Appeal No. 2006-1836
Application No. 10/087,556
attendant description at column 6, shows a semiconductor device with a contact pad on a
semiconductor substrate. Further, there is a conductive bump 2 on the contact pad. Because the
bump also has a nipple 40 sitting atop the bump, Kanda clearly shows that the bump comprises
“a coaxially-aligned stack of bodies having different cross-sectional dimensions” wherein the
body (nipple 40) at the top of the stack has a smaller cross-sectional dimension.
Appellants argue that Kanda shows no more than the described prior art in the instant
specification, and that because the bump and nipple in Kanda form a single body, the reference
cannot teach a “stack of bodies,” as claimed. Appellants argue that the claims require the bump
to be formed, not from a single body, but from plural bodies.
Claim 1 is a claim directed to structure, as are the other instant claims. Therefore, the
manner in which the structure is formed is of no consequence. See In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695,
227 USPQ 964 (Fed. Cir. 1985). The structure of Kanda clearly shows a coaxially-aligned stack
of bodies having different cross-sectional dimensions (nipple 40 sits atop bump 2 in Figure 3), as
claimed. Even though nipple 40 may have been formed from the structure of the material
forming bump 2, the end structure is still a “coaxially-aligned stack of bodies having different
cross-sectional dimensions,” as claimed. The nipple 40 is one body, coaxially-aligned with the
body of bump 2. Nipple 40 and body 2 have different cross-sectional dimensions and the top
body, 40, has the smaller cross-sectional dimension. Accordingly, all elements of the claimed
invention are met.
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