Appeal 2007-0127
Application 09/749,916
1 We find these explanations to be unpersuasive. Making a consumable
2 electrode thicker would have been expected to make for a longer service life.
3 As stated in Degner, quoted above, it is desirable to provide “sufficient
4 material to permit extended use before thinning of the material requires
5 replacement.” (Degner, col. 4, ll. 27-29).
6 Mr. Hubacek relies on Appendix B as evidence of an “experimentally
7 determined operating range in which the probability of electrode cracking is
8 low.” (Hubacek Declaration, p. 3, ll. 6-7). Appendix B is reproduced
9 below as Table 33 (slightly reduced):
10
11 Mr. Hubacek asserts that the region above “line A” represents the
12 experimentally determined operating range in which the probability of
13 electrode cracking is low, and the region above line A represents the region
14 in which the probability of electrode cracking is high. He then concludes
15 that “[e]xtrapolation of line A to greater electrode thickness values shows
3 Table 3 is a graphical representation of silicon thickness in centimeters
versus total delivered power.
20
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