DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of Claims
Claims 50, 51, 53, and 54 are canceled, claims 29, 30, 34, 48, 49 and 52 are amended, and claim 55 is newly added. Accordingly, claims 29-36, 48-49, 52 and 55 are presently pending. Claims 29-36, 48-49, 52 and 55 as filed 26 December 2025, are examined herein. No new matter is included.
Response to Arguments
The objection to claim 30 and the rejections of claims 34-36 under 35 USC 112(b) are withdrawn in light of Applicant’s arguments and remarks.
Regarding the rejection under 35 USC 103, Applicant argues that the cited references do not teach or suggest:
" ... an encapsulation system covering at least part of an outer periphery of said at least one unit cell, the encapsulation system including a succession of:
- a coating layer deposited by atomic layer deposition on the at least one unit cell, the coating layer being composed of an electrically insulating material, and
- an impervious layer deposited on the coating layer, the impervious layer having a water vapour permeance of less than 105g/m2.d, the impervious layer being composed of a ceramic material and/or a glass having a melting point below 600 C,
wherein the succession of the coating layer and the impervious layer is repeated z times, where z > 1, and the last layer of the encapsulation system is the impervious layer of a succession of a coating layer and an impervious layer."
This argument is moot in light of a newly cited reference, Nishide (WO 2020031424 A1, PCT/JP2019/014259 with paragraph numbering from US 20210167471 A1).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim(s) 29-30, 48-49, 52, and 55 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishide (WO 2020031424 A1 with paragraph numbering from US 20210167471 A1), in view of Ueno (US 20200381774 A1).
Regarding claim 29 and claim 48, Nishide teaches a battery (abstract), comprising:
at least one unit cell successively including an anode current-collecting substrate, an anode layer, a layer of an electrolyte material or of a separator impregnated with an electrolyte, a cathode layer, and a cathode current-collecting substrate; (FIG. 1 and [0052] negative electrode-side end surface electrode 150B; negative electrode layer 120; electrolyte layer negative electrode layer 130; positive electrode layer 110; positive electrode-side end surface electrode 150A)
at least one anode contact member to make the electrical contact between at least the at least one unit cell and an external conductive element; a first contact surface defining at least one anode connection zone; at least one cathode contact member to make the electrical contact with an external conductive element; a second contact surface defining at least one cathode connection zone; and (FIG. 2 and [0071] land 16 and via 14)
an encapsulation system covering at least part of an outer periphery of said at least one unit cell, (FIG. 2 and [0057] insulating cover layer 30, inorganic cover film 50) the encapsulation system including a succession of:
a coating layer deposited by atomic layer deposition on the at least one unit cell, the coating layer being composed of an electrically insulating material, and ([0065],[0108] inorganic cover film 50 …. a metal, glass, oxide ceramic, or a mixture thereof… can be formed by atomic deposition.) At [0013], an insulating cover film is disclosed. A person of ordinary skill is motivated to select the glass or oxide ceramic film because given the desirability of as insulating cover film, a second electrically insulating film is expected to improve the insulating properties of the entire battery cover. Examiner notes that the glass or oxide ceramic film is expected to be electrically insulating.
Regarding the limitation an impervious layer deposited on the coating layer, the impervious layer being composed of a ceramic material and/or a glass having a melting point below 600˚C, Nishide at [0110] discloses that inorganic cover film 50 can also be disposed as a multiple-layer structure 50A formed of at least two layers as illustrated in FIG. 12. A person of ordinary skill is motivated to select a glass or oxide ceramic film because given Nishide’s teaching of the desirability of an insulating cover film, a third electrically insulating film is expected to improve the insulating properties of the entire battery cover. Examiner notes that the glass or oxide ceramic film is expected to be electrically insulating.
Nishide teaches ([0078] that the inorganic cover film is a water vapor barrier film, with a WVTR between zero and 10-5 g/m2, which is close enough to the claimed “less than 10-5 g/m2.d. However Nishide does not explicitly teach an impervious layer having a water vapor permeance of less than 10-5 g/m2.d
Nishide does not teach the film comprising a ceramic material and/or a glass having a melting point below 600˚C.
Ueno, in the field of (abstract) solid state batteries, discloses a solid state battery having [0062] an exterior unit 51 formed of at least one selected from among oxides, alloy oxides, phosphorous oxides, sulfides, polyanion compounds, and glass. At [0087] Ueno discloses that the exterior unit material may be selected from compounds including borosilicate glass. At [0089] Ueno discloses that this coating at a thickness of from 1 to 1000 µm can improve battery lifecycle by reducing entry from the atmosphere. At [0131] Ueno explicitly teaches the desirability of using a glass with a low melting point. Examiner notes that borosilicate glass [glass comprising boron oxide B2O3 and silicon dioxide SiO2] is a candidate within the scope of the claimed list of alternatives.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to select the borosilicate glass of Ueno for the coating of Nishide, because the borosilicate glass is one of multiple solutions disclosed by Ueno to solve the problem of battery encapsulation, with a reasonable expectation of successfully improving battery lifecycle by reducing entry from the atmosphere.
