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Last updated: April 15, 2026
Application No. 17/923,648

ATOMIC-SMOOTH DEVICE WITH MICROSTRUCTURE, AND METHOD FOR PREPARING SAME

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
May 16, 2023
Examiner
HOSSAIN, MOAZZAM
Art Unit
2898
Tech Center
2800 — Semiconductors & Electrical Systems
Assignee
Tsinghua University
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 3m
To Grant
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allow Rate
694 granted / 792 resolved
+19.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 3m
Avg Prosecution
52 currently pending
Career history
844
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
2.7%
-37.3% vs TC avg
§103
45.4%
+5.4% vs TC avg
§102
31.4%
-8.6% vs TC avg
§112
16.6%
-23.4% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 792 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 17/923,648 CTNF 89551 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Election/Restrictions Applicant’s election, without traverse, of Group II: claims 5-10 and 15-17, in the “Response to Election / Restrict. ion Filed - 10/10/2025”, is acknowledged along with the amendment of claim 5 in “Claims - 10/10/2025”. This office action considers claims 1-17 are thus pending for prosecution, of which, non-elected claims 1-4 and 11-14 are withdrawn, and elected claims 5-10 and 15-17 are examined on their merits Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:uu A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. Notes : when present, semicolon separated fields within the parenthesis (; ;) represent, for example, ( 1 ; Fig 1a; [0013) = (element 1 ; Figure No. 1a; Paragraph No. [0013]). For brevity, the texts “Element”, “Figure No.” and “Paragraph No.” shall be excluded, though; additional clarification notes may be added within each field. The number of fields may be fewer or more than three indicated above. These conventions are used throughout this document. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 5-6, 9 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang; Chang-Chia et al., (US 20130277777 A1); hereinafter Chang; in view of JIANG, Hai-yang (CN 110350819 B); hereinafter Jiang; and in further view of Peidous; Igor et al. (US 20200126846 A1) hereinafter Peidous . Regarding claim 5. Chang teaches a method for preparing (an atomic-smooth) device ( 1 ; Fig 1a; [0013]; Fig 1i; [0028]) with a microstructure ( 201 ; Fig 1c; [0017]), wherein the (atomic-smooth) device with the microstructure ( 201 ) comprises ( see the entire document, Figs 1a-1k, specifically, as cited below ) PNG media_image1.png 436 1026 media_image1.png Greyscale Chang Figure 1i (truncated to depict substrate 100 peeled) a substrate ( 300 ; Fig 1i; first cited in [0021]), a bonding material ({ 304,204 } Fig 1i; [0028], first cited in [0027,0019]), a second dielectric layer ( 202 of 200 ; first cited in ; [0017]) on the substrate ( 300 ), the microstructure ( 201 ), and a first dielectric layer ( 101 ) in sequence , ( see below for “wherein a surface of the first dielectric layer is an atomic-smooth surface” ), the method comprises (Figs 1a-1i): in step 1, growing the first dielectric layer ( 101 ; first cited in step of Fig 1a) on a surface of a two-dimensional material ( 100 ; two-dimensional material is construed from the materials disclosed in [0013] as bulk silicon or comprise any semiconductor substrate, ceramic substrate, quartz substrate, or the like ) to obtain an atomic-smooth film; in step 2, preparing the microstructure ( 201 ; first cited in step of Fig 1c; [0017]) on the first dielectric layer ( 101 ) by micromachining ( construed from [0017: the protective component 201 and the dielectric layer 101 may be planarized through a process such as chemical mechanical processing (CMP) ); in step 3, growing the second dielectric layer ( 200/202 ; first cited in step of Fig. 1c; [0017]: the wafer 200 may be epitaxially grown from a top surface of the dielectric layer 101 and the protective component 201; Dielectric layer is construed from ceramic material of 200 ) on the microstructure ( 201 ); in step 4, coating the bonding material ({ 304,204 }; first cited in step of Fig 1e; [0019] and first cited in step of fig 1h; [0027 ] ) on the second dielectric layer ( 200 ); in step 5, connecting the second dielectric layer ( 202/200 ) to the substrate ( 300 ) through the bonding material ({304,204} Fig 1l; [0017]); The difference between Chang and claim 5 is wherein “a surface of the first dielectric layer is an atomic-smooth surface ( as noted above )” and in step 6, peeling off the two-dimensional material to obtain a structure having a small amount of residual two-dimensional material, the first dielectric layer, the microstructure, the second dielectric layer, and the bonding material; in step 7, removing the small amount of residual two-dimensional material on the structure by oxygen plasma etching; and in step 8, obtaining the atomic-smooth device However, in the analogous art, Jiang disclose “a surface of the first dielectric layer is an atomic-smooth surface (w herein the surface atom level of the first insulating laye r (2; Figs 1-3 [0064-0066]) is smooth through the micro-processing technique (polishing treatment and so on). