Appeal 2007-2503
Application 10/225,978
person of ordinary skill in the art would not have been able to connect the
bond wires of Shibasaki to a nickel-containing bump having a gold covering.
Micron contends that Asazu teaches that a tape carrier package (TCP)
configuration is advantageous and that the remaining references fail to teach
the use of a bond wire for a TCP package. Asazu however, explicitly states
that its teachings are not limited to TCP packages. (Asazu, ¶ 34).
Micron claim 4 depends from claim 1 and further requires that a
palladium material is placed on the nickel-containing bump. Micron
contends that the Examiner has failed to provide a sufficient reason for
employing the palladium layer of Walker with Asazu’s bump. Specifically,
Micron states that there is no reasonable expectation of success for using a
palladium layer “to form an Au/Sn eutectic alloy with a conductor lead, as
taught by Asazu.” (Appeal Br. at 14). Walker teaches that a nickel bump
capped with a noble metal, e.g., gold or palladium, reduces costs by
simplifying process steps and allowing for smaller pad sizes. (Walker, col.
6, ll. 22-26). Further, one of ordinary skill in the art knows how to connect a
bump with a bond wire. We find that Micron has failed to demonstrate that
one of ordinary skill in the art lacked sufficient skill to use known bond
wires on known nickel bumps having a palladium covering layer.
Accordingly, we conclude that the subject matter of Micron claim 4
represents a simple substitution of one known element for another with no
change in respective function where the substitution yields nothing more
than predictable results.
Essentially, Micron has employed the known prior art homogeneous
nickel bump with known bond wires. Micron’s combination of known
elements for their known purpose yields the predictable result of forming a
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