Ex Parte Meltzer et alDownload PDFBoard of Patent Appeals and InterferencesAug 23, 201010373350 (B.P.A.I. Aug. 23, 2010) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ________________ BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS AND INTERFERENCES ________________ Ex parte MICHAEL P. MELTZER, CHRISTOPHER P. STEFFANI, and RAY A. GONFIOTTI ________________ Appeal 2009-011351 Application 10/373,350 Technology Center 1700 ________________ Before BEVERLY A. FRANKLIN, LINDA M. GAUDETTE, and MARK NAGUMO, Administrative Patent Judges. NAGUMO, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL1 1 The two-month time period for filing an appeal or commencing a civil action, as recited in 37 C.F.R. § 1.304, or for filing a request for rehearing, as recited in 37 C.F.R. § 41.52, begins to run from the “MAIL DATE” (paper delivery mode) or the “NOTIFICATION DATE” (electronic delivery mode) shown on the PTOL-90A cover letter attached to this decision. Appeal 2009-011351 Application 10/373,350 2 A. Introduction2 Michael P. Meltzer, Christopher P. Steffani, and Ray A. Gonfiotti (“Meltzer”) timely appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the final rejection3 of claims 1-3. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6. We REVERSE. The subject matter on appeal relates to printed wiring boards having alternating layers of copper, nickel, and layers of additional specified metals. The 350 Specification indicates that the additional metals may be alloyed with the copper or the nickel, or alloyed with themselves, or they may be present as distinct layers of metals. (Spec. 18 [0035].) When alloyed with the copper or nickel, the additional metals are said to enhance conductivity, strength, or corrosion resistance. (Id. at 16 [0032].) All of the metals are present in a single plating bath. (Id.) The copper is plated under low reduction potential, high agitation conditions (id. at 16-17 [0032]) to yield conductive trace layers on the order of 12 microns thick (id. at 13 [0023]). The nickel is plated under high reduction potential, low agitation conditions (id. at 17 [0033]) to yield an etch resist layer of nickel about 1 micron thick that contains a percentage of copper and provides a good solderable surface that need not be stripped (id. at 11 [0018]-[0019]). Because solder 2 Application 10/373,350, Processing a Printed Wiring Board by Single Bath Electrodeposition, filed 24 February 2003 as a Division of an application filed 16 March 2001, now U.S. Pat. 6,547,946, claiming the benefit of a provisional application filed 10 April 2000. The specification is referred to as the “350 Specification,” and is cited as “Spec.” The real party in interest is listed as The Regents of the University of California and the United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy. (Appeal Brief, filed 8 August 2007 (“Br.”), 3.) 3 Office action mailed 2 April 2007 (“Final Rejection”; cited as “FR”). Appeal 2009-011351 Application 10/373,350 3 connections can be made to the nickel layer, hot air solder leveling (“HASL”), said to be the most common finish coat on printed wiring boards and a main use of lead (Pb) in their manufacture, need not be used in the plating process or in the manufacturing steps that follow. (Id. at 11 [0019]-12 [0020].) The layered composites are said to provide materials of high tensile strength. (Id. at 17 [0034].) Representative Claim 1 reads: 1. A printed wiring board consisting of a printed wiring board produced by the method of processing a printed wiring board by electrodeposition, by implementing initial processing steps on said printed wiring board including drilling holes, plating holes, and depositing image circuitry, by utilizing a single bath having an absence of lead and containing very dilute solutions of nickel and copper with said very dilute solutions of nickel and copper being sufficiently dilute to insure the deposition of distinct layers of copper having a thickness on the order of 12 microns and the deposition of distinct layers of nickel having a thickness on the order of thicknesses of 1 micron and having additional metals at least one of which is manganese, chromium, zinc, iron, cobalt, cadmium, tin, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, gold, or silver, by plating copper having a thickness on the order of 12 microns on said printed wiring board from said single bath containing nickel and copper, said plating copper including providing a low reduction potential in said single bath and providing high agitation conditions in said single bath, Appeal 2009-011351 Application 10/373,350 4 by plating nickel having a thickness on the order of thicknesses of 1 micron on said printed wiring board from said single bath containing nickel and copper, said plating nickel including providing a high reduction potential in said single bath and providing low agitation conditions in said single bath, by building alternating very thin layers of nickel having a thickness on the order of thicknesses of 1 micron and copper having a thickness on the order of 12 microns on said printed wiring board by repeatedly building layers of nickel having a thickness on the order of thicknesses of 1 micron and copper having a thickness on the order of 12 microns on said printed wiring board from said single bath containing nickel and copper, by plating additional metals at least one of which is manganese, chromium, zinc, iron, cobalt, cadmium, tin, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, gold, or silver, and by implementing final processing steps on said printed wiring board including etching, cleaning and labeling, wherein said method of processing a printed wiring board by electrodeposition produces said printed wiring board consisting of: alternating very thin layers of nickel and copper and additional metals at least one of which is manganese, chromium, zinc, iron, cobalt, cadmium, tin, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, gold, or silver, and image circuitry; wherein said layers of copper have a thickness on the order of 12 microns and Appeal 2009-011351 Application 10/373,350 5 said layers of nickel have a thickness on the order of thicknesses of 1 micron and said printed wiring board has an absence of lead. (Claims App., Br. 16-17; indentation, paragraphing, and emphasis added.) The Examiner has maintained the following ground of rejection:4 Claims 1-3 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) in view of Nee5 or Lasbmore.6 B. Discussion Findings of fact throughout this Opinion are supported by a preponderance of the evidence of record. The claimed printed circuit boards have at least alternating layers of copper, nickel, and a layer of at least one other named metal. Nee describes, in Example V, on which the Examiner relies (Ans. 3), composites of nickel-molybdenum alloys in which layers of very fine grained deposits alternate with layers of larger grained deposits. (Nee, col. 10, ll. 44-54; see also the general description at col. 3, ll. 34-39.) The Examiner’s finding that Nee describes Ni-Mo alloy layers alternating with copper layers is not supported by credible evidence. Lasbmore describes multilayer copper-nickel alloys wherein each layer has a composition distinct from its neighbors. (Lasbmore col. 4, 4 Examiner’s Answer mailed 14 November 2007. (“Ans.”) 5 Chin-Cheng Nee and Rolf Weil, Multilayer Pulsed-Current Electrodeposition Process, U.S. Patent 4,869,971 (1989). 6 David S. Lasbmore and Moshe P. Dariel, Method for the Production of Predetermined Concentration Graded Alloys, U.S. Patent 5,320,719 (1994). Appeal 2009-011351 Application 10/373,350 6 ll. 15-38.) The Examiner correctly finds that Lasbmore is silent regarding layers thicknesses and “about the plating solution having additional metals as in claim 1.” (Ans. 4, 2d para.) The Examiner’s reliance on Nee for additional metals (id., last para.) is not helpful because Nee does not describe multilayers comprising three metals; nor does Nee describe copper or nickel layers having the required thickness. Because the failure to teach or suggest a single required element of a claim negates obviousness, the rejections of record must be REVERSED. C. Order We REVERSE the rejection of claims 1-3 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) in view of Nee or Lasbmore. REVERSED kmm EDDIE E. SCOTT P.O. BOX 808, L-703 LIVERMORE, CA 94551 Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation