First, the cause of action
This reexamination request relates to the PCT international application with the application number of 02805240.4 and the name of "semiconductor package and its manufacturing method" (hereinafter referred to as the application). The applicant is Dow Corning Company (hereinafter referred to as the applicant). The filing date of this application is 65438+2002 10/7, the priority date is February 20, 2006, and the publication date is July 2, 200410, and the date when this application entered the national phase in China is August 20, 2003.
After substantive examination, China National Intellectual Property Administration Patent Substantive Examination Department made a rejection decision on April 27, 2007, rejecting this application, in which the following comparative documents were cited:
Comparison document 1: US 4939065A, published on1July 3, 990.
The reason for rejection is that items 1-7, item 9 and item 1 1 of the claim in this application are not creative compared with the combination of the reference document 1 and the known technology, and do not conform to the provisions of the third paragraph of Article 22 of the Patent Law. The text on which the rejection decision is based is: page 1-20 of the specification submitted on August 20, 2003, pages 1 and 2 of the appended drawings of the specification, the abstract of the specification, and item1-kloc-0/of the claim submitted on March 6, 2007.
The claims against which the rejection decision is made are as follows:
1. A method for manufacturing a patterned film, which is characterized by the following steps:
(i) applying a silicone composition to the surface of a substrate to form a film, wherein the silicone composition comprises:
Organopolysiloxane containing at least two silicon-bonded alkenyl groups on average per molecule,
An organosilicon compound containing at least two silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms on average per molecule in a concentration sufficient to cure the composition, and
Catalytic amount of photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst;
(ii) exposing a part of the film to radiation with a wavelength of 150-800n m to prepare a partially exposed film having an unexposed area covering a part of the surface and an exposed area covering the rest of the surface;
(iii) heating the partially exposed film for a period of time so that the exposed areas are substantially insoluble in the developing solvent and the unexposed areas are soluble in the developing solvent;
(iv) removing unexposed areas of the heating film with a developing solvent to form a patterned film; and
(v) heating the patterned film for a sufficient time to form a cured silicone layer.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor wafer, the surface comprises an active surface of the semiconductor wafer, and the active surface comprises at least one integrated circuit, and each integrated circuit has a plurality of pads.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the wafer further comprises weft yarns.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the cured silicone layer is 1 to 50 microns.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein component (a) is an organopolysiloxane resin consisting essentially of R 1-3 SiO 1/2 siloxane units, wherein each R 1 is independently selected from monovalent hydrocarbon groups and monovalent halogenated hydrocarbon groups, and R 1 is in organopolysiloxane.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein component (b) is organopolysiloxane.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the concentration of component (b) is sufficient to provide 0.7 to 1.2 silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms to each alkenyl group in component (a).
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst is beta-diketonated platinum (II).
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the silicone composition further comprises an organic solvent.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein component (c) is selected from platinum (II) beta-diketone complex, (η-cyclopentadienyl) trialkyl platinum complex, triazene oxide-transition metal complex and (η-diene) (σ-aryl) platinum complex.
1 1. A semiconductor package manufactured by the method of claim 1- 10. "。
The applicant (hereinafter referred to as the reexamination requester) refused to accept the above rejection decision, and submitted the reexamination request and references to the Patent Reexamination Board on August 13, 2007, together with the translation of the English experimental testimony and its abstract, but did not submit the revised text. The reexamination applicant thinks that the catalyst in this application is obviously different from the catalyst disclosed in the comparison document 1. In the reference document 1, platinum-vinyl siloxane complex catalyst is specifically used. These catalysts have no response to ultraviolet radiation and have catalytic activity under normal conditions, that is, the reactivity of their reactive groups is not brought about by temperature rise or ultraviolet radiation. In the comparison document 1, the function of ultraviolet radiation process is to destroy the inhibition of inhibitors, not to activate the catalyst itself. On the contrary, this application requires the use of photoactivated hydrosilylation catalysts, whose groups have no or only insufficient reaction (catalytic) activity in the ground state, and only have reaction (catalytic) activity after being excited by UV radiation. In the experimental testimony provided by the reexamination requester, comparative experiments are expounded to confirm the above viewpoints. Therefore, it is considered that claim 1 of this application is obviously creative compared with the comparative document 1, which conforms to the provisions of Article 22, paragraph 3, of the Patent Law.
After passing the formal examination, the Patent Reexamination Board accepted the reexamination request according to law, and sent a notice of reexamination acceptance to the reexamination requester on September 14, 2007, and forwarded it to the original substantive examination department for pre-examination.
The original substantive examination department insisted on the original rejection decision in the preliminary examination opinions.
Subsequently, the Patent Reexamination Board set up a collegial panel to hear the case.
