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 Objections
Claims 15-16 are objected to because of the following informalities: “the protrusion” lacks antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-4, 6-8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Besshi (WO 2017/221730).
Re claim 1, Besshi discloses an electrical connecting member (30) having a plate shape that is used for connecting an electrode of a semiconductor element (21) having the electrode and a wiring pattern (51) to each other, the electrical connecting member comprising:
a semiconductor connection region (33) that is connected to the electrode of the semiconductor element via a conductive bonding material (63);
a semiconductor non-connection region that is not connected to the electrode of the semiconductor element (Fig 3); and a wiring pattern connection region (32) that is connected to the wiring pattern, wherein
a plurality of protrusions (34) are formed in the semiconductor connection region, and a first through hole (35) is formed between two protrusions disposed adjacently to each other out of the plurality of protrusions.
Re claim 2, wherein the semiconductor element is a semiconductor element that has a plurality of electrodes (front main electrodes, line 192) on one surface thereof, and the electrical connecting member is used for connecting the plurality of electrodes and the wiring pattern to each other (Fig 3).
Re claim 3, wherein the semiconductor element is a semiconductor element that has plural kinds of electrodes (front main electrodes, line 192) on one surface thereof, and the electrical connecting member is used for connecting one kind of electrode out of the plural kinds of electrodes and the wiring pattern to each other (Fig 3).
Re claim 4, wherein the one kind of electrode is divided into a plurality of individual electrodes (front main electrodes, line 192), and the plurality of respective protrusions are formed in regions of the plurality of respective individual electrodes that correspond to the plurality of respective individual protrusions (Fig 3).
Re claim 6, wherein the protrusion has a conical shape, a pyramidal shape, a circular columnar shape (tube, line 206), a prismatic shape or a semispherical shape.
Re claim 7, wherein a second through hole (35) is formed in the semiconductor non-connection region (Fig 3).
Re claim 8, Besshi discloses a semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor element (21) that has an electrode; a wiring pattern (51); and an electrical connecting member (30) having a plate shape that connects the electrode of the semiconductor element and the wiring pattern, wherein the electrical connecting member is the electrical connecting member (Fig 3)
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 Besshi (WO 2017/221730).
The teaching as discussed above does not disclose wherein an area (a plane area) of the first through hole is smaller than an area (a plane area) of the protrusion.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to select the specific area for through hole and the protrusion of Besshi for intended use, since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component. A change in size is generally recognized as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art. In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955).
Communication
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/HUNG V NGO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2841
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