DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.
Applicant's submission filed on April 28, 2026 has been entered. Claim 1 has been amended and claims 1 – 6 are pending. The invention as currently claimed is not found to be patentable for reasons herein below.
Response to Arguments
Regarding the limitation of “the glass has a surface charge density of 12x 1011/cm2 or less, when a surface of the semiconductor device is coated by the glass”, this is a conditional statement and is not actually requiring that the glass is coated on a semiconductor substrate. Note that the preamble only requires a glass which is intended for a semiconductor device coating. The use of the product is not germane to the issue of patentability of the product itself, unless Applicant presents evidence from which the examiner could reasonably conclude that the claimed product differs in kind from those of the prior art. See MPEP § 2113. Furthermore, there does not appear to be a difference between the prior art structure and the structure resulting from the claimed use because Nakamura et al. teaches a glass composition with the same percentage of components. Since Nakamura et al. teaches the same materials and structure as disclosed by the Applicant, then it would be capable of performing in the manner claimed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1 – 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Nakamura et al. (WO2012133217A1).
Nakamura et al. is directed to a glass composition for sealing that has thermal
expansion characteristics for sealing of a ceramic member (Abstract).
As to claim 1, Nakamura et al. teach glass compositions such as composition circled below from Table 2 (page 20 of Japanese language WO document).
PNG
media_image1.png
419
603
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Greyscale
ZnO + SiO2 = 41.6 + 14.0 = 55.6 %
Al2O3 = 4.7 % (when rounded to 1 significant figure = 5%)
B2O3 = 22.0 %
MgO = 17.4%
The glass composition does not contain lead as shown by the components listed in the chart and the disclosure as a whole does not suggest or teach the inclusion of lead.
Additionally, the general disclosure of Nakamura et al. teach glass compositions with the following components and ranges (pages 2 – 5 of English translation):
Instant claims
Nakamura et al.
ZnO + SiO2 = 40 – 65 mol %
SiO2: 14 to 21 mass%
+
ZnO: 29 To 51% by mass
=
43 – 72% by mass
SiO2 = usually 14 to 21 mass%, preferably 14.5 to 20 mass%, more preferably 15 to 19 mass%
Al2O3 = usually 0 to 12% by mass, more preferably 1 to 10% by mass
SiO2/ZnO = 0.5 – 2.0
(14 to 21 mass%)/(29 To 51 mass%)
= 0.27 - 1.38
B2O3 = 7 – 25 mol %
17 to 24 mass%
Al2O3 = 5 – 15 mol %
0 to 12 mass%
MgO = 17 – 22 mol %
MgO: 7 to 16% by mass
Regarding the limitation of “the glass has a surface charge density of 12x 1011/cm2 or less, when a surface of the semiconductor device is coated by the glass”, this is a conditional statement and is not actually requiring that the glass is coated on a semiconductor substrate. Note that the preamble only requires a glass which is intended for a semiconductor device coating. The use of the product is not germane to the issue of patentability of the product itself, unless Applicant presents evidence from which the examiner could reasonably conclude that the claimed product differs in kind from those of the prior art. See MPEP § 2113. Furthermore, there does not appear to be a difference between the prior art structure and the structure resulting from the claimed use because Nakamura et al. teaches a glass composition with the same percentage of components. Since Nakamura et al. teaches the same materials and structure as disclosed by the Applicant, then it would be capable of performing in the manner claimed.
As to claim 3, Nakamura et al. teach Al2O3/( ZnO + SiO2) = (4.7)/(41.6 + 14.0) = 4.7/55.6 % = 0.08
As to claim 5, Nakamura et al. teach it is preferable that the sealing material of the present invention contains a ceramic powder. The ratio of the ceramic powder to the total amount of the glass powder and the ceramic powder is preferably more than 0% by mass and 5% by mass or less (English translation portion, page 3, 4th to last paragraph on page).
It should be noted that the compositional components in Nakamura et al. are all disclosed as % by mass while the instant claims require all components by mol %. The Examiner submits that the prior art ranges substantially overlap with the claimed ranges. It has been held that obviousness exists where the claimed ranges overlap or lie inside ranges disclosed by the prior art. See MPEP 2144.05 (I). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have selected from the overlapping portion of the range taught by Nakamura et al., because overlapping ranges have been held to establish prima facie obviousness.
As to claims 4 and 6, Nakamura et al. teach that the glass composition of the present invention preferably has a thermal expansion coefficient of 60 to 80 × 10 -7 / ° C. at 30 to 550 ° C. of the glass ceramics formed by firing (page 3 of translation, 5th paragraph from bottom of page). It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to optimize the thermal expansion coefficient of the glass composition to include the claimed range. Nakamura et al. note that in order to adjust the strength and thermal expansion coefficient of the fired body obtained by firing the sealing material, it is preferable that the sealing material of the present invention contains a ceramic powder together with the glass powder made of the glass composition In this case, the ratio of the ceramic powder to the total amount of the glass powder and the ceramic powder is preferably more than 0% by mass and 5% by mass or less. The inclusion of such a ceramic powder makes it easy to adjust the strength and the thermal expansion coefficient of the fired body (composite of glass ceramic and ceramic powder) after firing (page 3 of translation, 4th paragraph from bottom of page). It has been held that, where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation. See MPEP 2144.05(II).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JENNIFER A BOYD whose telephone number is (571)272-7783. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8 am - 5 pm with alternating Fridays off.
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/JENNIFER A BOYD/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1786
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