DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-9 are pending, of which claims 8-9 have been withdrawn.
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Claims 8-9 withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 6/11/26.
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 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 4392992 (“Paulson”).
Regarding claim 1, Paulson teaches a resistor film comprising chromium and silicon (see e.g. col. 2, lines 56-65). The film can have chromium in an amount that is preferably 25-29% and silicon in an amount that is preferably 55-67%, which gives a value of Cr/(Cr+Si) of 0.27 to 0.35, the entirety of which is within the claimed range (see e.g. col. 3, lines 25-26). When 6% nitrogen is added, the TCR is constant with respect to temperature across the entire recited temperature range and is near 0 ppm/°C, which is within the claimed range (see e.g. FIG. 3 and col. 8, lines 47-52).
Regarding claim 2, Paulson teaches that, at least in certain embodiments, the TCR is constant with respect to temperature, which means that the difference between the minimum and maximum values would be less than 100 ppm/°C (see e.g. FIG. 3 and col. 8, lines 47-52).
Regarding claim 3, Paulson teaches that, at least in certain embodiments, the TCR is constant with respect to temperature and nearly 0, which means that the absolute values of TCR are less than 50 ppm/°C (see e.g. FIG. 3 and col. 8, lines 47-52).
Regarding claim 4, Paulson teaches that, at least in certain embodiments, the TCR is constant with respect to temperature and nearly 0, which means that the absolute value of an average TCR across the recited temperature range is less than 50 ppm/°C (see e.g. FIG. 3 and col. 8, lines 47-52).
Regarding claim 5, Paulson teaches that the film can have chromium in an amount that is preferably 25-29% and silicon in an amount that is preferably 55-67%, which gives a value of Cr/(Cr+Si) of 0.27 to 0.35 and overlaps significantly with the claimed range (see e.g. col. 3, lines 25-26).
Regarding claim 6, Paulson teaches that the film further comprises nitrogen (see e.g. col. 2, lines 56-65).
Regarding claim 7, Paulson teaches that the film can have silicon in an amount that is preferably 55-67% and nitrogen in an amount of preferably 8-16%, meaning that the value of Si – N is between 39-59%, the entirety of which is within the claimed range (see e.g. col. 3, lines 25-26).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERIC S SHERMAN whose telephone number is (703)756-4784. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30-5:00 ET.
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/E.S.S./Examiner, Art Unit 1736
/ANTHONY J ZIMMER/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1736
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