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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 4-5 of Remarks, filed June 26, 2026, with respect to claim 1 and its depending claims have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of the aforementioned claims has been withdrawn.
Applicant's arguments filed June 26, 2026, with respect to new claim 9 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
On page 9 of Remarks, Applicant argues that Sato et al. (US Publication 2017/0162336) fails to disclose the limitation of claim 9. In particular, the Applicant argues that when the first and second conductive layers are made of the same material, the same material is ZnO or ITO.
The Examiner respectfully disagrees with the above assertion. As explained in the rejection herein with reference to Figure 2 of Sato with Examiner’s Comments, element 13 can be arbitrarily divided into two layers, C1 and C2. Each of these conductive layers contains ZnO. As claimed, the Applicant has distinguished between both of these layers.
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.
Claim(s) 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sato (US Publication 2017/0162336).
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Figure 2 of Sato with Examiner’s Comments (Figure 2EC)
In re claim 9, Sato discloses a capacitor (¶17) comprising:
an anode body (11 – Figure 2, ¶17) having a dielectric layer (12 – Figure 2, ¶17) formed on a surface of the anode body (Figure 2);
a conductive layer (C1, C2 – Figure 2, ¶17, ¶39) formed on the dielectric layer (Figure 2; Note that although the conductive layer does not contact the dielectric layer, the conductive layer is formed on the dielectric layer.),
wherein the conductive layer includes a first conductive layer (C1 – Figure 2EC) formed on the dielectric layer (12 – Figure 2), and a second conductive layer (C2 – Figure 2EC) formed on the first conductive layer (C1– Figure 2), and an average thickness of the second conductive layer is larger than an average thickness of the first conductive layer (See Figure 2EC; The Examiner is choosing the thickness of C2 to arbitrarily be greater than C1.),
when the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are made of the same material, the same material is ZnO or indium tin oxide (ITO) (¶28), and
when the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are made of different materials, each of the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer is at least one selected from the group consisting of ZnO, TiO2, ITO, 1n203, SnO2, NiO2, CuInO2, CuCrO2, CuAlO2, and CuScO2, or each of the first conductive layer and the second conductive layer is at least one selected from the group consisting of TiO2, ITO, In2O3, SnO2, NiO2, CuInO2, CuCrO2, CuAlO2, and CuScO2.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5 and 8 are allowed. The prior art does not teach nor suggest (in combination with other claim limitations) the first and second conductive layers are each made of zinc oxide, and only one of the first or second conductive layers contains an impurity element.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Chacko et al. (US Publication 2015/0348715) [¶34]
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 ARUN RAMASWAMY whose telephone number is (571)270-1962. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Timothy Dole can be reached at 571-272-2229. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ARUN RAMASWAMY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2848
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