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 .
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.
Claims 1-3, 6, 9-10, 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Loren A Halsuska et al (U. S. Patent: 4753855, here after 855),
further in view of Clayton R. Bearinger et al (U. S. Patent: 5807611, here after 611).
Claim 1 is rejected. method for coating an article (electronic device) comprising:
applying a liquid silicon-containing composition (hydrogen silsesquioxane resin)
onto a surface of the article to form an uncured silicon-containing layer;
curing(drying) the uncured silicon-containing layer to form a silicon-containing
quasi-ceramic layer disposed over the surface of the article [abstract], the silicon-
containing quasi-ceramic layer including a plurality of siloxane units; and
applying a metal-containing layer (silicon carbon, silicon nitrogen (metal nitride) or silicon carbon nitrogen (metal carbonitride) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) onto the silicon-containing quasi-ceramic layer [abstract, column 3 lines 16-23, column 5 lines 3-16]. 855 teaches the metal containing layer (passivation layer) by CVD [column 3 lines 16-23] and not by PVD. 611 teaches passivation layer can be deposited by CVD or PVD [column 6 lines 23-28]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the metal containing passivation layer (silicon nitride or silicon oxynitride) is deposited by PVD, because PVD as well as CVD is a suitable method of depositing metal containing passivation layer.
Claim 2 is rejected as 855 teaches applying more ceramic coating comprising
silicon carbon, silicon nitrogen or silicon carbon nitrogen[abstract], and therefore the
second layer (third layer in total) considered as top layer which acts as protective layer,
and being composed of a quasi-ceramic material [column 3 lines 16-23].
Claim 3 is rejected as 855 teaches adding metal alkoxide to hydrogen
silsesquioxane resin and heating which in fact silicon-containing quasi-ceramic layer
further includes a plurality of metallosiloxane units.
Claim 6 is rejected as the metal-containing layer is composed of a metal nitride
(silicon nitrogen), and a metal carbonitride (silicon carbon nitrogen) [abstract].
Claim 9 is rejected as 855 teaches curing(drying) the uncured silicon-containing
layer by evaporation (at room temperature, which is a temperature less than about 50
°C) [column 4 lines 30-33].
Claim 10 is rejected as 855 teaches the uncured silicon-containing layer is cured
under ambient (since it does not mention any atmosphere it is considered as ambient
atmosphere) conditions [column 5 lines 5-16].
Claim 14 is rejected as 855 teaches the liquid silicon-containing composition
further includes an organometallic compound [column 10 lines 15-19].
Claim 15 is rejected as 855 teaches organometallic compound titanium butoxide
[column 10 lines 15-19].
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Loren A
Halsuska et al (U. S. Patent: 4753855, here after 855), Clayton R. Bearinger et al (U. S.
Patent: 5807611, here after 611), further in view of M. Featherby et al (Chinese Patent:
1416593, here after 593).
Claims 4-5 are rejected. 855 teaches the metal containing layer comprising
silicon nitride or silicon carbide, but does not teach the metal-containing layer is
composed of a refractory metal. 593 teaches encapsulating an electronic device by
deposition of silicone resin and metal containing layer comprising silicon nitride silicon
carbide or zirconium oxide or titanium oxide [page 7 paragraph 6] (zirconium and
titanium are refractory metals). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary
skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the
metal containing layer comprising refractory metal, because zirconium oxide and
titanium oxide are suitable metal containing layer for encapsulating devices.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Loren A
Halsuska et al (U. S. Patent: 4753855, here after 855), Clayton R. Bearinger et al (U. S.
Patent: 5807611, here after 611), further in view of PE Burrows et al (Chinese Patent:
1678409, here after 409).
Claim 7 is rejected. 855 does not teach metal-containing layer is composed of
chromium nitride. 409 teaches encapsulating electronic device by deposition
multilayered stack comprising polymer material and inorganic layer (metal containing
layer), where the inorganic layer comprising chromium nitride [page 6 last 4 lines- page
7 lines 1-22]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at
the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the metal containing
layer comprising chromium nitride, because zirconium chromium is suitable metal
containing layer for encapsulating devices.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Loren A
Halsuska et al (U. S. Patent: 4753855, here after 855), Clayton R. Bearinger et al (U. S.
Patent: 5807611, here after 611), further in view of L. Xiao (Chinese Patent:
107845732, here after 732).
Claim 8 is rejected. 855 does not teach metal-containing layer is composed of
zirconium nitride. 732 teaches encapsulating electronic device by deposition of silicon
containing inorganic polymer layer and inorganic layer (metal containing layer), where
the inorganic layer comprising zirconium nitride [abstract, page 2 Equivalent Abstract].
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the
invention was made to have a method of 855 where the metal containing layer
comprising zirconium nitride, because zirconium nitride is suitable metal containing
layer for encapsulating devices.
Claims 3, 9-19, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over
Loren A Halsuska et al (U. S. Patent: 4753855, here after 855), of Clayton R. Bearinger
et al (U. S. Patent: 5807611, here after 611), further in view of Atul Tiwari et al (U. S.
Patent Application: 2020/0255688, here after 688).
Claim 3 is rejected. 855 teaches the liquid silicon-containing composition
includes hydrogen silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent[abstract], but does not
clearly teach it includes plurality of metallosiloxane units. 688 teaches a method of
coating an article with silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent and curing to form a
quasi-ceramic coating, and teaches the coating composition also metallosiloxanes
[abstract, 0016]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art
at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the silicon resin
containing composition of 855 is replaced by silicon containing resin composition of 688,
because it is suitable silicon resin for protecting articles.
