Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology area: Semiconductors, Circuits & Optics
218 pending office actions • 6 clients • 199 examiners • 57 art units • 34 of 218 (16%) have an AI response strategy ready • 1,331 patents granted in the last 365 days
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (WA)(SEC) has handled 1933 career applications in the Semiconductors, Circuits and Optics technology area. The firm maintains a resolved allowance rate of 97.51 percent. These results are achieved with an average of 2.11 office actions per allowance.
The firm currently manages 141 pending office actions. The 1933 career applications show the volume of experience in the semiconductor field. With a 97.51 percent allowance rate and 2.11 average office actions, the firm demonstrates its prosecution process.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 34 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. 34 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 |
|---|---|
| §101 only | 1 (0%) |
| §101 + other | 5 (2%) |
| §103 only | 80 (37%) |
| §102 only | 17 (8%) |
| §112 only | 8 (4%) |
| Double-patenting only | 1 (0%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 103 (47%) |
| No statute on record | 3 (1%) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMITH, SAMUEL JONATHAN | 3 | 84.0% | +5.1% |
| GOODWIN, DAVID J | 3 | 67.3% | +16.5% |
| RAHMAN, MOIN M | 2 | 87.1% | +14.1% |
| WEGNER, AARON MICHAEL | 2 | 75.0% | -2.7% |
| GONDARENKO, NATALIA A | 2 | 72.9% | +20.5% |
| INOUSSA, MOULOUCOULAY | 2 | 85.6% | +8.2% |
| CHANG, JAY C | 2 | 85.4% | +13.9% |
| ANDERSON, ERIK ARTHUR | 2 | 94.8% | +12.0% |
| GHEYAS, SYED I | 2 | 82.6% | +3.9% |
| YECHURI, SITARAMARAO S | 2 | 85.5% | -8.2% |
Cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate of 80%+ where the difficulty is Easy or Medium. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18896219 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING BIT LINES | RAHMAN, MOIN M | — |
| 18779407 | MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING POWER GATING SWITCH | INOUSSA, MOULOUCOULAY | — |
| 18749965 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | INOUSSA, MOULOUCOULAY | — |
| 18742833 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | CHANG, JAY C | — |
| 18650361 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | YECHURI, SITARAMARAO S | — |
| 18648683 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | SMITH, SAMUEL JONATHAN | — |
| 18612648 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | CHANG, JAY C | — |
| 18439381 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING THE SAME | SMITH, SAMUEL JONATHAN | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18319850 | PLASMA PROCESSING APPARATUS, WAFER TO WAFER BONDING SYSTEM AND WAFER TO WAFER BONDING METHOD | SCHATZ, CHRISTOPHER T | 19d overdue |
| 18350405 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME | MENZ, LAURA MARY | 11d overdue |
| 17984401 | METHOD AND DEVICE WITH ESTIMATING BATTERY STATE | BECKER, BRANDON J | 4d overdue |
| 18394992 | IMAGE SENSOR | SPINKS, ANTOINETTE T | 3d overdue |
| 18366922 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICE | STEPHENSON, KENNETH STEPHEN | 3d overdue |
| 18497672 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | TRAN, TRANG Q | 7d |
| 18554706 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PROVIDING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN A MULTI-SIM USER EQUIPMENT AND NETWORKS | LAFONTANT, GARY | 12d |
| 18239191 | METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE | MILLER, ALEXANDER MICHAEL | 13d |
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 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18086086 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES AND DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS INCLUDING THE SAME | GOODWIN, DAVID J | 43d |
| 18896219 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING BIT LINES | RAHMAN, MOIN M | — |
| 18782386 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE HAVING A CONTROLLER | GONDARENKO, NATALIA A | — |
| 18748414 | WIRING STRUCTURES AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME | GONDARENKO, NATALIA A | — |
| 18742833 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | CHANG, JAY C | — |
| 18733210 | LAMINATING DEVICE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP USING THE SAME | ANDERSON, ERIK ARTHUR | — |
| 18612648 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | CHANG, JAY C | — |
| 18438357 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | ANDERSON, ERIK ARTHUR | — |
| Client (Assignee) | Pending OAs |
|---|---|
| Samsung | 213 |
| MERCK PATENT GMBH | 1 |
| Braskem | 1 |
| Seoul National University | 1 |
| Samsung Electronics | 1 |
| Samsung Electronics | 1 |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 2817 | 13 |
| 2893 | 13 |
| 2898 | 12 |
| 2818 | 11 |
| 2812 | 6 |
| 4100 | 5 |
| 2897 | 5 |
| 2637 | 3 |
| 2815 | 3 |
| 2811 | 3 |
| App # | Title | Client | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19298703 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | TALUKDAR, ARVIND | 2132 | §101§102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 13, 2025 |
| 19247745 | SOLID-STATE IMAGING DEVICE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | KHAN, USMAN A | 2637 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 24, 2025 |
