Appeal No. 2002-1401
Application No. 09/187/226
col. 5, lines 9-13 and 15-19; col. 6, line 65 - col. 7, line 3;
figures 1 and 1a). The appellants acknowledge that it was known
in the art to cover the surface of such base materials with a
ceramic material such as Al2O3 or AlN to improve the resistance
to oxidation and corrosion (specification, page 1, lines 28-33).
The appellant states that “[c]laim 9 recites a range of
average particle sizes for the aluminum nitride powder that makes
up the preform” (brief, pages 12-13). Actually, the appellants’
claim 9 recites that “a particle size of said aluminum nitride
powder is in a range from 10 to 100 :m”. That is, the claim
requires that at least one of the aluminum nitride particles is
in the 10-100 :m range.
Premkumar does not disclose the powder particle size.
However, Premkumar discloses using the powder to make electronic
packages having very tight tolerance in dimension (as low as
0.001 inch) and surface flatness (0.001 inch) (col. 8, lines 46-
56), and teaches that using a distribution of particle sizes
results in interstitial filling needed for substantially porosity
free metal matrix composites (col. 5, lines 54-63). These
disclosures would have fairly suggested, to one of ordinary skill
in the art, use of a range of small particles, such as a range
having at least one 10-100 :m particle, to obtain electronic
package-size pore free metal matrix composites having the desired
low dimension and surface flatness tolerances.
Page 5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007