Appeal No. 95-4632
Application No. 08/184,675
The Pebler reference is insufficient to support a conclusion of obviousness of claims containing the
limitation of dissolving the complex alkoxide per se in water to form an aqueous solution.
Pebler discloses a method of forming a continuous mixed oxide thin film by (1) preparing a
composition of (a) precursor source compounds, i.e., an alkoxide source of one of the metals in the
mixed metal oxide and a chelate source of a second metal in the metal oxide, (b) sufficient solvent, e.g.
dimethyl formamide, to solubilize the sources of all the metals in the mixed metal oxide, and (c) about 1
to about 2 moles of water per mole of mixed metal oxide (column 3, lines 3-9 and 27-32); (2) applying
the composition to a substrate (column 3, lines 36-37); and (3) heating the composition at at least
500EC (column 3, lines 48-52)
to oxidize the compounds in the composition to the mixed oxide, and to evaporate
the solvent and organics which are present. (emphasis added, column
3, lines 52-55)
Although Pebler discloses adding water to a composition comprising the individual precursor or
"source" compounds used to form the complex alkoxide, i.e., Pebler's "mixed oxide", Pebler does not
disclose or suggest dissolving the mixed oxide per se in water to form an aqueous solution of mixed
oxide. According to Pebler, the mixed oxide is actually formed during heating step (3) by an oxidation
reaction. Thus, not only does Pebler not appear to disclose or suggest adding water to the mixed oxide
complex per se, but it also would appear that any water which might have been present while the mixed
oxide of Pebler was being formed by heating the composition comprising the precursor "source"
compounds to at least 500EC would have been evaporated, i.e. removed, by such heating
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