| 19247598 | LOADER DEVICE AND SUBSTRATE TRANSPORT SYSTEM | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | DAVIS, JERROD I | 3656 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jun 24, 2025 |
| 19174421 | IMAGE SENSORS INCLUDING PHASE DETECTION PIXEL | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | MOREHEAD III, JOHN H | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Apr 09, 2025 | |
| 19080623 | ANTENNA STRUCTURE AND ANTENNA DEVICE INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | NGUYEN, HOANG V | 2845 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Mar 14, 2025 |
| 19063952 | CLOSED-LOOP ANTENNA IMPEDANCE TUNING SYSTEM AND DRIVING | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | CHANG, DANIEL D | 2845 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 26, 2025 |
| 19054222 | SMART STORAGE DEVICE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | WONG, TITUS | §102§112Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2025 | |
| 19054332 | UNIT PIXEL AND IMAGE SENSOR INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | CUTLER, ALBERT H | 2637 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 14, 2025 |
| 19045834 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERSION | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | JEAN PIERRE, PEGUY | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Feb 05, 2025 | |
| 19014441 | SYSTOLIC ARRAY, PROCESSING CIRCUIT INCLUDING SYSTOLIC ARRAY, AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | PETRANEK, JACOB ANDREW | 2183 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Jan 09, 2025 |
| 19013161 | DC-DC CONVERTER | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | TIKU, SISAY G | §102§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 08, 2025 | |
| 19010980 | VIDEO SIGNAL PROCESSING DEVICE AND VIDEO SIGNAL PROCESSING METHOD | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | BRANIFF, CHRISTOPHER | 2484 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 06, 2025 |
| 19004901 | CLEANSING COMPOSITION FOR WAFER DICING | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | DELCOTTO, GREGORY R | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 30, 2024 | |
| 18969572 | VOLTAGE REGULATOR CIRCUIT, SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING THE SAME, AND OPERATING METHOD OF THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | SHAW, LAUREN ASHLEY | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 05, 2024 | |
| 18969521 | TEST CIRCUIT AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | PERRY, VICTOR NICHOLAS | 2111 | §103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 05, 2024 |
| 18958173 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT AND TEST SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | WENDEROTH, FREDERICK | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 25, 2024 | |
| 18949110 | NON-VOLATILE MEMORY DEVICE, CONTROLLER, AND MEMORY SYSTEM | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | MERANT, GUERRIER | 2111 | §103 | Final Rejection | 20d | AI Ready | Nov 15, 2024 |
| 18949501 | PLASMA ETCHING APPARATUS | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | LIGAN, OLUWAFEMI LUCRECE | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 15, 2024 | |
| 18938050 | MEMORY DEVICE, MEMORY MODULE INCLUDING THE MEMORY DEVICE, AND OPERATING METHOD OF MEMORY CONTROLLER | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | CHAUDRY, MUJTABA M | 2112 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Nov 05, 2024 |
| 18926702 | WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE, OPERATING METHOD, AND SYSTEM | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | AYOTUNDE, AYODEJI O | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 25, 2024 | |
| 18926508 | METHOD OF DETECTING DEFECTIVE SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | BOYAR, NOAH WILLIAM | §101 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 25, 2024 | |
| 18916318 | STORAGE DEVICE INCLUDING REDUNDANCY MEMORY CELL AND REPAIR METHOD OF FAIL MEMORY CELL INCLUDED IN STORAGE DEVICE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | TORRES, JOSEPH D | 2112 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 15, 2024 |
| 18914082 | UNIT CELL CIRCUIT AND MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | NGUYEN, VAN THU T | 2824 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 12, 2024 |
| 18910677 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TREATING SUBSTRATE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | MCCORMACK, JOHN PATRICK | 1714 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 09, 2024 |
| 18901283 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND A METHOD FOR FABRICATING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | CHEN, DAVID Z | 2815 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 30, 2024 |
| 18896219 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INCLUDING BIT LINES | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | RAHMAN, MOIN M | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 25, 2024 | |
| 18892761 | CHUCK FOR WAFER BONDING DEVICE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | ADDISU, SARA | 3722 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 23, 2024 |
