Ex Parte Lammel et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Sep 17, 2018

14062886 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 17, 2018)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
14/062,886 10/25/2013
10800 7590 09/17/2018
Maginot, Moore & Beck LLP
One Indiana Square, Suite 2200
Indianapolis, IN 46204
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
Gerhard Lammel
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
1576-1025 8578
EXAMINER
ROBERTS, HERBERT K
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2855
MAIL DATE DELIVERY MODE
09/17/2018 PAPER
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte GERHARD LAMMEL, SYBILLE
WAFFENSCHMIDT, ANDO FEYH, GARY O'BRIEN, and
ANDREW GRAHAM
Appeal2018-000779
Application 14/062,886 1
Technology Center 2800
Before ROMULO H. DELMENDO, MONTE T. SQUIRE, and
BRIAND. RANGE, Administrative Patent Judges.
RANGE, Administrative Patent Judge.
DECISION ON APPEAL
SUMMARY
Appellants appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner's
decision rejecting claims 1-10. We have jurisdiction. 35 U.S.C. § 6(b).
We REVERSE.
1 Appellants are the Applicants, Robert Bosch GmbH and Robert Bosch
Tool Corporation. According to the Appeal Brief, the real party in interest is
ROBERT BOSCH GMBH. Appeal Br. 2.
Appeal2018-000779
Application 14/062,886
STATEMENT OF THE CASE2
Appellants describe the invention as relating to
microelectromechanical system (MEMS) pressure and humidity sensors.
Spec. ,r 2. Claim 1, reproduced below with emphases added to certain key
recitations, is the only independent claim on appeal and is illustrative of the
claimed subject matter:
1. A semiconductor package comprising:
a substrate having an upper surface and a lower surface;
a housing cover having a sidewall portion attached to the
substrate and a ceiling portion extending over the upper surface
of the substrate, the substrate and the housing cover forming a
housing that surrounds and defines a single shared, undivided
interior volume;
a pressure sensor device mounted onto the substrate
within the interior volume, the pressure sensor having a top
side including a flexible membrane suspended over a hollow
space;
a humidity sensor device mounted onto the substrate
within the interior volume with the pressure sensor and including
a moisture-sensitive material;
an evaluation circuit device mounted onto the substrate
within the interior volume with the pressure sensor and the
humidity sensor and electrically connected to the pressure sensor
and the humidity sensor;
a media opening in the housing that enables gas exchange
between the interior volume and an exterior of the housing,
wherein the housing cover is spaced apart from each of the
pressure sensor, the humidity sensor and the evaluation circuit
such that an open space is formed within the interior volume
between the housing cover and each of the pressure sensor, the
humidity sensor and the evaluation circuit, the media opening
2 In this Decision, we refer to the Final Office Action dated March 9, 2017
("Final Act."), the Appeal Brief filed August 9, 2017 ("Appeal Br."), the
Examiner's Answer dated October 3, 2017 ("Ans."), and the Reply Brief
filed October 31, 2017 ("Reply Br.").
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Appeal2018-000779
Application 14/062,886
being in communication with the open space such that
atmospheric conditions within the open space correspond to
atmospheric conditions outside of the housing cover,
wherein the flexible membrane is arranged facing the
ceiling portion of the housing cover with the hollow space
positioned on an opposite side of the flexible membrane from
the ceiling portion such that the flexible membrane is exposed
directly to the open space of the interior volume,
wherein the media opening is positioned closer to the
moisture-sensitive material of the humidity sensor than the
flexible membrane of the pressure sensor, and
wherein the media opening is positioned in the housing at
a location that is offset laterally from the pressure sensor device
and closer to the upper surface than the top side of the pressure
sensor device.
Appeal Br. 12-13 (Claims App.).
REFERENCES
The Examiner relies upon the prior art below in rejecting the claims
on appeal:
Tsai et al. us 5,920,392 July 6, 1999
("Tsai")
Tilmans et al. US 2002/0000649 Al Jan.3,2002
("Tilmans")
Lee et al. US 2006/0277989 Al Dec. 14, 2006
("Lee")
Elian et al. US 2010/0230766 Al Sept. 16, 2010
("Elian")
REJECTIONS
The Examiner maintains the following rejections on appeal:
Rejection 1. Claims 1--4, 8, and 9 under 35 U.S.C. § I03(a) as
unpatentable over Tsai in view of Elian. Ans. 2.
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Application 14/062,886
Rejection 2. Claims 5, 6, and 10 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Tsai in view of Elian and further in view of Tilmans. Id.
at 10.
Rejection 3. Claims 7 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over
Tsai in view of Elian and Tilmans and further in view of Lee. Id. at 11.
ANALYSIS
The Examiner finds that Tsai teaches a semiconductor package
meeting most of the recitations of claim 1. Ans. 2-3. The Examiner finds
that Tsai teaches, for example, a pressure sensor device (20) mounted onto
the substrate within the interior volume. Id. at 2. The Examiner finds that
Tsai does not explicitly teach that the pressure sensor's "flexible membrane
is arranged facing the ceiling portion of the housing cover with the hollow
space positioned on an opposite side of the flexible membrane from the
ceiling portion such that the flexible membrane is exposed directly to the
open space of the interior volume." Id. at 4. The Examiner finds, however,
that Elian teaches a pressure sensor with such a flexible membrane. The
Examiner determines that it would have been obvious to use the Elian
pressure sensor in the device of Tsai as a simple substitution. Id. at 5.
