Appeal No. 2001-0130
Application No. 09/050,491
The subject matter on appeal relates to a process for
depositing at least one metal source (e.g., Ni or Ni alloy) onto
at least one receiving metal (e.g., Mo, W, or alloys, compounds,
or mixtures thereof) securely bonded to a ceramic substrate.
According to the appellants, “it is very desirable that the
solid metal source material and the metal area to be plated are
kept in close physical proximity to each other” because it
results in “a reasonable rate of deposition.” (Specification,
page 3, lines 22-27.) But when the metal source is kept in
close proximity to the receiving metal, “the metal source
material can at least at some point, also come into direct
physical contact with the metal surface to be plated” and “can
weld together and form a bond,” which will eventually result in
the formation of defects. (Id. at page 3, line 28 to page 4,
line 13.) To avoid this problem, it is said that at least one
inert material (i.e., an inert stand-off material) can be placed
in “floating contact” with the receiving metal. (Id. at page 4,
lines 14-30; page 8, lines 12-23; page 10, line 10 to page 11,
line 6.) Further details of this appealed subject matter are
recited in illustrative claims 1, 3, 4, 9, and 15 reproduced
below:
1. A process for depositing at least one source
metal onto at least one receiving metal, wherein said
2
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