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 1-6, in the reply filed on 3/6/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim 7-10 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/6/2026.
Claim Interpretation
The phrase “rare earth” of claim 1 has been interpreted to include elements scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), and all elements in the row of Lanthanides as per the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), which is consistent with the Specification para 0008, 0025, and 0032 in addition to Table 1 suggesting more narrowly the elements of the “rare earth” are selected from holmium (H), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb) and dysprosium (Dy).
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.
Claims 1-6 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 the limitation "the outside". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Claims 2-6 are also rejected as depending on claim 1.
Claim 1 recites “A co-sputtering rare earth rotating target material, […] the plurality of sections of target tubes welded to the outside of the back tube comprise two sections of end target tubes arranged at an axial end of the target material, and a plurality of sections of rare earth target tubes and a plurality of sections of co-sputtering target tubes which are arranged between the two sections of end target tubes and with a target material along an axial middle region” (emphasis added). The claim is indefinite as to whether “a target material” is intended to be two distinct ‘target materials’ or the same “target material”. Claims 2-6 are also rejected as depending on claim 1.
Claim 1 recites “A co-sputtering rare earth rotating target material, comprising a back tube and a plurality of sections of target tubes welded to the outside of the back tube; wherein the back tube and the plurality of sections of target tubes welded to the outside of the back tube are concentric cylindrical structures; the plurality of sections of target tubes welded to the outside of the back tube comprise two sections of end target tubes arranged at an axial end of the target material, […] and the target tubes are mutually assembled via welding” (emphasis added). The claim is indefinite as to whether the “welding” of ‘the target tubes being mutually assembled’ is intended to mean “the target tubes” are ‘welded’ to the backing tube, are ‘welded’ to each other, some combination thereof, or some other variation. Claims 2-6 are also rejected as depending on claim 1.
Claim 1 recites “A co-sputtering rare earth rotating target material, comprising a back tube and a plurality of sections of target tubes welded to the outside of the back tube; wherein the back tube and the plurality of sections of target tubes welded to the outside of the back tube are concentric cylindrical structures; the plurality of sections of target tubes welded to the outside of the back tube comprise two sections of end target tubes arranged at an axial end of the target material, and a plurality of sections of rare earth target tubes and a plurality of sections of co-sputtering target tubes which are arranged between the two sections of end target tubes and with a target material along an axial middle region; the plurality of sections of rare earth target tubes are spaced apart from the plurality of sections of co-sputtering target tubes, and the target tubes are mutually assembled via welding” (emphasis added). The claim is indefinite as to whether “the target tubes” that are “mutually assembled via welding” is intended to refer to all “target tubes” (e.g. the “sections of target tubes”), only the “end target tubes”, only the “rare earth target tubes”, only the “co-sputtering target tubes”, some other combination thereof, or some variation thereof. Claim 4 similarly recites “the mutually assembled target tubes”, and thus is similarly rejected. Claims 2-6 are also rejected as depending on claim 1.
Claim 1 recites at various instances the “target tubes” being “welded” or assembled via “welding”, however Specification para 0031 teaches “the target tubes are mutually assembled by means of welding. The welding is a low-temperature welding, and the welding can be performed using a low-temperature alloy solder such as indium and tin”, with “welding” and “soldering” being known similar yet different processes of bonding. Thus claim 1 is indefinite as to whether the recited “welded” and/or “welding” is/are intended to refer to a type of ‘soldering’, a type of ‘welding’, or that ‘welding’ and ‘solder’ are interchangeable or obvious variants. Claims 2-6 are also rejected as depending on claim 1.
Claims 2-3 and 5 each recites the singular limitation "the rare earth target tube". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in each of the claims.
Claims 3 and 5 each recites the singular limitation "the co-sputtering target tube". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in each of the claims.
Claims 3 and 5-6 each recites the limitation "the middle region". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in each of the claims.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the length ratio". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the outer diameter OD1". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the singular limitation "the end target tube". There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as anticipated by or, in the alternative, under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over Lindenberg (WO 2014/131458).
With respect to claim 1, Lindenberg discloses a “rotatable cathode” (i.e. rotating target material) [100] (Abstract; figs. 1-2; para 0016 and 0020), wherein figs. 1-1a depict the rotating target material [100] comprises a “backing tube” [130] having an outside attached or bonded to “target segments” (i.e. claimed “sections of target tubes”) [120a]-[120f] via “bonding layer” [122] (para 0020). The bonding layer [122] comprises indium and indium alloys (para 0046), which is a welding and/or soldering material according to Applicant’s Specification para 0031, thus the sections of target tubes [120a]-120f] are considered to be welded to the outside of the backing tube [130]. Fig. 1 further shows the backing tube [130] and the sections of target tubes [120a]-[120f] are concentric cylindrical structures (fig. 3; para 0020, 0022, 0030, and 0042), wherein the sections of target tubes [120a]-[120f] comprises: two sections of end target tubes [120a],[120f] of non-rare earth material arranged at an axial end of the rotating target material [100], and sections of target tubes [120b],[120d] of “metal” and sections of co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e] of “aluminum” or “copper” between the end target tubes [120a],[120f] along an axial middle region of the rotating target material [100] (fig. 1; para 0020, 0034, and 0049); the term “metal” at para 0034 is considered to encompass all metals of the Periodic Table except for the metals listed on para 0034 (i.e. “titanium, aluminum, copper, [and] molybdenum”), which one of ordinary skill would expect or find obvious that the “metal” then includes rare earth metals of scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), and/or at least one element of the Lanthanides; thus the target tubes [120b],[120d] are rare earth metal target tubes [120b],[120d] with the co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e]. Fig. 1 further depicts the rare earth target tubes [120b],[120d] spaced apart from the co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e] via joint gaps [136] (para 0020 and 0033), wherein the target tubes [120a]-[120f] are mutually assembled on the backing tube [130] via bonding layer [122] (i.e. welding) with indium or indium alloy (para 0020 and 0046).