On October 26th, 2008 165438+, the collegiate panel of this case sent a notice of reexamination to the requester, pointing out that the claims 1-7, 9, 1 1 of this application were not supported by the specification and did not conform to the provisions of the fourth paragraph of Article 26 of the Patent Law. The specific reason is that "photoactivation" in claim 1 of this application belongs to the functional definition, that is, it has certain activity through illumination, while a series of specific catalysts recorded in the specification of this application only belong to specific specific types of catalysts, and the experimental testimony submitted by the reexamination requester only involves specific catalysts with photoactivation function. Those skilled in the art cannot understand that this function can also be realized by other compositions not described in the specification, so the photoactivation catalyst defined in claim 1 contains an excessive range, which cannot be supported by the specification. Dependent claims 2-7 and 9 and the additional technical features of claim 1 1 do not further define the type and specific components of the catalyst, so there is the same problem as claim 1, which is not supported by the specification.
In this regard, the reexamination applicant submitted an opinion statement and a replacement page of the full text of the claim on June 5438+1October 12, 2009, in which the claim 1(C) added "wherein the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst contains platinum group metals, and it is irradiated at the wavelength of 150 to 800 nm. The applicant for reexamination believes that before this application, the prior art did not teach or imply the use of photoactivated hydrosilylation catalysts to catalyze hydrosilylation reaction, and this application should enjoy extensive protection, and those skilled in the art can easily determine which platinum group metal catalysts can be suitable for catalyzing hydrosilylation reaction of component (a) and component (b) under irradiation with wavelength of 150-800 nm and subsequent heating.
The revised claim is as follows:
1. A method for manufacturing a patterned film, which is characterized by the following steps:
(i) applying a silicone composition to the surface of a substrate to form a film, wherein the silicone composition comprises:
(a) an organopolysiloxane containing at least two silicon-bonded alkenyl groups on average per molecule,
(b) an organosilicon compound containing at least two silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms on average per molecule in a concentration sufficient to cure the composition, and
(c) a catalytic amount of a photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst, wherein the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst contains a platinum group metal and is capable of catalyzing the hydrosilylation reaction of component (a) and component (b) upon exposure to radiation with a wavelength of 150-800n m and subsequent heating;
(ii) exposing a part of the film to radiation with a wavelength of 150-800n m to prepare a partially exposed film having an unexposed area covering a part of the surface and an exposed area covering the rest of the surface;
(iii) heating the partially exposed film for a period of time so that the exposed areas are substantially insoluble in the developing solvent and the unexposed areas are soluble in the developing solvent;
(iv) removing unexposed areas of the heating film with a developing solvent to form a patterned film; and
(v) heating the patterned film for a sufficient time to form a cured silicone layer.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor wafer, the surface comprises an active surface of the semiconductor wafer, and the active surface comprises at least one integrated circuit, and each integrated circuit has a plurality of pads.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the wafer further comprises weft yarns.
4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of the cured silicone layer is 1 to 50 microns.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein component (a) is an organopolysiloxane resin consisting essentially of R 1-3 SiO 1/2 siloxane units, wherein each R 1 is independently selected from monovalent hydrocarbon groups and monovalent halogenated hydrocarbon groups, and R 1 is in organopolysiloxane.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein component (b) is organopolysiloxane.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the concentration of component (b) is sufficient to provide 0.7 to 1.2 silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms to each alkenyl group in component (a).
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst is beta-diketonated platinum (II).
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the silicone composition further comprises an organic solvent.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein component (c) is selected from platinum (II) beta-diketone complex, (η-cyclopentadienyl) trialkyl platinum complex, triazene oxide-transition metal complex and (η-diene) (σ-aryl) platinum complex.
1 1. A semiconductor package manufactured by the method of claim 1- 10. "。
On the basis of the above procedures, the collegial panel considers that the facts of the case are clear and now makes a review decision according to law.
Second, the reasons for the decision
1, the identification of the comment text
In the reexamination procedure, the reexamination applicant submitted the replacement page of the full text of the claim on June 65438+1October 12, 2009, in which the claim 1(C) added "wherein the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst contains platinum group metals and can catalyze components (at the wavelength of 150). Upon examination, the above amendment is clearly recorded in the penultimate paragraph on page 8 of the original specification, so the amendment conforms to the provisions of Article 33 of the Patent Law and Paragraph 1 of Article 60 of the Implementing Rules of the Patent Law.
This reexamination decision is based on the claimNo. 1-1submitted by the reexamination requester on June 5438+10/October 2, 2009, the specificationNo. 1-20 submitted on August 20, 2003, and the attached drawingNo./
2. On Paragraph 4 of Article 26 of the Patent Law
Paragraph 4 of Article 26 of the Patent Law stipulates that the patent claim shall be based on the specification and indicate the scope of patent protection.
