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
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-5, in the reply filed on 6/30/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 6-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
As Applicant did not traverse the restriction requirement, it is hereby deemed proper and made FINAL.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.s
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites: “wherein the plate-shaped members are bonded in a thickness direction”. This limitation is indefinite. The “thickness direction” of the plate-shaped members is not defined, and the use of “a thickness direction” rather than “the thickness direction” implies the plate-shaped members have more than one thickness direction. For purposes of examination, it is presumed the members are bonded such that the plates are substantially parallel to each other and the plates are stacked in the direction of the shortest dimension.
Claim 1 recites: “an area ratio of Si phases in the bonding layer is 12% or less”. This limitation is indefinite, as the claim does not specify whether this Si phase area ratio is a ratio measured from a cross-sectional area of the silicon member (i.e., along the “thickness direction”) or a ratio measured from the “top plane” of the silicon member. For purposes of examination, the former is presumed.
Claim 2 recites: “an aspect ratio of the Si phase in the bonding layer”. This limitation is indefinite. The claim does not specify how the aspect ratio is calculated, and the specification does not set forth a clear definition for the term “aspect ratio”. Furthermore, the claim fails to actually specify an aspect ratio of the Si phase because any aspect ratio could meet the claimed range of “3.0 or less”. For example, an aspect ratio of 5.0 is equivalent to an aspect ratio of 0.2 by reciprocating the ratio. For purposes of examination, it will be presumed that the claimed aspect ratio is a longest dimension to a shortest dimension perpendicular to the longest dimension, consistent with how the specification appears to measure aspect ratio (see ¶ 107). This interpretation necessarily implies a lower limit of 1.0 to the claimed aspect ratio.
In addition, claim 2 recites “the Si phase” in the singular. Thus, it is unclear whether only a single Si phase has the claimed ratio or whether all Si phases have the claimed ratio, or whether the claimed ratio is an average ratio. For purposes of examination, either of the latter two will be considered.
Dependent claims not addressed are indefinite by virtue of dependence from an indefinite 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.
(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.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Baba (JP 2003-163228).
Regarding claim 1, Baba discloses silicon members bonded via an Au layer (¶ 8). As the Au-Si eutectic contains about 3.2%wt Si, the area ratio of any Si phases in the Au layer due to diffusion is expected to be very small, absent objective evidence to the contrary. See MPEP 2112.
Claims 1 and 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1)/(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ikari et al. (US 2019/0172682).
Regarding claims 1 and 3-4, Ikari discloses an electrode plate comprising a plurality of plate like electrode members (¶ 8). The electrode members are made of silicon (¶ 19), and are joined together by a joining part (¶ 21). The joining part may comprise Al-Si eutectic alloy (¶ 21), which contains 12.6%wt Si. The plates are bonded one stacked on the other (¶ 19, see Fig. 2). Ikari does not expressly disclose the bonding layer between the plates has an area ratio of Si phases of 12% or less. However, the present specification states this is achieved by using a bonding layer comprising 0.5%-12.6%wt Si (see Spec., ¶ 28). As Ikari discloses such a bonding layer material, one of ordinary skill in the art would expect the prior art to exhibit the claimed Si phase area ratio, absent objective evidence to the contrary. See MPEP 2112.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2 and 5 appear to be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The prior art of record does not teach or suggest the claimed aspect ratio of Si phases in the bonding layer, nor does it teach or suggest the claimed intersections between Si and Al peaks on a virtual line in the bonding layer.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to XIAOBEI WANG whose telephone number is (571)270-5705. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8AM-5PM EST.
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/XIAOBEI WANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1784
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