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 Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 10/23/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim 1 under 35 USC 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Specifically, the Examiner’s rejection of claim 1 under Kayaba was based on the percentage of primary and secondary nitrogen in only one molecule of xylenediamine and one molecule of aminopropyltriethoxysilane. The Applicant has shown this to be inconsistent with the measurement of primary and secondary amine in the compound as shown in Table 1, Examples 2-4.
However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Kayaba as Kayaba does disclose in Example 26 the quantity of additional amine in the composition.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3 and 5-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kayaba US 20180334588A1.
Regarding claims 1-3 and 5-6, in Example 26 Kayaba teaches a composition comprising a compound (A) aminopropyldiethoxymethylsilane which includes a Si-O bond and a cationic functional group containing at
least one of a primary nitrogen atom or a secondary nitrogen atom (Paragraph [0318]). This reads on the claimed “A.” Kayaba also teaches the composition of Example comprises a crosslinking agent ethyl half ester oxydiphthalic acid acid which includes three or more -C(=O)OX groups (X is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having from I to 6 carbon atoms) in the molecule, in which from one to six of three or more -C(=O)OX groups are -C(=O)OH groups, (Paragraph [0319). The molecular weight of this structure is 400.12 g/mol. This falls within the claimed range of 200-600 g/mol. This reads on the claimed “B.”
Kayaba teaches in Example 26 a composition comprising an additional amine component para-xylenediamine (Paragraph [0318]), mentioned previously as the preferred form of xylenediamine (Paragraph [0129]). Kayaba does teach that the amount of xylenediamine in the composition is 5% by mass and the amount of APDES, or component (A) in the composition is 2% by mass. The molar mass of APDES is 191.34 g/mol. The molar mass of xylene diamine is 136.2 g/mol.
This corresponds to 12.4% percent of primary and secondary nitrogen in A with respect to the total amount of nitrogen in (A) and (C). This overlaps with the claimed range of 3-95 mol%.
The molar mass of xylenediamine of 136.2 g/mol falls within the claimed range of 80-600.
Kayaba also teaches in example 26 that the composition comprises ethanol (Table 5). This reads on the claimed “polar solvent.”
Regarding claim 7, Kayaba teaches the composition can be used in a semiconductor device (Title). This reads on the claimed “semiconductor device.”
Regarding claim 8, Kayaba teaches that the composition can be applied to a substrate (Paragraph [0146]). This reads on the limitations of claim 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4 and 12 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Claims 4 and 12 recite that two alkyl groups are bonded to an oxygen atom in the Si-O bond. This is the implied structure
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200
400
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Greyscale
where R is an alkyl group. This structure is not taught in Kayaba. Trivalent, positively charged oxygen substituents bonded to a silicon atom are not known in the art and would generally be considered highly unstable and undesirable by those of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LILY K SLOAN whose telephone number is (703)756-5875. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00-5:30 ET.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Robert Jones can be reached at (571) 270-7733. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LILY K SLOAN/Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/ROBERT S JONES JR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1762