| 18889604 | SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING THREE-DIMENSIONALLY ARRANGED MEMORY CELLS AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | WEGNER, AARON MICHAEL | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 19, 2024 | |
| 18889979 | WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND OPERATING METHOD SUPPORTING CARRIER AGGREGATION | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | KHIRODHAR, MAHARISHI V | Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 19, 2024 | |
| 18830715 | COOLING STATION | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | RUPPERT, ERIC S | 3763 | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 11, 2024 |
| 18830785 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | CULLEN, PATRICK LAWRENCE | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 11, 2024 | |
| 18829994 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE, SYSTEM INCLUDING THE SAME, AND METHOD OF DOWNLOADING FIRMWARE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | ST LEGER, GEOFFREY R | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 10, 2024 | |
| 18827292 | MANUFACTURING SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE USING SELECTIVE DIELECTRIC ON DIELECTRIC (DOD) DEPOSITION PROCESS | Merck Patent GmbH | LEE, DA WEI | 2817 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 06, 2024 |
| 18826508 | METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR POWER SAVING AND PAGING REDUCTION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORK | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | RAHMAN, M MOSTAZIR | §102§103Other | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 06, 2024 | |
| 18826635 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | GONZALES, VICENTE ROLANDO | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 06, 2024 | |
| 18825173 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | CHOWDHARY, NIMARTA KAUR | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 05, 2024 | |
| 18823171 | FAN-OUT LEVEL SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | SIPLING, KENNETH MARK | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 03, 2024 | |
| 18822523 | SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER GRINDING WHEEL AND SEMICONDUCTOR WAFER POLISHING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | LARSON, JOHN MICHAEL | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Sep 03, 2024 | |
| 18814719 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INSPECTION DEVICE AND SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE INSPECTION METHOD | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | PICON-FELICIANO, ANA J | 2482 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 26, 2024 |
| 18812147 | UNIT PIXEL INCLUDING ONE OR MORE CAPACITORS AND AN IMAGE SENSOR INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | PETERSON, CHRISTOPHER K | 2637 | §103 | Final Rejection | 22d overdue | AI Ready | Aug 22, 2024 |
| 18810735 | REFLECTOR FOR GENERATING NEUTRAL BEAMS AND SUBSTRATE PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | KALISZEWSKI, ALINA ROSE | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 21, 2024 | |
| 18807004 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR COORDINATED SPATIAL REUSE IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | DUFFY, JAMES P | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 16, 2024 | |
| 18805223 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE INCLUDING A MOLDING LAYER | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | HARRISTON, WILLIAM A | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 14, 2024 | |
| 18802083 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | SEVEN, EVREN | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 13, 2024 | |
| 18800577 | COMPOSITE STRUCTURE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | LOUGHRAN, RYAN PATRICK | §102§103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Aug 12, 2024 | |
| 18788743 | UNIT AMPLIFICATION CIRCUIT, AMPLIFIER AND RECEIVING CIRCUIT | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | NGUYEN, HIEU P | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 30, 2024 | |
| 18786824 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE HAVING A CORE MODULE | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | AMRAN, WILLIAM HARLEY | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 29, 2024 | |
| 18782386 | SEMICONDUCTOR PACKAGE HAVING A CONTROLLER | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | GONDARENKO, NATALIA A | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 24, 2024 | |
| 18782527 | SECURITY NETWORK SYSTEM MOUNTED INSIDE VEHICLE AND COMMUNICATION METHOD OF THE SAME | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | WANG, HARRIS C | 2439 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | 34d | AI Ready | Jul 24, 2024 |
| 18779407 | MEMORY DEVICE INCLUDING POWER GATING SWITCH | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | INOUSSA, MOULOUCOULAY | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jul 22, 2024 |
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Start Free Trial89.1% of resolved applications prosecuted by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (Wa) were allowed, across 11,749 applications in USPTO records.
2.54 office actions per allowed application on average.
218 pending office actions as of October 2026, for 6 clients, before 199 examiners in 57 art units.