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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/5/2026 has been entered.
Claims 1-19 and 70-76 are pending. Claims 1, 16, 70 are amended.
Claims 1-8,10-13,16-19,70-73 and 77 stand rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over US 2017/0058152 (US ‘152).
Claim 9 stands rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over US ‘152 in view of WO 2012/133627 (WO ‘627).
The rejections of Claims 1-8,10-13,16-19 and 70-73 under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over WO 2014/140430 (WO ‘430) are withdrawn in view of Applicant’s amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/5/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants contend the US ‘152 reference only discloses embodiments of particles which have more than one shell layer which does not meet the newly amended limitations drawn to a single layer shell. The Applicants note an embodiment from US ‘152 that discloses a copper core and a nickel alloy shell with an intervening silver shell and contends the additional silver shell is necessarily present to prevent degradation of the performance of the prior art core shell particle.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees and notes that Figure 1 in the reference specifically discloses a core shell particle which only has one shell layer (Figure 1, part 101) which is distinct from another embodiment that discloses a multi shell layer particle (Figure 1, part 104). Further, the disclosure notes that the core material can be a variety of metals other than copper which are silent with respect to the degradation concerns raised by Applicants. US ‘152 further incorporates US Patent 9331216 (US ‘216) by reference which describes the nickel boron shell of the reference as being nanocrystalline (US ‘216, Col. 7, lines 55-60) which the Examiner construes as inherently disclosing the nickel boron alloy shell as being a material that is capable of forming grain boundaries as the grain boundaries would exist between the nanocrystals of the alloy.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 74 and 75 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 74 and 75 recites the limitation “the alloy” in line 5. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
For purposes of examination, the shell is construed as containing the alloy.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-8,10-13,16-19 and 70-73 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by US 2017/0058152 (US ‘152).
As to Claim 1, US ‘152 discloses an adhesive composition comprising a particle “101” which contains base metal core and a single shell
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(Fig.1, part 101) where the core can be copper, tin or aluminum (para. 0038) and the shell is comprised of an alloy including a nickel and boron alloy (para. 0039). US 9331216 (US ‘216), which is incorporated by reference (para. 0045), discloses that the nickel boron alloys that are deposited on core metal particles are polycrystalline and exhibit grain boundaries (US ‘216, Col. 7, lines 60-65).
As to Claims 2, the shell is provided to create oxidation resistance (para. 0037).
As to Claims 4 and 5, see discussion of Claim 1 above.
As to Claim 7, US ‘152 discloses that the alloy can contain combinations of metals including molybdenum, tungsten and cobalt (para. 0039).
As to Claim 8, the adhesive composition of the prior art can further contain solvents (para. 0019) used in solution processing methods (para. 0031).
As to Claim 10, US ‘152 discloses the composition can further contain polymer matrices (para. 0019).
As to Claims 11 and 12, the core shell particle can have D50 particle sizes of 100 nm to 100 micron (para. 0015).
As to Claims 16, see discussion of Claims 1 and 7 above where another alloying material can be molybdenum (para. 0039).
As to Claim 18, see discussion of Claim 1.
As to Claim 19, see discussion of Claim 8 above.
As to Claims 71-72, the composition can be used for a variety of devices (para. 0036).
Claim(s) 1,2,4-8,10-12,16-19,70-74 and 76 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO 2015037711 (WO ‘711).
As to Claim 1, WO ‘711 discloses in Figure 1 a core shell particle comprised of a base particle 2 which is coated with a conductive portion 3
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(Fig. 1, para. 0070). The Examiner notes that the conductive portion 3 is a single layer directly on the core. WO ‘711 discloses the conductive portion has a crystal structure (para. 0025) which the Examiner construes as inherently containing grain boundaries as crystalline structures would have said boundaries between adjacent crystallites. The base portion is made of conductive metals (para. 0097).
As to Claim 2, the Examiner respectfully submits the prior art would inherently reduce oxidation of the core as the layer covers the core portion preventing oxidation from reaching the surface of the core.
As to Claim 4, see discussion of Claim 1 above.
As to Claim 5, the core can be copper or nickel (para. 0097).
As to Claim 6, the conductive portion can contain alloys of silver (para. 0104).
As to Claim 7, the conductive portion can contain alloys of cobalt (para. 0104).
As to Claim 8 and 10, the core shell particle is dispersed in a pre-cure epoxy resin composition which the Examiner construes as a type of solution (para. 0157).
As to Claims 11-12, the core particle has a diameter of up to 0.9 micron (para. 0124).
As to Claim 16, see discussion of Claim 1 and 7 above.
As to Claim 17, see discussion of Claim 1 and 6 above.
As to Claim 18, see discussion of Claim 1 and 5 above.
As to Claim 19, see discussion of Claims 8 and 10 above.
As to Claim 70, see discussion of Claims 1 and 6 above.
As to Claims 71-73, WO ‘711 discloses device embodiments (para. 0148).
As to Claim 74, see discussion of Claim 14 above.
As to Claim 76, see discussion of Claims 1 and 6 above.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US ‘152 in view of WO 2012/133627 (WO ‘627) citing a machine translation.
As to Claim 9, US ‘152 discloses a variety of solvents for the composition including ketones, toluene and ethanol (para. 0056), however, fails to disclose the use of ethylene glycol.
As to the difference, WO ‘627 discloses a paste comprising a silver coated copper particle dispersed in a paste for use in a related art of conductive adhesives (pg. 4, midway of the page) wherein the solvents used in the paste can be ethanol, toluene and glycols such as ethylene glycol (bottom of pg. 7).
It would have obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute the solvents of US ‘152 with the glycol of WO ‘627 as substitution of art recognized equivalents is within the level of the ordinarily skilled artisan.
Claim(s) 14 and 74 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO ‘711.
As to Claims 14 and 74, WO ‘711 fails to specifically disclose a core shell particle with a copper core and a silver cobalt alloy shell.
As discussed in the 102 rejections above, WO ‘711 discloses a core material as being copper and a shell material that can contain silver, cobalt and alloys thereof.
It would have been obvious to for one of ordinary skill in the art to select both core and shell materials that match the instant claim as selection of elements from lists is within the level of the ordinarily skilled artisan.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3,13 and 15 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.
Specifically none of the prior art discloses core shell particles which form intermetallic compounds as required by Claim 3 nor specify the specific alloy compounds of Claims 13 or 15 nor is there any teaching, suggestion or motivation in the prior art to modify prior art teachings to arrive at the claimed limitations.
The Examiner notes Claim 75 would also contain allowable subject matter for the reasons stated pending resolution of the 112 issue detailed above.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAISON P THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)272-8917. The examiner can normally be reached Monday to Friday, 9:00 am-3:30 pm EST.
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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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/J.P.T/Examiner, Art Unit 1762
/jt/ 5/14/2026
/MARK KOPEC/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1762
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