DETAILED ACTION
Claim Objections
Claims 2, 9, 15 and 18 are objected to because of the following informalities: Applicant has used Df as the symbol for dielectric loss tangent. However, this symbol is not a known symbol in the art. It is recommended to amend the claims to expand on Df as the “dielectric loss tangent” Appropriate correction is required.
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-6, 9-13, 15-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hijiya et al. (2022/0024803). Regarding claims 1, 6, 13 and 18, Hijiya discloses a method for treating an aluminoborosilicate glass, comprising forming the glass into a sheet ([0207]-[0208]), a heat treatment for the glass ([0212]), such as examples 9-11 (see table 4, [0264]), which comprise of heating the glass to a heated temperature of 653°C, which is at least 400°C and not more than 1200°C, keeping the glass at the heated temperature for 1550 mins (or 210 mins or 75 mins), which is at least 30 minutes, and cooling the glass from the heated temperature to a cooled temperature of room temperature ([0230]), which would naturally include a temperature of 40°C. Hijiya teaches the cooling rate from the heated temperature of 653°C to 333°C, calculated from Tg-300°C (633°C-300°C=333°C) is 0.1°C/min for example 9 and 1°C/min for example 10, which provides for cooling over at least 2 hours. The glass of examples 9-11 have composition 3, which comprises 62 mol% SiO2, 8.0 mol% Al2O3, 23.0 mol% B2O3, 4.0 mol% MgO, and 2.0 mol% CaO (see table 1), which falls within the claimed ranges of 60-75 mol% SiO2, 2-9 mol% Al2O3, 15-25 mol% B2O3, 1-6 mol% MgO, and 1-5 mol% CaO.
In further regards to claim 18, and regarding claims 2, 9, 15, Hijiya teaches the glass of example 9 has a dielectric loss tangent of 0.0018, which less than 0.0020 (see table 4).
Regarding claims 3, 10-11, and 16 as mentioned above, the heated temperature is 653°C (see table 4).
Regarding claims 4, 12, and 17, the cooling performed for example 9 is over (633°C-300°C=333°C) 333°/(0.1°C/min) = 3330 mins, which is over 4 hours, and the keeping is for at least 2 hours, i.e. 1550 mins (table 4)
Regarding claims 5 and 19, Hijiya teaches glass has been formed as a sheet prior to the heating ([0207]-[0208], [0212]).
Claims 13-14 and 16-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Hijiya et al. (2022/0024803). Regarding claim 13, Hijiya discloses a method for treating an aluminoborosilicate glass, comprising forming the glass into a sheet ([0207]-[0208]), a heat treatment for the glass ([0212]), such as examples 25-28 (see table 8, [0272]), which comprise of heating the glass to a heated temperature of 700°C, which is at least 400°C and not more than 1200°C, and cooling the glass from the heated temperature to a cooled temperature of room temperature ([0230]), which would naturally include a temperature of 40°C. The glass of examples 25-27 have composition 7, which comprises 67.2 mol% SiO2, 6.5 mol% Al2O3, 19.5 mol% B2O3, 0.5 mol% MgO, and 5.0 mol% CaO (see table 1), which falls within the claimed ranges of 60-75 mol% SiO2, 2-9 mol% Al2O3, 15-25 mol% B2O3, 1-6 mol% MgO, and 1-5 mol% CaO.
Regarding claim 14, as mentioned, composition 7 comprises 6.5 mol% Al2O3, which is less than 7.5 mol%, 19.5 mol% B2O3, which is more than 16 mol%, and 0.5 mol% MgO, which is less than 5.5 mol%.
Regarding claim 16, as mentioned above, the heated temperature is 700°C (see table 8).
Regarding claim 17, Hijiya teaches the cooling from the heated temperature of 700°C to 350°C (difference of 350°C), calculated from Tg-300°C (650°C-300°C=350°C) at a rate of 0.1°C/min for example 25, which provides for cooling of 350°C/(0.1°C/min) = 3550 minutes, which is over at least 4 hours.
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.
Claims 7-8 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hijiya et al. (2022/0024803) as applied to claims 6 and 19 above, and further in view of Jotz et al. (DE 102018209589 machine translation provided). Hijiya teaches the glass is used as a substrate for a high-frequency device ([0237]), such as electronic devices including surface acoustic wave devices ([0238]), which would appear to require bonding electronics to the glass sheet. So as to not subject the electronic components to the heat treatment and to provide a glass substrate for the assembly of an electronic device, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to perform the bonding of the electronics after cooling. In the event this is not obvious, Jotz teaches a method for assembling an electronic device for use in different applications, including surface acoustic wave applications (passage bridging pages 6-7), the method comprising providing for an aluminoborosilicate glass sheet (5th passage on page 5) and bonding electronics to the glass sheet to produce a composite of an electronic component (page 1). Jotz further teaches the further step of singulating the composite by a dicing process (bottom of page 6), which suggests the glass sheet provided is a finished glass sheet that has been cooled. Accordingly, it would have been obvious to of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to have provided for the further step of bonding electronics to the glass sheet after cooling so as to provide for composites for electronic devices, i.e. for use in surface acoustic wave devices.
Conclusion
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/QUEENIE S DEHGHAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1741