Modified Nishide does not explicitly teach the impervious layer having a water vapor permeance of less than 10-5 g/m2.d, the impervious layer being composed of a ceramic material and/or a glass having a melting point below 600°C. However, the instant specification at [0070] discloses a SiO2-B2O2 glass [borosilicate glass] as having a low melting point and at [0059] discloses that the third cover layer being made of a ceramic material and/or a low melting point glass and meeting both the WVTR and the melting temperature limitations of the instant claim. Therefore, the selection of a borosilicate glass of Ueno necessarily meets the WVTR and melting point limitations of the instant claim.
Returning to Nishide, regarding the limitation wherein the succession of the coating layer and the impervious layer is repeated z times, where z ≥ 1, and the last layer of the encapsulation system is the impervious layer of a succession of a coating layer and an impervious layer, Nishide contemplates at [0110] “that inorganic cover film 50 can also be disposed as a multiple-layer structure 50A formed of at least two layers as illustrated in FIG. 12. …. The inorganic cover film having such a multiple-layer structure more suitably and easily constitutes a water-vapor barrier for the solid-state battery.” Inorganic cover film 50 as the outermost layer is shown at FIG. 4.
Regarding claim 48: “a battery to supply electric energy to the electric energy-consuming device,” Examiner notes that this is the expected purpose of a battery. Nishide contemplates at [0163] the battery used to power a mobile phone.
Regarding claim 30, Examiner notes that the broadest reasonable interpretation of the limitation “wherein the impervious layer has a thickness comprised between 1 µm and 50 µm, more preferably between 1 µm and 10 µm, even more preferably between 1 µm and 5 µm” includes “wherein the impervious layer has a thickness comprised between 1 µm and 50 µm”. Said differently, every limitation which is preceded by “preferably” is considered an optional limitation.
Nishide in view of Ueno discloses all of the limitations set forth above. The water vapor permeance (WVTR) of less than 10-5 g/m2·d has been rendered obvious with respect to claim 29, above. At [0065] Nishide discloses that inorganic cover film 50 preferably has a thickness of 1 µm and 50 µm, meeting the instant claim limitation.
Regarding claim 49 and claim 52, Nishide in view of Ueno teaches all of the limitations as set forth above. Nishide at [0065] teaches that inorganic cover film 50 may contain glass. Examiner notes that sol-gel silica and organic silica, which are candidates within the scope of the claimed list of alternatives, are types of glass. (Examiner notes that Ueno at [0087] explicitly teaches silicate glass as a candidate material for a coating having low electron conductivity.)
Nishide does not explicitly teach that the succession of the coating layer and the impervious layer repeated z times being deposited on said cover layer, however at [0110] discloses that the inorganic cover film 50 (e.g. impervious layer) can also be disposed as a multiple-layer structure 50A formed of at least two layers as illustrated in FIG. 12. The multiple-layer structure 50A is not particularly limited to including layers of different materials, …. The inorganic cover film having such a multiple-layer structure more suitably and easily constitute a water-vapor barrier for the solid-state battery.
A person of ordinary skill would be motivated to make alternating layers of two different coating layers with a reasonable expectation of successfully improving the water vapor barrier.
Regarding claim 55, Nishide in view of Ueno teaches all of the limitations as set forth above. Nishide further teaches wherein the succession of the coating layer and the impervious layer repeated z times is deposited directly on at least part of the outer periphery of said unit cell, Nishide at [0110] “that inorganic cover film 50 can also be disposed as a multiple-layer structure 50A formed of at least two layers as illustrated in FIG. 12. …. The inorganic cover film having such a multiple-layer structure more suitably and easily constitutes a water-vapor barrier for the solid-state battery.” Nishide does not explicitly teach that the coating layer and the impervious layer repeated z times is deposited directly on at least part of the outer periphery of all the unit cells where a plurality thereof is present. However, a person of ordinary skill would understand the customer expectation of similar levels of water vapor permeance to all of the cells, and therefore would be motivated to coat at least a part of each cell, where multiple cells are present.
Claim(s) 31-33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishide (WO 2020031424 A1 with paragraph numbering from US 20210167471 A1), in view of Ueno (US 20200381774 A1), as set forth in claim 29, above, and in further view of Bruder (US 4477544).
Regarding claims 31 and 32, Nishide in view of Ueno all of the limitations as set forth above. Nishide teaches wherein each of the at least one anode contact member and the at least one cathode contact member comprises: a first electrical connection layer, disposed on at least the anode connection zone and at least the cathode connection zone, the first electrical connection layer comprising a material filled with electrically conductive particles. ([0145] “supporting substrate … the hole is filled with a conductive paste”, which is subsequently fired to form the conductive traces. At [0075] the conductive portion 60 may be formed using a paste formed to contain at least one of … silver, copper, … and the like.) Examiner notes that the listed metals are electrically conductive. Nishide teaches at [0145] the creation of a non-connected metal layer by a printing method or by foil. At [0052] the positive and negative current collectors may be foil. However, Nishide does not explicitly teach a second electrical connection layer comprising a metal foil disposed on the first layer of material filled with electrically conductive particles.
