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 .
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.
Claims 1, 6, 7, 10, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kitamura (US Pat. App. Pub. No. 2023/0298816).
With respect to claim 1, Kitamura discloses a multilayer ceramic electronic component (see abstract), comprising: an element body having multiple dielectric layers laminated along a first axis and multiple internal electrode layers respectively placed along the first axis between adjacent pairs of the dielectric layers (see FIG. 2, elements 11 and 12, and paragraph [0029]); and a pair of external electrodes provided on surfaces of the element body and electrically connected to the internal electrode layers (see FIG. 2, elements 20a/20b, and paragraph [0029]); wherein, the dielectric layers contain a compound expressed by a general formula ABO3-a(O<a<1) (see paragraph [0031]) and having a perovskite structure wherein A and B represent an A-site element and a B-site element, respectively, of the perovskite structure (see paragraph [0031]); the internal electrode layers contain a first phase containing nickel and copper (see paragraph [0033], noting Ni as a main component and Cu as an additive), as well as a co-existent material (see paragraph [0033]), and have, at interfaces between the first phase and particles of the co- existent material, first segregation parts where copper has segregated (see paragraph [0043]); a concentration of copper in the first segregation parts is higher than a concentration of copper in the first phase (see paragraph [0043], noting that additional metal additive (i.e., Cu) segregates around the co-material grains, and thus, would be at an increased concentration when compared to the first phase); and the external electrodes contain nickel (see paragraph [0034]).
With respect to claim 6, Kitamura discloses that the external electrodes contain copper. See paragraph [0034], noting that the external electrodes contain the same metal additive as the internal electrodes (i.e., Cu).
With respect to claim 7, Kitamura discloses that the external electrodes contain a co-existent material. See paragraph [0034], noting that the external electrodes contain a co-material of ceramic grains.
With respect to claim 10, Kitamura discloses a circuit module comprising the multilayer ceramic electronic component according to claim 1. See paragraph [0003].
With respect to claim 11, Kitamura discloses an electronic device having the circuit module according to claim 10. See paragraph [0003].
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 9 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: with respect to claim 8, the prior art fails to teach, or fairly suggest, the two stage heating operations after the application of the external electrode paste, when taken in conjunction with the remaining limitations of claim 8. Claim 9 is allowed by virtue of their dependency from claim 8.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claims 2-5 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fails to teach or suggest the details recited in claims 2-5, when taken in conjunction with the limitations of base claim 1.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. JP 2016102040 and CN 1744244 each disclose internal electrodes having segregation phases, but fail to teach the phases recited in claim 1.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DION R FERGUSON whose telephone number is (571)270-7566. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 5:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m..
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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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/DION R. FERGUSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2847
