Appeal No. 2003-0272
Application No. 09/478,497
Pads 54 are electrically connected to nets that, in the prior art (Fig. 2), connected chips
through the substrate but which were not accessible by test equipment. The pads 54
are positioned on the bottom surface 44 of substrate 38 to allow testing of all leads of
the chips in the MCM. Bardsley col. 5, l. 23 - col. 6, l. 16. After testing, an MCM may
be plugged into a conventional socket on a circuit board, with no electrical connection
between the pads 54 and the socket. Col. 6, ll. 17-31.
The test apparatus of Bardsley (Figs. 8 and 9) comprises a test fixture 130 that
includes a circuit board 132 and socket 134. Pads 128 in the MCM 124 attach to
surfaces 137 of pins 136 for testing of the chips 125. Col. 8, ll. 12-33.
We thus find that the circuit pads described by Bardsley are not pertinent to the
circuit board test vehicles disclosed by Peterson. The references are directed to the
disparate problems of testing chips and connections within an MCM, and ensuring
acceptable quality of printed circuit boards in a manufacturing process, respectively.
We are therefore in ultimate agreement with appellants that the objective
teachings of the references would not have suggested all the requirements of instant
independent claim 7. We do not sustain the section 103 rejection of claims 7-10.
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