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 .
Remarks
The Office has cited particular columns, line numbers, paragraph numbers, references, or figures in the references applied to the claims below for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses to fully consider the reference in entirety, as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2141.02 and § 2123.
Claim Objections
Claim 3 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 3, line 2, “attaching an antenna element” appears to be “forming an antenna element” (see claim 1, line 3).
Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1, 3-7, 9 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Franson (WO 2021/200086 A1, hereinafter referred to as Franson) in view of Nagar et al. (US 2006/0099736 A1, hereinafter referred to as Nagar).
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Regarding claim 1, Franson discloses a method of forming an antenna (Fig. 4A), comprising:
forming an antenna element (120, Fig. 4A) on an upper surface of an antenna substrate (upper surface of substrate 150, Fig. 4A);
attaching a radio frequency integrated circuit component (RFIC 110) to the lower surface of the antenna substrate (lower surface of substrate 150, Fig. 4A) through a plurality of interconnects (420g, 420s), the RFIC component thereby being spaced from the lower surface of the antenna substrate (see space with underfill layer 410), and the RFIC component including beamforming circuitry (“beamforming circuitry… within RFIC 110”, para 0032) for RF coupling to the antenna element through the antenna substrate (para 0032);
inserting underfill (410)
Franson does not disclose forming a first opening extending from the upper surface to a lower surface of the antenna substrate; forming a second opening in the antenna substrate between the upper and lower surfaces; and applying a vacuum to the second opening while the underfill is inserted into the first opening.
Nagar discloses a first opening (Opening1, see annotated Fig. 3 above), a second opening (Opening2, see annotated Fig. 3 above) and applying a vacuum to the second opening while the underfill is inserted into the first opening (para 0021).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of Nagar into the device of Franson to accomplish the underfill process in a shorter length of time as taught by Nagar (paragraph 0021).
Regarding claim 3, the modified Franson discloses the method of claim 1, wherein: said attaching an antenna element, attaching an RFIC component, forming a first opening, and inserting underfill are performed for each of a plurality of further antenna elements (120, Figs. 1, 3 of Franson) and a plurality of RFIC components (110, Figs. 1, 3 of Franson) including the RFIC component, the antenna thereby being formed as an active antenna array; and said inserting underfill results in each of the interconnects (420g, 420s, Fig. 4A of Franson) associated with at least one of the plurality of RFIC components being surrounded by underfill (410, Fig. 4A of Franson).
Regarding claim 4, the modified Franson discloses the method of claim 3, further comprising: a combiner/divider (910, Fig. 9; para 0056 of Franson) in the circuit region 950 of RFIC 110; and electrically connecting the plurality of RFIC components to the combiner/divider (para 0056 of Franson) but does not explicitly disclose attaching the combiner/divider to the lower surface of the antenna substrate, with portions arranged between the plurality of RFIC components.
However, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to separate the combiner/divider 910 from the RFIC 110 of Franson, since it has been held that constructing a formerly integral structure in various elements involves only routine skill in the art. Nerwin v. Erlichman, 168 USPQ 177, 179.
Furthermore, attaching the combiner/divider to the lower surface of the antenna substrate, with portions arranged between the plurality of RFIC 110 can be done without the exercise of inventive skill. Where the instant specification and evidence of record fail to attribute any significance such as novel or unexpected results to a particular arrangement, the particular arrangement is deemed to have been a design consideration within the skill of the art.
Regarding claim 5, the modified Franson discloses the method of claim 1, wherein said attaching an RFIC component to the lower surface of the antenna substrate comprises directly attaching the RFIC component to the lower surface of the antenna substrate (Figs. 3, 4A of Franson).
Regarding claim 6, the modified Franson discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: forming a via (302 of Franson) within the antenna substrate, the via having a first end and an opposite, second end; connecting the first end of the via to the antenna element; and connecting the second end of the via to one of the interconnects (Fig, 4A).
Regarding claim 7, the modified Franson discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the RFIC component is an indium phosphide (InP), gallium arsenide (GaAs) or gallium nitride (GaN) chip (para 0036).
Regarding claim 9, the modified Franson discloses all the features and limitations as discussed above but does not explicitly disclose wherein said inserting underfill into the first opening at least partially fills the first opening with the underfill after curing of the underfill.
However, this procedure can be done without the exercise of inventive skill. Where the instant specification and evidence of record fail to attribute any significance such as novel or unexpected results to a particular arrangement, the particular arrangement is deemed to have been a design consideration within the skill of the art.
Regarding claim 11, the modified Franson discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising forming the antenna substrate with a layered region (340, Fig. 4A of Franson) proximate the lower surface, the layered region including an antenna ground plane (340, Fig. 4A; para 0030) and one or more conductive layers (412, Fig. 4A of Franson) for providing control signals and/or bias signals to the beamforming circuitry (para 0032 of Franson).
Claim(s) 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the modified Franson as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Sambasivam et al. (US 2003/0113952 A1, hereinafter referred to as Sambasivam).
Regarding claim 8, the modified Franson discloses all the features and limitations as discussed above but does not explicitly disclose applying heat to cure the underfill subsequent to its insertion into the first opening.
Sambasivam discloses the underfill material is heated to solidify the underfill material (para 0035).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the features of Sambasivam into the device of the modified Franson to cure or solidify the underfill material as taught by Sambasivam (para 0035).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 12-14 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Beddingfield et al. (US 5,710,071) discloses process for underfilling a flip-chip semiconductor device. Akram et al. (US 6,066,509) discloses method and apparatus for underfill of bumped or raised die.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL D CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-1801. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5 EST.
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/DANIEL D CHANG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2844