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 .
Election/Restrictions
Claims 4, 5, 12, 13, and 16-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected product, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 12/1/25.
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-3, 6-11, 14, and 15 in the reply filed on 12/1/25 is acknowledged.
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) 9-11, 14, and 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sasaki WO_9854761_A1 (see machine English translation).
1. Regarding Claim 9, Sasaki discloses a ceramic structure with stacked layers (paragraphs 0005, 0023). Sasaki teaches using nitride ceramic substrate (corresponds to claimed nitride ceramic core layer) with a thickness that is thick enough for mechanical strength ([0070]). This seemingly indicates a pre-determined thickness. Sasaki discloses using a high melting metal layer that comprises silica oxide which is in the form of covering paste layer (corresponds to claimed ceramic covering layer) that can be applied to almost the entire surface of said nitride ceramic substrate and then jointly sintered (paragraph 0122). The fact that it can be applied to almost the entirety of the nitride ceramic substrate (corresponds to claimed nitride ceramic core layer) suggests that it overlaps with more than 80% of an area of one of the two ceramic surfaces of the nitride ceramic substrate layer, as is being claimed in independent Claim 9. Sasaki further discloses that the thickness of said silica oxide-based covering layer paste (corresponds to claimed ceramic covering layer) can be about 20 microns while the nitride ceramic substrate can be 0.7 mm (paragraph 0124); thereby meeting the limitation of the two ceramic covering layers being less than or equal to the predetermined thickness of the nitride ceramic substrate.
2. However, Sasaki does not seem to disclose having said silica oxide-based covering layer paste (corresponds to claimed ceramic covering layer) on both sides of its nitride ceramic substrate (corresponds to claimed nitride ceramic core layer) in a single, exemplified embodiment.
3. Sasaki does disclose in what seems to be a lesser preferred embodiment, to stack layers on both sides of said nitride ceramic substrate (corresponds to claimed nitride ceramic core layer) (paragraph 0058). Although Sasaki does not explicitly state any particular advantage of placing the corresponding ceramic cover layer on both sides of its nitride ceramic substrate, the Examiner respectfully submits that it would have been obvious to try this embodiment for having improved bonding strength on both sides since Sasaki does suggest that in general, the layer does provide bonding strength (paragraph 0015) and relieve thermal stress (paragraph 0019).
4. Regarding Claim 10, Sasaki discloses using Si3N4 layer as its nitride substrate core layer (paragraph 0007) and AlN for its ceramic covering layer (paragraph 0009).
5. Regarding Claim 11, Sasaki discloses using a copper conducting layer formed on said silica-oxide based ceramic covering layer (Abstract).
6. Regarding Claim 14, Sasaki discloses the claimed thickness as stated above along with the use of differing materials and symmetrical coatings on both sides of said substrate above.
7. Regarding Claim 15, Sasaki also discloses that said nitride ceramic substrate layer can be AlN (paragraph 0009).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-3 and 6-8 are allowable. The applied art as well as prior art in general does not disclose or suggest having two composite layers formed on both ceramic surfaces of the nitride ceramic core layer, that comprise the material of the ceramic covering layers as well as the material of the nitride ceramic core layer, all within the overall embodiment of Claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAHSEEN KHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1140. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays-Saturdays 08:00AM-10:00PM.
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/TAHSEEN KHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1781 March 10, 2026