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 .
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 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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election with traverse of claims 1-16 in the reply filed on May 4, 2026 is acknowledged.
The Applicant argues that a search of all the claims would not impose a serious burden on the Office. This is not found persuasive because claims 1-16 are drawn to a composition, while claims 17-20 are drawn to a method. Thus, the determination of patentability of Invention I (claims 1-16) and Invention II (claim 17-20) would require searches in searching different classes/groups or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries; and the prior art applicable to one invention would not likely be applicable to another invention. The above reasons support that a search of all the claims would impose serious burden on the examiner.
The restriction requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL. Claims 17-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
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.
Claims 1-4 and 6-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Alety et al. (US20220306902).
Regarding claim 1, Alety discloses a polishing composition (abstract and paragraph 0236) comprising: an aluminum (III) salt, a permanganate salt, and water, wherein an amount of the permanganate salt is at least 2.5 wt % based on a total weight of the polishing composition; an amount of the aluminum (III) salt is at least 0.2 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition; and a pH of the polishing composition is not greater than 4.5 (Example S-C3, 0.5 wt.% of aluminum nitrate, 4.0 wt.% of potassium permanganate, 94.5 wt.% of water, pH of 3.9-4.1, Table 7).
Regarding claim 2, Alety discloses a polishing composition (abstract and paragraph 0236) comprising: an aluminum salt, at least one permanganate salt in an amount of at least 2.5 wt % based on a total weight of the polishing composition, and water, wherein a pH of the polishing composition is not greater than 4.5; and the polishing composition is configured to polish a substrate including silicon carbide with an average material removal rate (MMR) of at least 3.5 μm/hour according to a test silicon carbide polishing test (Example S-C3, 0.5 wt.% of aluminum nitrate, 4.0 wt.% of potassium permanganate, 94.5 wt.% of water, pH of 3.9-4.1, Table 7; Example S-C3, silicon carbide material removal rate of 4.8 μm/hour, Table 9).
Regarding claim 3, Alety discloses wherein the aluminum (III) salt includes aluminum nitrate (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 4, Alety discloses wherein the aluminum (III) salt consists essentially of aluminum nitrate (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claims 6-7, Alety discloses wherein the permanganate salt includes potassium permanganate (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 8, Alety discloses wherein the amount of the permanganate salt is 4 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 9, Alety discloses wherein the amount of the aluminum (III) salt is 0.5 wt % based on the total weight of the composition (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 10, Alety discloses wherein the pH of the polishing composition is at least 3.9 and not greater than 4.1 (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 11, Alety discloses wherein the amount of aluminum (III) salt is 0.50 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition, the amount of permanganate salt is 4 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition, and the pH of the polishing composition is at least 3.9 and not greater than 4.1 (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 12, Alety discloses wherein the polishing composition further comprises abrasive particles (alumina, Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 13, Alety discloses wherein the abrasive particles include alumina (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 14, Alety discloses wherein an amount of the abrasive particles is 1.0 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition (Example S-C3, Table 7).
Regarding claim 15, Alety discloses wherein the polishing composition further comprises a pH buffer (paragraph 0263).
Claims 1, 3-11 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ward et al. (US20180340095).
Regarding claim 1, Ward discloses a polishing composition (claim 1 and paragraph 0018) comprising: an aluminum (III) salt (aluminum nitrate reads on an aluminum (III) salt, claim 5), a permanganate salt (potassium permanganate, paragraph 0019), and water (the solvent is water, paragraph 0018), wherein an amount of the permanganate salt is at least 2.5 wt % based on a total weight of the polishing composition (the amount of an aluminum (III) salt equals to about 10 wt.%, paragraph 0026); and a pH of the polishing composition is not greater than 4.5 (less than about 4, paragraph 0032).
Regarding claim 3, Ward discloses wherein the aluminum (III) salt includes aluminum nitrate (claim 5).
Regarding claim 4, Ward discloses wherein the aluminum (III) salt consists essentially of aluminum nitrate (claim 5).
Regarding claim 5, Ward discloses wherein the composition is essentially free of abrasive particles (abrasive-free, paragraph 0002).
Regarding claims 6-7, Ward discloses wherein the permanganate salt includes potassium permanganate (paragraph 0019).
Regarding claim 8, Ward discloses wherein the amount of the permanganate salt is about 10 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition (paragraph 0020).
Regarding claim 9, Ward discloses wherein the amount of the aluminum (III) salt is at least 0.5 wt % based on the total weight of the composition (greater or equals to about 1 wt.%, paragraph 0026).
Regarding claim 10, Ward discloses wherein the pH of the polishing composition is at least 1 and not greater than 3 (1-3, paragraph 0032).
Regarding claim 11, Ward discloses wherein the amount of aluminum (III) salt is at least 0.50 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition (greater or equals to about 1 wt.%, paragraph 0026), the amount of permanganate salt is about 10 wt % based on the total weight of the polishing composition (paragraph 0020), and the pH of the polishing composition is at least 1 and not greater than 3 (1-3, paragraph 0032).
Regarding claim 16, Ward discloses wherein the polishing composition consists essentially of potassium permanganate, aluminum (III) nitrate and water (paragraphs 0018, 0019 and claim 5).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIONG-PING LU whose telephone number is (571) 270-1135. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 9:00am – 5:00pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joshua L Allen, can be reached at telephone number (571)270-3176. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JIONG-PING LU/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1713
Prosecution Insights