Appeal No. 1998-3053
Application 08/677,755
recites heating to a lower temperature than the melting
temperatures of the first and second metal constituents such
that an interfacial liquid phase is formed which wets the
metal plate and the solder bump. Melting the solder bump
clearly would not have produced the required interfacial
liquid phase which wets the solder bump. Moreover, the
examiner has not explained why, if Tulman’s solder were used
in the method of claim 1 of Melton ‘453, the claim requirement
would be met that the second metal of which the solder is
composed forms, with the first metal of which the metal plate
is composed, a solder composition having a melting temperature
lower than that of the first and second metals.
The examiner, therefore, has not carried the burden of
establishing a prima facie case of obviousness over claim 1 of
Melton ‘453 in view of Tulman. Accordingly, we reverse the
rejection over these references.
Rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 103
Melton ‘341 discloses forming a high-melting spacer
solder bump (28) surrounded by lower-melting solder (36), and
heating to a temperature below the melting temperature of the
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