Appellants argue that even if Tsai and Elian were combined, the
combination will not result in a flexible membrane orientated according the
recitations of claim 1. Appeal Br. 6. Appellants' argument is persuasive of
reversible error for the reason explained below.
The Examiner proposes that the pressure sensor of Elian would be
bodily incorporated into the Tsai device. Ans. 14. In the Answer, the
Examiner provides the figure below to illustrate the incorporation.
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Application 14/062,886
rrrrrrrrrr ~--·.···
Id. In the figure above, the Examiner reproduces Elian Figure 9 (on the left)
and shows that it would fit into the device illustrated by Tsai Figure 1 ( on the
right) at pressure sensor 20 (see Tsai 12:41-50 (identifying pressure sensor
20)). The Examiner annotates the figures by pointing to the uppermost
portion of Tsai sensor device 400 as being the flexible membrane (rightmost
portion as orientated in the illustration) and by indicating that the rectangular
area below (to the left in the illustration) is a "space." The preponderance of
the evidence does not support the Examiner's interpretation of Elian.
Figure 9 of Elian illustrates how sensor device 400 can be integrated
into another device which includes a circuit board and other features. Elian
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Application 14/062,886
,r,r 52, 53. Figure 9 of Elian does not specifically identify the location of the
flexible membrane.
Elian Figure 4 (not reproduced here) schematically illustrates sensor
device 400 (the device incorporated into Elian Figure 9) in cross section. Id.
,r 36. The pressure sensor is integrated into semiconductor chip 10. Id. ,r 37.
The details of semiconductor chip 10 are schematically illustrated by Elian
Figure 5, which is reproduced below.
FIG 5
Elian Figure 5 illustrates one embodiment of a semiconductor chip having a
sensing region arranged between two substrates. Id. ,r 9. Figure 5 illustrates
membrane 21 with a recess 22 below the membrane and recess 26 over the
membrane. Id. ,r,r 37, 38. Recess 26 is filled with gas at reference pressure.
Id. ,r 3 8. Recess 22 is exposed to gas from the surrounding environment via
porous structure 12. Id. ,r,r 31, 32, 35, Fig. 1, Fig. 3a-3c, Fig. 4. Elian
consistently indicates that its sensor is mounted on a substrate such that the
porous structure ( and therefore the recess exposed to gas from the
surrounding environment) is closer to the substrate than semiconductor chip
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Application 14/062,886
I O's sensing region 11 (i.e., the region having membrane 21). See, e.g., id.
atFig.1,4.
Claim 1 requires that the pressure sensor be mounted on a substrate
and have a top side with a flexible membrane suspended over a hollow
space. Appeal Br. 12 (Claims App.). Claim 1 's ceiling portion is connected
to the substrate by sidewall portions. Id. An open space is formed within
claim 1 's recited interior volume, and atmospheric conditions in the open
space (i.e., also within the interior volume) correspond to atmospheric
conditions outside the housing cover. Id. As Appellants' emphasize (id. at
6-7), "the flexible membrane is arranged facing the ceiling portion of the
housing cover with the hollow space positioned on an opposite side of the
flexible membrane from the ceiling portion." Id. at 12. Thus, claim 1
requires that the recited package include the following layers in order: (1)
the substrate, (2) hollow space, (3) flexible membrane, ( 4) interior volume
( connected to the exterior of the housing via the media opening), and ( 5)
ceiling portion. Such an arrangement is consistent with, for example, Figure
1 of the Drawings (not reproduced here).
The combination proposed by the Examiner does not meet these
recitations. Rather, incorporation of Elian into Tsai will result in the
following layers in order: ( 1) Tsai substrate 16/ 16a, (2) Elian porous
structure 12 and recess 22 having gas at environmental conditions (i.e., a
recess exposed to the environment), (3) Elian flexible membrane 21, ( 4)
Elian recess 26 having gas at a reference pressure (i.e., a recess that is not
connected to the exterior environment), and ( 5) Elian substrate 24 ( or, if this
were removed, Tsai cover 18). In other words, the Elian/Tsai combination
puts a space open to gas at environmental/atmospheric conditions between
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the substrate and the membrane rather than, as recited in claim 1, between
the membrane and the ceiling portion. The Examiner has not provided an
explanation as to why a person of skill in the art would have modified
Elian's pressure sensor or the mounting of Elian's pressure sensor within the
Tsai apparatus to meet the recitations of claim 1. Accordingly, we do not
sustain the Examiner's rejection of claim 1.
Claims 2-10 each depend from claim 1, and the Examiner's
explanation of the rejection for these claims does not cure the error
explained above. Therefore, we also do not sustain the Examiner's rejection
of claims 2-10.
DECISION
For the above reasons, we reverse the Examiner's rejections of
claims 1-10.
REVERSED
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