Appeal No. 2002-1048
Application No. 09/172,734
attaching to a circuit board a color image sensor of the type
taught by Denda. Such a belief is not supported by the teachings
of these references. More specifically, these references contain
no teaching or suggestion that Denda’s color image sensor would
be among the electronic components which Etchells teaches may be
safely exposed to his 250o C reflow temperature. To the
contrary, as properly argued by the appellants in their brief and
reply brief, the teachings of Denda militate against such a
belief.
This is because Denda explicitly discloses that the solder
bonding technique for a semiconductor element is inappropriate
for color image sensors because “devices, such as color image
sensors including a color filter, include elements which are less
heat resistant than the semiconductor devices” (column 1, lines
18-21) and accordingly that, in die bonding a color image sensor,
“a solder which needs an elevated temperature cannot be used
since the color filter used is not heat-resistant” (column 1,
lines 27-29). It is for this reason that, in bonding a color
image sensor, “a low-temperature bonding agent which is
relatively flexible and strong at low temperatures is used”
(column 1, lines 38-40). Indeed, patentee further discloses that
“[t]he low-temperature bonding agents generally used are an epoxy
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