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 § 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 1-2, 4 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Tsukada et al.
Regarding claim 1, Tsukada teaches a resistor (“chip resistor” 10A; see at least figs. 2-5), comprising:
an insulating substrate (“substrate” 5);
a terminal electrode formed on the insulating substrate (terminal electrode extends beyond the side surface of the resistor 3; see fig. 2);
a bottom electrode (electrode 1A) formed on the insulating substrate (bottom electrode is layered under the resistor 3), connected to the terminal electrode, and comprising a resistance adjustment pattern (resistance adjustment patterns T2 and/or T3), wherein a pattern in a region close to the terminal electrode has lower resistance than a pattern in a region far from
the terminal electrode (pattern not layered with the resistor 3 having a lower resistance than the pattern covered with the resistor 3);
a resistance body (resistor layer 3 being a metal film composed Pd-Ag-RuO2; see col. 1, lines 23-26 and col. 3, lines 55-60) formed on the bottom electrode (1A); and
a top electrode (electrode 1B) formed on the resistance body (3) and arranged to face the bottom electrode (1A).
Regarding claim 10, the device being a chip resistor used in a circuit as an information technology associated equipment (col. 1, lines 10-30).
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.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsukada in view of Song et al.
Regarding claim 3, Tsukada teaches the claimed invention except for the resistance body being a metal nitride.
Song teaches a resistance body being composed of metal nitride such as TaN or TiN (see the bottom of the 6th page) which allows for forming a thin film resistance which can be varied in shape, length and width.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Song with Tsukada, since the metal nitride resistance layer taught by Song allows for Tsukada to control the thickness, length and shape of the resistance layer as desired.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tsukada in view of Fujita et al.
Regarding claim 5, Tsukada teaches the claimed invention except for the resistance body being a thin film thermistor.
Fujita teaches a thermistor being formed of metal nitride (under “the technical field”) for the purpose of formed a thermistor being capable of forming under the condition of non-sintering and having a high heat resistance and high reliability (under “invention content”).
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the current invention to combine the teachings of Fujita with Tsukada, since the metal nitride resistance material taught by Fujita allows for Tsukada to form a thermistor having a high heat resistance and reliability.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9 and 11 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.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art does not teach or suggest the resistor further having the top electrode having a pattern in a region close to the terminal electrode, which has lower
resistance than a pattern in a region far from the terminal electrode.
Regarding claim 7, the prior art does not teach or suggest the resistor further having the resistance adjustment pattern in the bottom electrode comprises a plurality of ladder portions arranged to face each other in pairs.
Claims 8 and 9 depend on claim 7.
Regarding claim 11, the prior art does not teach or suggest a method of manufacturing the resistor, the method comprising:
preparing in advance a plurality of patterns for the top electrode, and selecting the
top electrode of a desired pattern from the plurality of patterns of the top electrode to
adjust a resistance value; and
cutting the resistance adjustment pattern of the bottom electrode to adjust the
resistance value.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYUNG S LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-1994. The examiner can normally be reached 7AM-3PM M-F.
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/KYUNG S LEE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2831
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