Appeal No. 96-0317
Application 08/042,185
applying the metal layers in the Lauterbach method. Also, the statement by Lindmayer
‘812 that the terms arc spraying and plasma spraying are used synonymously by
Lindmayer ‘812 in the context of spraying metallic material onto the surface of a solar cell
(col. 1, line 64 - col. 2, line 3) would have fairly suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art,
that these are alternative methods for applying metal layers to silicon-containing surfaces.
One of ordinary skill in the art may have expected each of arc spraying and plasma
spraying to have advantages and disadvantages relative to the other and therefore
expected one to be more advantageous in a particular application than the other.
However, the teachings in the Lindmayer references discussed above, in our view, would
have been sufficient to motivate one of ordinary skill in the art to use either plasma
spraying or arc spraying to apply the metal layers in the Lauterbach method, and would
have provided such a person with a reasonable expectation of success in doing so. Thus,
we conclude that use of arc spraying to apply the metal layers in the Lauterbach method
would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Vaeck,
947 F.2d 488, 493, 20 USPQ2d 1438, 1442 (Fed. Cir. 1991); In re O’Farrell, 853 F.2d
894, 902, 7 USPQ2d 1673, 1680 (Fed. Cir. 1988); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 892-93,
225 USPQ 645, 648 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
Appellants argue that Ballard does not appear to suggest any method for preparing
silicon surfaces for metallization (brief, page 7). Ballard discloses a known method for
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