With respect to claims 3, Lindenberg further discloses lengths of “at least one” of the sections of target tubes [120a]-[120f] is 250 mm or 300 mm but also suggests 200 mm is known (para 0020), meaning Lindenberg suggests to have the co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e] have a length of 200 mm and the rare earth target tubes [120b],[120d] have a length of 300 mm, resulting in a length ratio of the rare earth target tubes [120b],[120d] to the co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e] of 1.5. Although Lindenberg suggests for the end target tubes [120a],[120f] to each have length of 200 mm instead of the claimed “20-354 mm” (para 0020), it has been held that where the only difference between the prior art and the claims was a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device was not patentably distinct from the prior art device (MPEP 2144.04, IV, A). In this case, the end target tubes [120a],[120f] would both be capable of being sputtered as desired by Lindenberg, regardless of having the length of 200 mm or the claimed 20-35 mm.
With respect to claim 4, Lindenberg further discloses the joint gaps (i.e. claimed “clearance d”) [136] between the mutually assembled target tubes [120a]-[120f] (fig. 1; para 0033), wherein each of the joint gaps [136] is “typically 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm” (para 0020 and 0033).
With respect to claims 5, as discussed above for claim 1, Lindenberg discloses the co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e] are aluminum (para 0020, 0034, and 0049). Lindenberg further discloses lengths of “at least one” of the sections of target tubes [120a]-[120f] is 250 mm or 600 mm (para 0020), meaning Lindenberg suggests to have the co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e] of aluminum have a length of 250 mm and the rare earth target tubes [120b],[120d] have a length of 600 mm, resulting in a length ratio of the rare earth target tubes [120b],[120d] to the co-sputtering target tubes [120c],[120e] of 2.4.
With respect to claim 6, Lindenberg further teaches in fig. 2 the rotating target material [100] is similar to fig. 1 with exception of being a “dog-bone” shape (para 0042-0043); fig. 2 depicts: the end target tubes [220a],[220f] with rare earth target tube [220b] adjacent end target tube [220a] and co-sputtering target tube [220e] adjacent to end target tube [220f], wherein outer diameters of the rare earth target tube [220b] and co-sputtering target tube [220e] are reduced in a direction from respective outer diameter ends to the axial middle region, wherein the outer diameter ends are equal to an diameter of each of the end target tubes [220a],[220f] (para 0043). Lindenberg further teaches that while fig. 2 shows 6 total target segments [120a]-[120f], “another number of segments can be provided”, such as 7 total target segments (para 0041), thereby having the rotating target material [100] of fig. 2 with the 7 total target segments comprising the rare earth target tube [220b] adjacent the end target tube [220], and the co-sputtering target tube [220e] now being a rare earth target tube [220e] that is adjacent to the end target tube [220f].
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Lindenberg (WO 2014/131458) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Wang et al (US 10,599,001).
With respect to claim 2, the reference is cited as discussed for claim 1. However Lindenberg is limited in that while any rare earth metal is suggested for the rare earth target tubes [120b],[120d] to manufacture transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) (para 0020, 0034, 0049, and 0054), the rare earth target tubes [120b],[120d] being selected from “terbium, dysprosium, holmium, and gadolinium” is not specifically suggested.
Wang teaches in fig. 4K at least one rotatable target material [472]-[474],[476],[478] shaped as tubes for manufacturing transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) (Abstract; col. 7, lines 37-57; col. 50, lines 50-58), similar to the rotatable target material [100] for manufacturing TCOs of Lindenberg. Wang further teaches the at least one rotatable target material [472]-[474],[476],[478] comprises an additive of a metal or rare earth metal selected from “silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), arsenic (As), gold (Au), boron (B), barium (Ba), beryllium (Be), bismuth (Bi), calcium (Ca), cadmium (Cd), cerium (Ce), cesium (Cs), copper (Cu), europium (Eu), gallium, (Ga), gadolinium (Gd), germanium (Ge), hafnium (Hf), mercury (Hg), indium (In), potassium (K), lithium (Li), lanthanum (La), magnesium (Mg), molybdenum (Mo), sodium (Na), niobium (Nb), neodymium (Nd), osmium (Os), protactinium (Pa), lead (Pb), palladium (Pd), polonium (Po), promethium (Pm), praseodymium (Pr), platinum (Pt), radium (Ra), rubidium (Rb), rhenium (Re), antimony (Sb), scandium (Sc), selenium (Se), silicon (Si), samarium (Sm), tin (Sn), strontium (Sr), tantalum (Ta), terbium (Tb), technetium (Tc), tellurium (Te), thorium (Th), titanium (Ti), thallium (Tl) uranium (U), tungsten (W), yttrium (Y), zinc (Zn), and zirconium (Zr)” (emphasis added) (col. 6, lines 11-55), and specifically suggests Gd (col. 6, lines 56-64; col. 48, lines 4-44).
Since Wang recognizes the similarities of Gd and Tb in the field of an additive for TCOs, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to replace the general metal or rare earth metal of Lindenberg with the Gd or Tb of Wang as it is merely the selection of functionally similar additives for TCOs recognized in the prior art and one of ordinary skill would have a reasonable expectation of success in doing so. In addition “selection of a known material [i.e. Gd or Tb] based on its suitability for its intended use [i.e. TCOs] supported a prima facie obviousness determination” (MPEP 2144.07).
Conclusion
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/MICHAEL A BAND/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1794
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