Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
20 pending office actions • 8 art units • 20 examiners • 0 of 20 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 29 patents granted in the last 365 days
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation is managing 21 pending office actions in the Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics technology area. These actions are spread across 21 distinct examiners, resulting in a unique examiner for every single pending matter. This distribution requires the company to navigate 21 different individual approaches to patent examination simultaneously.
The portfolio is active in 8 distinct art units. Shawn Shaw Muslim is the busiest examiner for the company, currently overseeing 1 pending office action. The presence of 8 distinct art units indicates that while the portfolio is focused on semiconductors and optics, the specific technical applications are varied enough to be reviewed by eight different specialized units at the patent office.
With 21 pending office actions and 21 distinct examiners, the company faces a highly decentralized prosecution environment. Each pending matter is handled by a different examiner, which may lead to varied outcomes if not carefully coordinated. Practitioners must manage these 21 separate interactions across the 8 distinct art units to ensure a cohesive strategy for the entire Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics portfolio.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 7 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
Every pending office action with a known statutory deadline, placed on a days-until-due axis. Dots left of Today are overdue; the further right, the more runway. Cases that share a deadline window stack vertically. 7 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date.
Difficulty is derived from the rejection statutes on the most recent pending office action. §101-driven and multi-statute cases are graded Hard; §112-only and obviousness-type double-patenting cases are graded Easy; everything else is Medium. "Unknown" means we have not yet parsed a statute for that office action.
| Bucket | Cases |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 9 (45%) |
| §102 only | 2 (10%) |
| §112 only | 1 (5%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 8 (40%) |
How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.
Manual office-action response work runs about 10 hours per case. The time-saved bands below show what IP Author's prosecution pipeline typically delivers — a conservative 20% on the low end, 35% in the middle, 50% on the high end.
| Examiner | Apps on this docket | Allow rate | Interview lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| MUSLIM, SHAWN SHAW | 1 | 85.7% | +11.1% |
| KIM, SU C | 1 | 77.8% | -11.8% |
| RAHMAN, MOIN M | 1 | 87.0% | +14.2% |
| YEUNG LOPEZ, FEIFEI | 1 | 81.3% | -2.7% |
| NGUYEN, CUONG B | 1 | 88.3% | +15.4% |
| LINDSEY, COLE LEON | 1 | 88.9% | +12.7% |
| KLEIN, JORDAN M | 1 | 85.5% | +8.0% |
| DINKE, BITEW A | 1 | 72.9% | +12.4% |
| WIEGAND, TYLER J | 1 | 74.3% | +13.0% |
| VALENZUELA, PATRICIA D | 1 | 90.3% | +2.0% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 2 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18203829 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FORMING METHOD THEREOF | VALENZUELA, PATRICIA D | 13d |
| 18431007 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE | RAHMAN, MOIN M | — |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18096091 | PACKAGING STRUCTURE AND PACKAGING METHOD | BULLARD-CONNOR, GENEVIEVE GRACE | 30d overdue |
| 18498359 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME | DINKE, BITEW A | 50d |
| 18774102 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF | MUSLIM, SHAWN SHAW | — |
| 18400725 | PIXEL UNIT, PHOTODETECTOR AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF | YEUNG LOPEZ, FEIFEI | — |
| 18535825 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FORMATION METHOD THEREOF | NGUYEN, CUONG B | — |
| 18515472 | PACKAGING STRUCTURE AND PACKAGING METHOD | LINDSEY, COLE LEON | — |
| 18507696 | BACKSIDE ILLUMINATION IMAGE SENSOR AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME | KLEIN, JORDAN M | — |
| 18763721 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME | KOO, LAMONT B | — |
Cases in front of an examiner whose interview lift is 10 percentage points or more — i.e. interviewed cases historically resolve more favorably than non-interviewed ones. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18219236 | MAGNETIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY CELL AND MAGNETIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY | WIEGAND, TYLER J | 33d |
| 18498359 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME | DINKE, BITEW A | 50d |
| 18774102 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF | MUSLIM, SHAWN SHAW | — |
| 18431007 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE | RAHMAN, MOIN M | — |
| 18535825 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FORMATION METHOD THEREOF | NGUYEN, CUONG B | — |
| 18515472 | PACKAGING STRUCTURE AND PACKAGING METHOD | LINDSEY, COLE LEON | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2812 | 4 |
| 2899 | 3 |
| 2818 | 3 |
| 2893 | 3 |
| 2898 | 1 |
| 2897 | 1 |
| 2851 | 1 |
| 2814 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18774102 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF | MUSLIM, SHAWN SHAW | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 16, 2024 |
| 18615032 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FORMING METHOD THEREOF | KIM, SU C | — | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 25, 2024 |
| 18431007 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE | RAHMAN, MOIN M | 2898 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 02, 2024 |
| 18400725 | PIXEL UNIT, PHOTODETECTOR AND FABRICATION METHOD THEREOF | YEUNG LOPEZ, FEIFEI | 2899 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 29, 2023 |
| 18535825 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FORMATION METHOD THEREOF | NGUYEN, CUONG B | 2818 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 11, 2023 |
| 18515472 | PACKAGING STRUCTURE AND PACKAGING METHOD | LINDSEY, COLE LEON | 2812 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 21, 2023 |
| 18507696 | BACKSIDE ILLUMINATION IMAGE SENSOR AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME | KLEIN, JORDAN M | 2893 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 13, 2023 |
| 18498359 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME | DINKE, BITEW A | 2812 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | 50d | Pending | Oct 31, 2023 |
| 18219236 | MAGNETIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY CELL AND MAGNETIC RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY | WIEGAND, TYLER J | 2812 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 33d | Pending | Jul 07, 2023 |
| 18203829 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND FORMING METHOD THEREOF | VALENZUELA, PATRICIA D | 2812 | §103 | Final Rejection | 13d | Pending | May 31, 2023 |
| 18202430 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR FORMING SAME | BELOUSOV, ALEXANDER | 2818 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | May 26, 2023 |
| 18127736 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR FORMING SAME | LOHAKARE, PRATIKSHA JAYANT | 2818 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Mar 29, 2023 |
| 18117911 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES AND FABRICATION METHODS OF SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURES | BODNAR, JOHN A | 2893 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 06, 2023 |
| 17963292 | PHOTOELECTRIC SENSOR AND METHOD FOR FORMING SAME, AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE | ZHU, SHENG-BAI | 2897 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 11, 2022 |
| 18763721 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME | KOO, LAMONT B | — | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 03, 2024 |
| 18140030 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE AND METHOD FOR FORMING SAME | TRICE III, WILLIAM CLARENCE | 2893 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 48d | Pending | Apr 27, 2023 |
| 18096091 | PACKAGING STRUCTURE AND PACKAGING METHOD | BULLARD-CONNOR, GENEVIEVE GRACE | 2899 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | 30d overdue | Pending | Jan 12, 2023 |
| 18093497 | SEMICONDUCTOR STRUCTURE | CULLEN, PATRICK LAWRENCE | 2899 | §103 | Final Rejection | 23d | Pending | Jan 05, 2023 |
| 17986104 | OPTICAL PROXIMITY CORRECTION METHOD AND SYSTEM, MASK, AND STORAGE MEDIUM | ALAWDI, ANWER AHMED | 2851 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Nov 14, 2022 |
| 17315740 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND FORMING METHOD THEREOF | PIZARRO CRESPO, MARCOS D | 2814 | §103 | Non-Final OA | 42d overdue | Pending | May 10, 2021 |
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