Appeal No. 1998-3053
Application 08/677,755
spacer solder bump such that the lower-melting solder
liquefies and wets the spacer solder bump (col. 4, lines 21-24
and 50-56; col. 4, line 66 - col. 5, line 5; col. 5, lines 38-
43; col. 6, lines 27-35).
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 ‘341, using the
solder disclosed by Tulman 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, page 4).
Even if Tulman’s solder were substituted for the
Melton ‘341 spacer bump solder in order to obtain a higher
melting temperature resulting from the copper component, the
result would not be the appellants’ claimed invention. The
reason is that the Melton ‘341 spacer solder bump is not
melted, whereas the appellants’ claims require melting the
solder bump. Consequently, we reverse the rejection over
Melton ‘341 in view of Tulman.
DECISION
The rejection of claims 13-18 under the judicially
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