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 .
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 9, 10, 12, and 16 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.
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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 1, 7, 8, 11, 13, and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. 2015/0111000 A1 (“Sasaki”).
Considering claims 1, 8, and 17, Sasaki discloses a carrier having a continuous peripheral recess on each opposing surfaces of the carrier, wherein each recess is located a respective peripheral adhesive that bonds the carrier to respective peripheries of respective 2-50 µm thick metal layers made of copper, and wherein respective release layers having thickness of 1 µm are placed between the carrier and the respective metal layers at respective central regions of the metal layers. (Sasaki ¶¶ 0043, 0068, 0071, 0073, and 0081; and Figs. 4a, 5a-5e, and 10). Sasaki is analogous art, for it is directed to the same field of endeavor as that of the instant application (temporary carrier for making circuit board). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have selected the overlapping portion of the ranges disclosed by the reference because overlapping ranges have been held to be a prima facie case of obviousness. (See In re Wertheim, 191 USPQ 90, In re Woodruff, 16 USPQ2d 1934, and In re Peterson, 65 USPQ2d 1379; MPEP § 2144.05).
In one embodiment, Sasaki discloses that whereas the respective central regions of opposing faces of the carrier have a mirror surface (viz. surface having low surface roughness), peripheral surfaces of the carrier onto which peripheral adhesives are applied are roughened as to increase adhesion. (Sasaki ¶¶ 0108 and 0109). Although Sasaki does not expressly disclose an embodiment in which a peripheral surface has both increased roughness and recess, doing so is obvious as Sasaki discloses benefits for each.
Although not phrased in terms of Sdr, as Applicant acknowledges, Sdr is directly and proportional to increase in surface roughness over an ideal flat surface. (Spec. ¶ 0012). Furthermore, in Sasaki, the increase in surface roughness is for additional adhesion, and this is noted to be substantially similar to the rationale described in the Instant Application for increasing roughness. Silence of a reference on a quantitative limitation when the reference discloses the general characteristic is not deemed to support patentability unless there is evidence indicating such quantitative limitation is critical. “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation”. (MPEP 2144.05 II.A). The roughening at the recessed portions of the carrier thus reads on the claimed Sdr value, and as shown in Fig. 10 of Sasaki, the metal layers cover the peripheral recesses.
Sasaki thus renders obvious claims 1, 8, and 17.
Considering claims 7 and 11, Sasaki discloses that the carrier is made from a prepreg, and further discloses prepreg containing glass fiber is well-known in the of building up wiring boards. (Sasaki ¶¶ 0042 and 0003). Presence of glass, which has the requisite hardness, reads on a glass substrate comprising SiO2.
Considering claim 13, Sasaki discloses that the peel strength between the carrier and the adhesive is 5 to 500 g/cm. (Id. ¶ 0048). This overlaps the claimed range.
Claims 14 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sasaki, as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of U.S. 2020/0163223 A1 (“Mok”).
Considering claims 14 and 15, though Sasaki does not disclose the presence of a redistribution layer, the placement of a redistribution layer on wiring layers, where the periphery of the redistribution layer extends as to cover periphery of the carrier, is known. (Mok ¶¶ 0090-0093). It would have been obvious, to a person of ordinary skill at the time of the claimed invention, to apply a well-known structure, for the reasons mentioned in Mok. (Id. ¶ 0015).
Concluding Remarks
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Zheren Jim Yang whose telephone number is (571)272-6604. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:30 - 7:30 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Frank Vineis can be reached at (571)270-1547. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Z. Jim Yang/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781
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