Broder, in the field of (abstract) laminar batteries, discloses (FIG. 7 and col. 6 lines 25-35) the use of conductive adhesive surface 24 and aluminum sheet 23 (aluminum foil, 2 mils in thickness) to create terminals for Broder’s battery. Examiner notes that a conductive adhesive is an example of a material filled with electrically conductive particles.
A person of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated, as of before the effective filing date of the instant invention, to use the conductive adhesive of Broder to attach the metal foil sheet of Nishide to modified Nishide’s battery, based on Broder’s teaching of a successful battery using this structure, with a reasonable expectation of success. This also renders obvious the limitation of claim 32, wherein the metal foil is a free-standing metal foil applied to said first electrical connection layer. [Examiner notes that 2 mil aluminum foil can be considered freestanding]
Regarding claim 33, Nishide in view of Ueno and Bruder discloses all of the limitations as set forth above. Nishide does not explicitly teach wherein each of the at least one anode contact member and the at least one cathode contact member comprises a third layer disposed on the second electrical connection layer, the third layer comprising a conductive ink. However, Nishide discloses at [0145] that conductive paste material can be used to form the conductive portions, wiring layer, vias, and lands. Examiner notes that conductive paste material is a type of conductive ink.
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have selected the conductive paste of Nishide to make the 3rd layer, since such a person would have expected this material to form a successful electrical connection. The selection of a known material, which is based upon its suitability for the intended use, is within the ambit of one of ordinary skill in the art (see MPEP § 2144.07).
Claim(s) 34-36 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nishide (WO 2020031424 A1 with paragraph numbering from US 20210167471 A1), in view of Ueno (US 20200381774 A1) and Bruder (US 4477544), as set forth in claim 31 above, and further in view of Sather (US 20080001577 A1).
Regarding claims 34-35, Nishide in view of Ueno and Bruner discloses all of the limitations as set forth above, and Nishide teaches at [0144] a supporting substrate made from a ceramic. (refers to an electrical insulator enabling two distant regions forming respective electrical connection paths of the electrical connection support to be insulated from one another). At [0145] the supporting substrate can contain a non-connected metal layer. Ueno at FIG. 10 and [0096-0097] discloses the use of a multilayer wiring board including via 14 and wiring layers 15, to allow increased design freedom for the package, as the terminals can be placed anywhere on the bottom surface.
However, Nishide does not explicitly teach the use of an electrical connection support comprising a single-layer metal grid or a single- layer silicon interlayer provided near an end face of a unit cell in the at least one unit cell, the electrical connection support being composed at least in part of a conductive material … wherein said at least one anode contact member facilitates an electrically electrical connection between a first lateral face of each unit cell and a first electrical connection path, and said at least one cathode contact member facilitates an electrically electrical connection between a second lateral face of each unit cell and a second electrical connection path.
Sather, in the field of (abstract) solid state thin film batteries, discloses FIG. 4 and [0037] batteries 108 formed on a large format substrate 109 as part of a grid. (Compare FIG. 4 of Sather to FIG. 4A anode foils 1101 and cathode foils 1102) of the instant invention.) Examiner notes that semiconductor device fabrication is carried out by coating multiple layers onto a wafer, creating an array of multiple devices, followed by a dicing process to cut apart the devices, which is an industry standard practice to delay the many handling issues associated with millimeter sized devices until after the most sensitive parts of the coating and fabrication process are carried out. A person of ordinary skill in the art would have understood that the same process can be applied to ASSB fabrication – fabricating multiple devices on a substrate and then cutting apart.
A person of ordinary skill in the art, as of before the effective filing date of the instant invention, would have been motivated to select the large format substrate of Sather to create the battery of modified Nishide, in order to avoid the handling issues associated with millimeter sized devices until after the most sensitive parts of the coating and fabrication process are completed, thus rendering obvious the instant claim limitation.
This also renders obvious the limitation of claim 35, wherein the electrical connection support comprises: a single-layer metal grid, which is a candidate within the scope of the claimed list of alternatives.
Regarding claim 36, Nishide in view of Ueno, Bruder, and Sather discloses all of the limitations as set forth above. Nishide further teaches wherein the impervious layer comprises: a primary impervious layer that does not cover the at least one anode contact member and the at least one cathode contact member, respectively, ([0117] inorganic cover layer 50) and a secondary impervious layer that covers in part or in whole the at least one anode contact member and the at least one cathode contact member, respectively, and at least partially covering the electrical connection support. (FIG. 5 and [0084] non-connected metal layer 18 is a water- vapor transmission prevention layer.)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Kim, H., Ra, H. N., Kim, M., Kim, H. G., & Kim, S. S. (2017). Enhancement of barrier properties by wet coating of epoxy-ZrP nanocomposites on various inorganic layers. Progress in Organic Coatings, 108, 25-29. This relates to the use of atomic layer deposition in combination with epoxy coating to improve WVTR.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CLAIRE A RUTISER whose telephone number is (571)272-1969. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM M-F.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jonathan Leong can be reached at 571-270-1292. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
CLAIRE A. RUTISER
Examiner
Art Unit 1751
/C.A.R./Examiner, Art Unit 1751
/Haroon S. Sheikh/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1751
