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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 5-12 and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshihara et al. (USPGPub 2001/0008300).
Claim 1: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 9A-12) a wafer singulation film (2) for a wafer (1), comprising: a carrier film which has an adhesive layer (2b) on one side, wherein the adhesive layer has a microstructuring with adhesive regions and non- adhesive regions (6), and wherein the microstructuring of the adhesive layer is complementary or at least partially complementary to a microstructuring (3) on a surface of the wafer. Yoshihara teaches curing regions (6) to reduce the adhesive ability of the film in selective areas. One of ordinary skill in art would be able to reduce the adhesiveness to zero based on the teachings of Yoshihara.
Claim 2: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 9A-12) the non-adhesive regions have a lateral dimension in a range of from 30 pm to 3000 pm.
Claim 3: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 9A-12) the non-adhesive regions have a lateral dimension in a range of from 100 pm to 1000 pm.
Claim 5: Yoshihara teaches [0050] the microstructuring of the adhesive layer is achieved by passivating the adhesive layer in the non-adhesive regions.
Claim 6: Yoshihara teaches (Figure 12) the non-adhesive regions are in the form of strips.
Claim 7: Yoshihara teaches (Figure 12) the non- adhesive regions are arranged periodically in a predeterminable grid.
Claim 8: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 19-21) [0071] the wafer singulation film (100) is clamped in a tensioning frame (40) with a pretensioning.
Claim 9: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 9A-12) a wafer system comprising; a wafer having a surface with a misstructuring; and a wafer singulation film comprising a carrier film which has an adhesive layer on once side, the adhesive layer having microstructuring with adhesive and non-adhesive regions, and the microstructuring of the adhesive layer being complementary or at least partially complementary to the microstructuring of the surface of the wafer. Yoshihara teaches curing regions (6) to reduce the adhesive ability of the film in selective areas. One of ordinary skill in art would be able to reduce the adhesiveness to zero based on the teachings of Yoshihara.
Claim 10: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 9A-12) a method for producing a wafer singulation film for a wafer comprising: providing a carrier film having a homogeneous adhesive layer on one side, structuring the adhesive layer with a microstructuring having adhesive regions and non-adhesive regions, wherein the microstructuring is formed complementary to a microstructuring on a surface of the wafer. Yoshihara teaches curing regions (6) to reduce the adhesive ability of the film in selective areas. One of ordinary skill in art would be able to reduce the adhesiveness to zero based on the teachings of Yoshihara.
Claim 11: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 9A-12) detecting the microstructuring on the surface of the wafer before the structuring of the adhesive layer is carried out.
Claim 12: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 19-21) [0071] clamping the carrier film with the adhesive layer in a tensioning frame with a pretensioning before the structuring of the adhesive layer is carried out.
Claim 15: Yoshihara teaches [0050] the microstructuring of the adhesive layer is achieved by passivating the adhesive layer in the non-adhesive regions.
Claim 16: Yoshihara teaches [0050] passivation is carried out via ultraviolet radiation.
Claim 17: Yoshihara teaches (Figures 9A-12) a method for using the wafer singulation film the wafer singulation film with the adhesive layer with microstructuring which is complementary to the microstructuring on the surface of the wafer; that the microstructuring of the adhesive layer matches the microstructuring on the surface of the wafer; bonding the surface of the wafer and the wafer singulation film over the adhesive layer; and singulating the wafer. Yoshihara teaches curing regions (6) to reduce the adhesive ability of the film in selective areas. One of ordinary skill in art would be able to reduce the adhesiveness to zero based on the teachings of Yoshihara.
Claim(s) 4 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshihara et al. (USPGPub 2001/0008300), as applied to claims 1 and 10 above, and further in view of Seko et al. (US Patent 6,171,163)
Regarding claim 4, as described above, Yoshihara substantially reads on the invention as claimed, except Yoshihara does not teach the adhesive layer is achieved by at least partially removing the adhesive layer in the non-adhesive regions. Seko teaches (Col. 12 lines 14-20) the adhesive layer is achieved by at least partially removing the adhesive layer in the non-adhesive regions as means of creating the non-adhesive portions of the tape for use in wafer singulation. Therefore, 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 the film taught by Yoshihra to have the non-adhesive regions removed as it’s a known alternate to just reducing or keeping the non-adhesive regions as taught by Seko.
Claim 13. Seko teaches the microstructuring of the adhesive layer is achieved by at least partially removing the adhesive layer in the non-adhesive regions.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yoshihara et al. (USPGPub 2001/0008300) and Seko et al. (US Patent 6,171,163), as applied to claims 13 above, and further in view of Dang et al. (SU PGPub 2017/0125268)
Regarding claim 14, as described above, Yoshihara and Seko substantially read on the invention as claimed, except Yoshihara and Seko do not teach the removal of the adhesive layer is carried out by shaving off using an ultrashort pulse laser. Deng teaches the use of a laser as one of many options for the removal of the adhesive layer [0024, 0001].Therefore, 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 the removal process taught by Yoshihara and Seko to have included the use of a laser because it is well known in the art as taught by Dang [0024].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH KATE SALERNO whose telephone number is (571)270-1266. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-2:30pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wael Fahmy can be reached at 5712721705. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/SARAH K SALERNO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814
Prosecution Insights