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include Jiang ’s step into Chang’s method, and thereby the combination of ( Chang and Jiang ) method yields wherein a surface of the first dielectric layer is an atomic-smooth surface, since this inclusion. at least, provides optimal structure parameter to increase the output efficiency of the electrostatic generator. using the micro-processing technique, reducing the thickness of the insulating layer ( Jiang [abstract]). The combination of ( Chang and Jiang ) further teaches in step 8, obtaining the atomic-smooth device ( 1 ; Fig 1l). But, combination of ( Chang and Jiang ) does not expressly disclose “in step 6, peeling off the two-dimensional material to obtain a structure having a small amount of residual two-dimensional material, the first dielectric layer, the microstructure, the second dielectric layer, and the bonding material; in step 7, removing the small amount of residual two-dimensional material on the structure by oxygen plasma etching. However, these steps 6 and 7 of peeling, and residual cleaning are widely used in semiconductor processing. For example, Peidous discloses (IV.) Cleaving the Initial Bonded Structure, wherein (Fig 3E, [0047]) the initial bonded structure 300 is mechanically cleaved at the initial cleave plane 230 to thereby prepare an initial cleaved structure 400 comprising the the initial dielectric layer 302 in contact with the front surface of the semiconductor substrate 100 . Peidous further discloses ([0044]) the initial cleave plane 230 is subjected to oxygen plasma and/or nitrogen plasma surface activation and thus removing the small amount of residual two-dimensional material on the structure by oxygen plasma etching. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include Peidous ’s step into the combination of ( Chang and Jiang ) method , and thereby the further combination of ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) method discloses step 6 and 7 as claimed i.e. in step 6, peeling off the two-dimensional material to obtain a structure having a small amount of residual two-dimensional material, the first dielectric layer (101) , the microstructure (201), the second dielectric layer (200), and the bonding material; in step 7, removing the small amount of residual two-dimensional material on the structure by oxygen plasma etching. One of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have been motivated to look to analogous art teaching alternative suitable or useful process for cleaving the donor substrate and cleaning to remove the residual materials or contamination ( Peidous [0006]), art recognized suitability for an intended purpose has been recognized to be motivation to combine. MPEP 2144.07. Regarding claim 6, the combination ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) as applied to the method of claim 5, further teaches, wherein the two-dimensional material is graphene ( in view of Jiang [0022 or claim 3] graphene ) or highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), and both the first dielectric layer ( 101 ) and the second dielectric layer ( 200 ) are insulating layers ([0015, 0021]). Regarding claim 9, the combination ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) as applied to the method of claim 5, further teaches, wherein the substrate is selected from one or a combination of Silicon (Si) ([0013]), Silicon Carbide (SiC), Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) ([0013]), sapphire, mica, graphene, or molybdenum disulfide. Regarding claim 15, the combination ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) as applied to the method of claim 6, further teaches, wherein the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer are silicon oxide layers ([0015]) and are prepared by deposition (CVD; [0015]). Regarding claim 16, the combination ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) as applied to the method of claim 7, further teaches, wherein the microstructure is Aurum (Au), Cuprum (Cu) [0017]), or Argentum (Ag) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang; Chang-Chia