Appeal No. 96-0523
Application 07/910,763
a manner to test the status of the circuitry in each of the
dies or chips, after the chips had been exposed to a burn-in
test or the like" (Brief, page 10). However, claim 1 requires
only supplying an identical voltage to all the semiconductor
chips, which is performed by the power grid in Stopper. Claim
1 does not require testing. Appellant has not persuaded us
that the language of claim 1 defines over Stopper. The
rejection of claim 1 is sustained.
Stopper states that "the power hookup areas may be
provided in the space at the 'corners'" (col. 4, lines 64-65;
see the power hookup area 5 in figure 4). Therefore, Stopper
discloses placing the external terminal electrode pads in an
isolated peripheral area of the wafer as recited in claim 6.
Appellant's argument that neither of the references can be
relied on to teach such a remote arrangement (Brief, page 14)
is not persuasive because it does not address the clear
teachings of Stopper. The rejection of claim 6 is sustained.
Figures 4 and 5 of Stopper show the power supply and
ground grids crossing over each other. It would have been
apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the grids
must be insulated from each other at the point where they
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