Appeal 2006-2265
Application 10/375,333
The Examiner applies McArdle for the disclosure that, in the field of
providing conductive particles in a matrix to form conductive pathways, it
was well known that electrically conductive particles constituted polymeric
cores (e.g., polystyrene) or glass cores, each coated with a conductive metal,
including low melting point solders (Answer 3-4). The Examiner also finds
that Watanabe teaches that polystyrene cores coated with solder were well
known in the art as conductive particles suitable for making electrical
interconnections for circuit interconnect structures (Answer 4). From these
findings, the Examiner concludes that it would have been obvious to one of
ordinary skill in this art at the time of Appellants’ invention to have used
polystyrene cores for the glass or copper cores in the particles of Cranston or
Kang, as taught by McArdle or Watanabe, with a reasonable expectation of
successfully forming conductive articles (Answer 4). The Examiner further
finds that Cranston and Kang both teach that the core of the particles should
remain unmelted and intact while the solder coating is fused, and thus the
Examiner concludes that it would also have been obvious to the artisan that
the core melting point must be higher than the metal (solder) melting point
(Answer 4 and 5-6). We agree.
Appellants argue that neither McArdle nor Watanabe teach that the
second phase “must be an organic with a higher melting point than the first
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