Claims 9-10 are rejected for the same reason claim 3 is rejected above. 688
teaches curing is at less than 50C and in ambient condition [0051].
Claim 11 is rejected (version I). 855 teaches the liquid silicon-containing
composition includes hydrogen silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent[abstract],
but does not teach containing an inorganic silicon-containing compound. 688 teaches a
method of coating an article with silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent and curing
to form a quasi-ceramic coating, and teaches the coating composition also comprising
inorganic silicon-containing compound (silicon oxide filler, which can dissolve in a
solvent) [abstract, 0013, 0024]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the silicon-containing comprising inorganic filler, because it is suitable to have fillers in silicon containing coating.
Claim 11 is rejected (version II). 855 teaches the liquid silicon-containing
composition includes hydrogen silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent[abstract],
but does not teach containing an inorganic silicon-containing compound. 688 teaches a
method of coating an article with silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent and curing
to form a quasi-ceramic coating, and teaches the coating composition also comprising
inorganic silicon-containing compound (silicon oxide filler, which can dissolve in a
solvent) [abstract, 0013, 0024]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the silicon resin containing composition of 855 is replaced by silicon containing resin composition of 688, because it is suitable silicon resin for protecting articles.
Claim 12 is rejected as 688 teaches the silicon-containing composition includes a
silicone [abstract].
Claim 13 is rejected as 688 teaches the liquid silicon-containing composition
includes silazane [abstract].
Claims 14-15 are rejected as 688 teaches the composition comprising
organometallic compound such as zirconium tert-butoxide [0019].
Claim 16 is rejected. 855 and 688 teach the limitation of claim 11(version II)
wherein the liquid silicon-containing composition further includes an alkoxysilane
[abstract, 0020].
Claim 17 is rejected as 688 teaches the alkoxysilane is N-(2-aminoethyl)3-
aminopropyl-triethoxysilane [0021].
Claim 18 is rejected. 855 and 688 teach the limitation of claim 11(version II), and
688 teaches the solvent is an aprotic solvent [0007].
Claim 19 is rejected as 688 teaches the solvent comprises hexamethyldisiloxane
[0022].
Claim 21 is rejected. 855 teaches a method for coating an article (electronic device) comprising:
applying a liquid silicon-containing composition (hydrogen silsesquioxane resin)
onto a surface of the article to form an uncured silicon-containing layer, the liquid silicon-containing composition including an aprotic solvent (toluene, heptane or methyl ethyl ketone);
curing(drying) the uncured silicon-containing layer to form a silicon-containing
quasi-ceramic layer disposed over the surface of the article [abstract], the silicon-
containing quasi-ceramic layer including a plurality of siloxane units; and
applying a metal-containing layer (silicon nitrogen (silicon nitride) or silicon carbon nitrogen, metal nitride) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) onto the silicon-containing quasi-ceramic layer [abstract, column 3 lines 16-23, column 5 lines 3-16]. 855 teaches the metal containing layer (passivation layer) by CVD [column 3 lines 16-23] and not by PVD. 611 teaches passivation layer (silicon nitride, silicon carbide) can be deposited by CVD or PVD [column 6 lines 23-28]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the metal containing passivation layer is deposited by PVD, because PVD as well as CVD is a suitable method of depositing metal containing passivation layer. 855 teaches the liquid silicon-containing composition
includes hydrogen silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent[abstract], but does not
clearly teach it includes plurality of metallosiloxane units. 688 teaches a method of
coating an article with silsesquioxane resin, dissolved in a solvent(aprotic) and curing to form a quasi-ceramic coating, and teaches the coating composition also metallosiloxanes [abstract, 0016]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to have a method of 855 where the silicon resin containing composition of 855 is replaced by silicon containing resin composition of 688, because it is suitable silicon resin for protecting articles. 688 also teaches the liquid silicon-containing composition including a silazane, an organometallic compound[abstract], and silicon-containing quasi-ceramic layer including a plurality of siloxane units and a plurality of metallosiloxane units [0016], and since drying is done in ambient temperature the silicone-containing quasi-ceramic layer includes residues of each of the components of the liquid silicon-containing composition after curing.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see Remarks, filed 02/25/26, with respect to 35 U.S.C 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 35 U.S.C 112(b) of claim 13 has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed 02/25/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. The applicant argues curing in Halsuska is ceramification, the examiner disagrees, the rejection is based on considering drying in Halsuska as curing which in fact happens at low temperature (under ambient condition) and preserves the coating rather than ceramifying it. The applicant argues the Hassuska’s coating after drying is not a finished coating, however claims are to method and do not require finish product.
The applicant argument regarding Bearinger’s teaching is not persuasive, Hassuska teaches depositing passivation layer by CVD, and Bearinger teaches passivation layer can be deposited by PVD as well as CVD which is an alternative way to deposit passivation layer. Furthermore, claim requires metal nitride which in fact can read on silicon nitride. Furthermore for chromium nitride or zirconium nitride other references is cited above and therefore the subject matter is not patentable.
Conclusion
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 TABASSOM TADAYYON ESLAMI whose telephone number is (571)270-1885. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:30-6.
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/TABASSOM TADAYYON ESLAMI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1718