Ex parte MINOHOSHI et al.

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Jul 13, 1998

08024913 (B.P.A.I. Jul. 13, 1998)

Application for patent filed March 2, 1993. According to1
appellants, this application is a continuation of Application
07/731,880, filed July 18, 1991.
1
Paper No. 27
THIS OPINION WAS NOT WRITTEN FOR PUBLICATION
The opinion in support of the decision being entered today
(1) was not written for publication in a law journal and
(2) is not binding precedent of the Board.
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
_______________
BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
_______________
Ex parte TOMIO MINOHOSHI
TOYOHIKO TAKEDA and
HIDEO NUMATA
______________
Appeal No. 95-1969
Application 08/024,9131
_______________
ON BRIEF
_______________
Before CALVERT, SOFOCLEOUS and PATE, Administrative Patent
Judges.
PATE, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL
This is an appeal from the final rejection of claims
19 through 22. These are the only claims remaining in the
application.
Appeal No. 95-1969
Application 08/024,913
2
The claimed invention is directed to an apparatus for
mounting at least two semiconductor integrated circuit chips
on a lead frame. The invention is described in detail on pages
2 through 5 of the appellants’ brief.
Claim 22, reproduced below, is further indicative of the
appealed subject matter.
22. An apparatus for automatically mounting first and
second semiconductor chips, each having a different outside
dimension, on an island of a lead frame, said apparatus
comprising:
first supply means for accommodating a plurality of lead
frames each having an island;
conveying means for conveying said lead frames from said
first supply means in a direction of conveyance, intermittently,
and for a distance so that the island of each of said lead frames
is stopped at a solder station and at a bonding station, said
solder station and said bonding station being spaced by said
distance in the direction of conveyance;
said conveying means including a tunnel cavity for
maintaining a nonoxidizing atmosphere at and between said solder
and bonding stations, said tunnel cavity including a guide member
for guiding said lead frames, a cover plate, and a heater block;
second supply means for supplying first and second wire
solders to each island at said solder station;
transfer means for transferring the first and second
semiconductor chips to each island in that order while said each
island is stopped at said bonding station, said transfer means
including first and second vacuum chucks corresponding to said
outside dimension of each of said first and second semiconductor
chips to be mounted; and
third supply means for consecutively supplying said first
and second semiconductor chips to said transfer means.
Appeal No. 95-1969
Application 08/024,913
3
The references of record relied upon as evidence of
obviousness are:
Doubek Jr. et al. (Doubek) 3,909,933 Oct. 7, 1975
Küehn et al. (Küehn) 4,511,421 Apr. 16, 1985
Baxter et al. (Baxter) 4,855,007 Aug. 8, 1989
The examiner has rejected claims 19 through 22 under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Doubek in view of Küehn
and Baxter. The details of the examiner’s rejection are found
on pages 3 through 6 of the examiner’s answer.
According to appellants’ brief, we are to consider the
claims as standing or falling together.
OPINION
We have carefully reviewed the rejection on appeal in light
of the arguments of the appellants and the examiner. As a result
of this review, we have determined that the applied prior art
does not establish a prima facie case of obviousness with respect
to the claims on appeal. Therefore, the rejection on appeal is
reversed.
We acknowledge the examiner’s finding that Doubek discloses
a method for transferring and bonding articles such as IC chips
to substrate carriers such as a lead frame. It is important to
Appeal No. 95-1969
Application 08/024,913
4
note that Doubek teaches bonding the IC chips to the lead
frame with thermocompression bonding.
We further acknowledge that Kuehn discloses bonding dies to
a lead frame or the like using epoxy or solder. Küehn emphasizes
that the bonding is to take place in a work holder that is
completely sealed from the outside environment. Küehn teaches
that moisture in the outside environment has a deleterious
effect on the connections being formed. Finally, Baxter
discloses attaching components to a circuit board or a lead
frame using a retractable paste solder dispenser.
When we analyze the teachings of the applied references, we
first note that no reference teaches the claimed wire solder
important to appellants’ apparatus. While we agree with the
examiner that wire solder is old in this art, we disagree that
the paste solder dispenser of Baxter can be considered the same
as appellants’ claimed wire solder dispenser. Additionally, it
is unclear to us how the teachings of Küehn and Doubek could be
combined short of placing the entire Doubek apparatus in an
environmentally sealed room. Certainly, the combined teachings
would not have suggested a work holder shown by Küehn with access
Appeal No. 95-1969
Application 08/024,913
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ports that could be entered by Doubek’s various vacuum chucks,
inasmuch as Küehn emphasizes that the work holder environment
must be completely sealed from the outside environment. If the
apparatus of Doubek were placed in an environmentally sealed
room, then no provision would need be made for appellants’
claimed structure of a conveying means including a tunnel cavity,
guide member, a cover plate, and a heater block.
For the foregoing reasons, it is our conclusion that the
combined teaches of the applied prior art would not have
established a prima facie case of obviousness with respect to
the subject matter of the claims on appeal. Accordingly, we are
constrained to reverse the rejection.
REVERSED
IAN A. CALVERT )
Administrative Patent Judge )
)
)
)
MICHAEL SOFOCLEOUS ) BOARD OF PATENT
Administrative Patent Judge ) APPEALS AND
) INTERFERENCES
)
)
WILLIAM F. PATE, III )
Administrative Patent Judge )

Appeal No. 95-1969
Application 08/024,913
6
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