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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 49-57 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant’s election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 4/29/26 is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 40 and 42-46 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Balimann et al. (EP4171933) in view of Bower et al. (US Patent 10,468,398).
With respect to claim 40, Balimann et al. teaches a system for micro-transfer printing, comprising:
a component source wafer (100);
a stamp (108) comprising a stamp support (110) having a support surface (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action) and a post (112) disposed on the support surface, wherein a distal end of the post (112, refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action) has a structured three-dimensional surface (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action) comprising sub-posts that extend away from the support surface at sub-post locations (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action).
However, Balimann et al. is silent with respect to the details of a component source wafer comprising a sacrificial portion, a component disposed completely and directly over the sacrificial portion, and tethers connecting the component to one or more anchor portions of the component source wafer at tether locations and wherein the sub-post locations are disposed adjacent to the tether locations when the sub-posts are in contact with the component. Bower et al. teaches component source wafer (10, 12) comprising a sacrificial portion (52, 54), a component (18) disposed completely and directly over the sacrificial portion (Figure 4), and tethers (56) connecting the component to one or more anchor portions (58) of the component source wafer (10, 12) at tether locations (Figure 4) and wherein the sub-post locations are disposed adjacent to the tether locations when the sub-posts are in contact with the component (note: Balimann et al. teaches sub-posts locations as referred to marked-up Figure 1. The location of tethers 56 are located at the ends of the component source wafer as shown in Figure 4. The combination of the sub-posts located at the right and left ends of the component source wafer (100) in Balimann et al. combined with the location of tethers 56 in Bowers et al. would satisfy the limitation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the present invention was made to modify the invention taught by Balimann et al. to provide a component source wafer with sacrificial portions, tethers and anchors as taught by Bower et al. for the purpose of ensuring a stable attachment to the stamp.
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With respect to claim 42, Balimann et al. teaches the sub-posts are pyramidal, are cylindrical, are cubic, or have polygonal surfaces (refer to Figure 1A in the detailed action).
With respect to claim 43, Balimann et al. teaches the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the component is native to the component source wafer.
Bower et al. teaches the component is native to the component source wafer (Column 18, Lines 15-20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the present invention was made to modify the invention taught by Balimann et al. to provide wherein the component is native to the component source wafer as taught by Bower et al. for the the purpose of ensuring components can be easily connected and/or formed.
With respect to claim 44, Balimann et al. teaches system for micro-transfer printing, comprising:
a component attached to a component source wafer (100); and
a stamp (108) comprising a stamp post (112) comprising sub-posts (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action), wherein each of the sub-posts is disposed on a distal end of the stamp post (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action).
However, Balimann et al. does not explicitly disclose the stamp post to correspond to one of the tethers for one of the one or more components. Bower et al. teaches a micro-transfer printing system that provides a stamp post (18) to correspond to one of the tethers (56) for one of the one or more components (Figure 4)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the present invention was made to modify the invention taught by Balimann et al. to provide a stamp post to correspond to one of the tethers components as taught by Bower et al. for the purpose of ensuring a stable attachment to the stamp.
With respect to claim 45, Balimann et al. teaches a plurality of components (104, 116) each attached to the component source wafer (100), wherein the stamp (108) comprises a plurality of stamp posts (112) each comprising sub-posts disposed on a distal end of the stamp post (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action).
However, Balimann et al. does not explicitly disclose the plurality of components attached exclusively by tethers and sub-posts that correspond to one of the tethers for one of the plurality of components. Bower et al. teaches a micro-transfer printing system that provides plurality of components (18, 26, 54) attached by tethers (56, Figure 4) and sub-posts that correspond to one of the tethers for one of the plurality of components (note: Balimann et al. teaches sub-posts locations as referred to marked-up Figure 1. The location of tethers 56 are located at the ends of the component source wafer as shown in Figure 4. The combination of the sub-posts located at the right and left ends of the component source wafer (100) in Balimann et al. combined with the location of tethers 56 in Bowers et al. would satisfy the limitation).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the present invention was made to modify the invention taught by Balimann et al. to provide a stamp post to correspond to one of the tethers components as taught by Bower et al. for the purpose of ensuring a stable attachment to the stamp.
With respect to claim 46, Balimann et al. teaches the claimed invention with the exception of wherein the component is native to the component source wafer.
Bower et al. teaches the component is native to the component source wafer (Column 18, Lines 15-20).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the present invention was made to modify the invention taught by Balimann et al. to provide wherein the component is native to the component source wafer as taught by Bower et al. for the.
4. Claims 41, 47 and 48 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Balimann et al. (EP4171933) in view of in view of view of Bower et al. (US Patent 10,468,398), as applied to the claims above, and further in view of Menard (US Patent 8,506,867).
With respect to claims 41, 47 and 48, Balimann et al., as modified, teaches the claimed invention including portions of the distal end of the post (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action) between the sub-posts are in a common plane with the sub-posts are under mechanical pressure (refer to marked-up Figure 1A in the detailed action), however is silent with respect to the stamp posts are elastomeric the sub-posts are compressible and portions of the distal end of the post between the sub-posts are in a common plane with the sub-posts are under mechanical pressure
Menard teaches the stamp posts are elastomeric (Column 11, Lines 31-39, Figure 1C and Column 13, Lines 16-24) and the sub-posts are compressible (Column 11, Lines 31-39, Figure 1C and Column 13, Lines 16-24).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the present invention was made to further modify the invention taught by Balimann et al., as modified, to provide elastomeric stamp posts and compressible sub-posts as taught by Menard for the purpose of increasing stamp adhesion forces thereby reducing overall transfer yield to ensure accurate transfer quality.
Conclusion
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/Marissa Ferguson-Samreth/Examiner, Art Unit 2853
/CHRISTOPHER E MAHONEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2852
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