Appeal 2006-3235
Reexamination Control No. 90/006,696
1 detection method in terms of the ability to detect the lowest power hot spot
2 on a die or wafer.” Id. at col. 2, ll. 48-51. The Summary makes no mention
3 of testing failed or defective devices. Nor does the Abstract.
4 8. In the “Detailed Description of the Invention” (cols. 4-7), the first
5 through penultimate paragraphs discuss applying the method of the
6 invention to a “device under test, “device under test 4,” or “the die 17 or
7 wafer 40 under test” without indicating that the tested device, die, or wafer is
8 a failed or defective device. Id. at col. 5, ll. 16-22 and 30-31; col. 6, ll. 5-7,
9 20-29, and 58-60. The first and only mention of a defective device in the
10 Detailed Description appears in the ultimate paragraph thereof:
11 For a typical pointed source hot spot of a typical
12 integrated circuit (for example, a filament type of short in
13 the diode of a[n] input pad of a DL 2416 integrated
14 circuit), this method has been shown to be able to locate
15 the center of the hot spot within 0.3 microns.
16 Id. at col. 7, ll. 55-59.
17 9. None of the claims of the ‘857 patent identifies the device being
18 tested as a defective or failed device.
19 10. The Examiner argues that “hot spot detection method” is broad
20 enough to read on causing a hot spot to be manifested visibly, whether or not
21 its location is already known and whether or not it corresponds to a failed
22 component, quoting the following definitions of “detect” in The American
23 Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed. 2000): “1. to
24 discover or ascertain the existence, presence, or fact of. 2. to discern
25 (something hidden or subtle)” (hereinafter “American Heritage definitions”).
26 Final Action 2-3.
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