Appeal No. 2001-0445
Application No. 09/017,338
through a second layer inasmuch as wire 3 of Makoto is "not in
any way in direct contact with first layer 6" (page 4 of Brief,
penultimate paragraph). As properly noted by the examiner,
claim 12, with which all the appealed claims stand or fall, does
not require that a wire is in direct contact with the first metal
layer. Indeed, appealed claim 12 fails to define any wire.
The flaw in the examiner's rejection is that there is no
evidence that the first layer of Makoto is "substantially free of
hydrogen molecules," as required by claim 12 on appeal. It is
the examiner's position that appellants' specification discloses
that the removal of hydrogen molecules from the first metal layer
is dependent upon the temperature of heating and, since Makoto
heats to a higher temperature than the temperature disclosed by
appellants, the first metal layer of Makoto would necessarily be
substantially free of hydrogen. In relevant part, appellants'
specification, in the paragraph bridging pages 6 and 7, discloses
the following:
The palladium and gold layers are then heated in
air to a temperature $185°C for a period of about 1
hour. During this heating step, hydrogen molecules
entrapped in the palladium layer are driven out by the
heat and released to the atmosphere by passing through
the gold layer. It has been determined that the gold
layer must be less than about 200 Angstrom thick for
the hydrogen molecules to satisfactorily pass through
and be released. It is believed at the present time
that hydrogen molecules trapped in the palladium are
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