscosity to limit a displacement of the thermal interface material relative to the back side metallization (as can be seen in Fig. 5, 32 helps set 26 from moving relative to 21, Para [0034]). Claim 10, Kubo discloses (Figs. 1 and 5) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein a distribution area of the liquid metal (32) occupies at most 1% of a distribution area of the back side metallization (as can be seen in Fig. 5 since 32 does not directly contact 21 it would occupy 0% of the distribution area of 21). Claim 11, Kubo discloses (Figs. 1 and 5) the electronic package of claim 1, wherein the liquid metal (32) is melted into the thermal interface metal to form a plurality of metal particles (since this is a product-by-process limitation it gets little patentable weight and is taught by the fact 32 is a labeled as a metal particle, Para [0034]) Claim 13, Kubo discloses (Figs. 1 and 5) the electronic package of claim 11, wherein the liquid metal (32) is correspondingly located at a center position of the electronic component (32 is located center above 16), and the metal particles are correspondingly distributed on the center position (32s are distributed in a center position above 16) of the electronic component after heating and pressurization (since this is a product-by-process limitation it gets little patentable weight). Claim 14, Kubo discloses (Figs. 1 and 5) the electronic package of claim 11, wherein the liquid metal (32) is correspondingly provided around the electronic component (32 is provided around 16 vertically and to the side), and the metal particles are correspondingly distributed around the electronic component after heating and pressurization (since this is a product-by-process limitation it gets little patentable weight).
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.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ando (US Pat. No. 6,380,621) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hussain (US 2013/0105975).
Claim 5, Ando discloses the electronic package of claim 1. Ando does not explicitly disclose wherein the thermal interface material is an indium metal layer.
However, Hussain discloses (Fig. 11) discloses wherein a thermal interface material (110, thermal interface material which may be thermal grease, Para [0041]) is an indium metal layer (110 can be indium, Para [0041]). Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing
date of the claimed invention to apply the teachings of Zhou, including the specific material of the
insulative liner to the teachings of Matovu.
The motivation to do so is that the combination yields the predictable results of allowing for the
selection of a known material based on its suitability for the intended use as an thermal interface material to help spread the heat from the underlying semiconductor device. Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 65 USPQ 297 (1945). See also MPEP 2144.07.
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kubo (US 2006/0146503) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Hwang (US 2007/0256761). Claim 7, Kubo discloses the electronic package of claim 1. Kubo does not explicitly disclose wherein the liquid metal comprises gallium metal particles.
However, Hwang discloses (Fig. 17) wherein a liquid metal (11, conductive filler, Para [0051]) comprises gallium metal particles (11 may comprise gallium particles, Para [0051]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing
date of the claimed invention to apply material such as gallium to the liquid metal of Kubo as gallium can help reduce IMC growth (Hwang, Para [0050]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 is 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: the closest prior art of record, Ando (US Pat. No. 6,380,621), Hussain (US 2013/0105975), Kubo (US 2006/0146503), Hwang (US 2007/0256761), Morita (US 2021/029617), fail to disclose (by themselves or in combination) the following limitations in combination with the rest of the claim:
Regarding Claim 12, the metal particles have a first thermal conductivity coefficient, the thermal interface material has a second thermal conductivity coefficient, and the first thermal conductivity coefficient is less than the second thermal conductivity coefficient.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Morita (US 2021/029617) discloses a silver-coated silicone filler with a thermal conductivity of 439 W/mK.
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/GUSTAVO G RAMALLO/Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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