Specific to this case, the collegiate bench thinks that the claims 1-7, 9, 1 1 of this application are not supported by the specification and do not conform to the provisions of Article 26, paragraph 4, of the Patent Law. The specific reasons are as follows:
Claim 1 of the present application requests to protect a method for manufacturing a patterned film, which comprises the step of applying a silicone composition to the surface of a substrate to form a film, wherein the silicone composition comprises (a) an organopolysiloxane containing at least two silicon-bonded alkenyl groups on average per molecule, (b) an organosilicon compound containing at least two silicon-bonded hydrogen atoms on average per molecule in a concentration sufficient to cure the composition, (c) a catalytic amount of a photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst, wherein the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst contains a platinum group metal and is capable of catalyzing the hydrosilylation reaction of component (a) and component (b) upon exposure to radiation with a wavelength of 150-800n m and subsequent heating. Claim 1 adopts the functional definitions of "light activation" and "being able to catalyze the hydrosilylation reaction of component (a) and component (b) under the irradiation of wavelength 150 ~ 800n m and then heating" for the hydrosilylation catalyst containing platinum group metals. Among them, the meaning of "photoactivated" catalyst is a chemical substance with catalytic performance under photon excitation, which means that the chemical substance has certain active function through light irradiation; The definition of "being able to catalyze component (a) and component (b) under irradiation with the wavelength of 150-800 nm and then heating" refers to the ability to catalyze a certain substance under certain reaction conditions, which actually limits the reaction conditions under which the reaction process can be realized. The above limitations are all functional limitations, not the components or structural ligands of the catalyst itself. Although the applicant for reexamination further defined the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst as "containing platinum group metals" in this revision, the hydrosilylation catalyst containing platinum group metals defined in the above functional definition is still too broad, including quite a few catalytic substances. However, a series of specific catalysts described in the specification of this application (paragraph 1 on page 8-paragraph 1 on page 9) only belong to a certain type, that is, some specific hydrosilylation catalysts of platinum group metals. The working principle of the above catalysts is not explained from the chemical principle in the specification of this application, but only a series of specific substances are given. Only by putting this series of specific catalyst substances together with the substances defined in (a) and (b) and reacting under certain conditions can the patterned film of the present invention be realized. At the same time, the experimental testimony submitted by the reexamination applicant only involves a specific catalyst with photoactivation function. Therefore, the photoactivation catalyst containing platinum group defined in claim 1 of this application still contains an excessively large range, and the ordinary person in the field can't judge which types of photoactivation catalysts within this range but not described in this application can realize the above functions only from some specific catalysts described in the specification. Therefore, the claim 1 is not supported by the specification and does not conform to the provisions of Article 26.4 of the Patent Law.
Claims 2-7 and 9 directly or indirectly cite claim 1, and its additional technical features do not further limit the components or structural ligands of the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst, so there is also the problem that the above description is not supported, which does not conform to the provisions of Article 26, paragraph 4, of the Patent Law.
Claim 1 1 requests to protect the semiconductor package manufactured by the method in any one of claims 1- 10, and it does not further limit the composition or structural ligand of the photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst, so it also exists when it protects the semiconductor package manufactured by the method in any one of claims 1-7 and 9.
Regarding the opinion statement of the reexamination requester, the collegial panel thinks that the technical scheme protected by the claim should be a technical scheme that technicians in the technical field can obtain or summarize from the fully disclosed contents in the specification, and it should not exceed the scope of the specification. The catalysts in claims 1-7, 9, 1 1 of the present application are limited only by their functions, and the limited scope includes all platinum group metals, which can catalyze the hydrosilylation of component (a) and component (b) under irradiation with the wavelength of 150-800 nm and subsequent heating. The applicant for reexamination emphasizes that there is no teaching or suggestion in the prior art to use photoactivated hydrosilylation catalyst to catalyze hydrosilylation reaction, so the technicians in this field can't know which catalysts can accomplish the above functions except several specific catalysts specifically recorded in the specification of this application. The fact that they can catalyze does not mean that the expected effect can be achieved in this application, and the catalytic time can be very long or very short. As an industrial application, not all catalysts in this range can solve the technical problems to be solved in this application and achieve the expected results. Therefore, the technical personnel in this field can't generalize the catalysts required to be protected in claims 1-7, 9, 1 1 from the contents disclosed in the specification, and the reason for reexamining the applicant is untenable.
Third, decide
Maintain China National Intellectual Property Administration's decision to reject the application on April 27, 2007.
If you are not satisfied with the decision of this request for re-examination, according to paragraph 2 of Article 4 1 of the Patent Law, the applicant for re-examination may bring a lawsuit to Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court within three months from the date of receiving this decision.