Appeal No. 1998-3053
Application 08/677,755
95.5 wt% tin, 4 wt% copper and 0.5 wt% silver, and teaches
that this solder composition has an undesirably high melting
point of approximately 440EF (226.7EC) and is undesirably hard
(col. 1, lines 24-29).
The examiner argues that “it would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art to have formed the solder
bump interconnection according to Melton ‘453, using the
solder disclosed by Tulman by heating to a temperature between
225EC and 240EC due to the disclosed melting point and because
of the known benefit of raising the melting point of a solder
by the addition of copper {Paper #9, Preliminary Amendment
‘C’, page 5, line 22}” (final rejection, paper no. 13, page
3). The preliminary amendment referred to by the examiner
states: “It is well known in the art that copper raises the
melting point of solders.” The examiner states that “the
examiner takes official notice that it would be obvious to one
of ordinary skill in the art to heat solder bumps above their
melting temperature to promote the connection of components”
(final rejection, page 5).
As discussed above, however, claim 1 of Melton ‘453 does
not recite melting the at least one solder bump but, rather,
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