et al., (US 20130277777 A1); hereinafter Chang; in view of JIANG, Hai-yang (CN 110350819 B); hereinafter Jiang, and Peidous; Igor et al. (US 20200126846 A1) hereinafter Peidous. in further view of McGuinness; Hayden et al. (US 11551921 B1) hereinafter McGuinness . Regarding claim 8, the combination ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) as applied to the method of claim 5, is silent on, wherein the bonding material (204/304) is selected from at least one of ultraviolet (UV)-curable glue or resin, though Chang discloses (0027) bonding material (204/304) is selected from aluminum. copper, germanium, gold, the like, or a combination thereof and may be formed using PVD, such as sputtering or evaporation, the like, a combination thereof, or other acceptable methods. However, in the analogous art, McGuinness disclose (Fig 1a; Col Line) the bonding portion can be composed of any useful material, inter alia, a metal, an alloy, an adhesive, an epoxy, a polymer, and the like alloys including any combination of gold (Au), copper (Cu), germanium (Ge). an epoxy; a ultraviolet (UV) curable adhesive; and the like. In effect, McGuinness recognizes that for bonding material of any of (aluminum. copper, germanium, gold) and ultraviolet (UV) curable adhesive are functionally equivalent. According to MPEP § 2144.06.II, "In order to rely on equivalence as a rationale supporting an obviousness rejection, the equivalency must be recognized in the prior art" In re Ruff , 256 F.2d 590, 118 USPQ 340 (CCPA 1958). Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to substitute ( Chang) functionally equivalent bonding material copper by another functionally equivalent material ultraviolet (UV) curable adhesive (glue) as taught by McGuinness . Thus, inter alia, the limitation “the bonding material (204/304) is selected from at least one of ultraviolet (UV)-curable glue” is not patentable over the combination of (( Chang, Jiang , Peidous and McGuinness) . It has been held that the substitution of one prior teaching by another art supports an obviousness rejection, as in the instant case, the equivalency is being recognized in the prior art, and the substitution is then within the level of ordinary skill in the art. [MPEP 2144.06.II] . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang; Chang-Chia et al., (US 20130277777 A1); hereinafter Chang; in view of JIANG, Hai-yang (CN 110350819 B); hereinafter Jiang, and Peidous; Igor et al. (US 20200126846 A1) hereinafter Peidous; and in further view of LEE; Yeon Keun et al. (US 20170077438 A1) hereinafter Lee . Regarding claim 10, the combination ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) as applied to the method of claim 5, is silent on “ wherein the atomic-smooth film (first dielectric film ([0015]) has a diameter of 1 μm to 100 μm”. However, in the analogous art, Lee discloses [0113] an insulation layer provided between the secondary electrode and the organic material layer, and a diameter of the insulation layer may be 10 μm or more greater than a line width of the secondary electrode. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to select from Lee ’s teaching for the combination’s the atomic-smooth film (first dielectric film ([0015]) has a diameter of 1 μm to 100 μm, since, selection of a known sizes or thickness based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obviousness determination in Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 65 USPQ 297 (1945). Therefore, in the instant case, selection of a known diameter of 1 μm to 100 μm for insulating layer as claimed, is held to be obvious and unpatentable over the combination of ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous and Lee ) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 7 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang; Chang-Chia et al., (US 20130277777 A1); hereinafter Chang; in view of JIANG, Hai-yang (CN 110350819 B); hereinafter Jiang, and Peidous; Igor et al. (US 20160141528 A1) hereinafter Peidous. in further view of MASUYAMA; Satoshi et al. (US 20160141528 A1) hereinafter Masuyama . Regarding claim 7,17, the combination ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous ) as applied to the method of claim 5, while further teaches, wherein the microstructure (201) is a metal electrode([0017]), but is silent on “the metal electrode has a thickness of 10 to 150 nm” for claim 7; and wherein the metal electrode ( 201) has a thickness of 20 to 50 nm for claim 17. However, in the analogous art, Masuyama discloses ([0153]) a metal electrode (aluminum, thickness: 50 nm). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to select from Masuyama ’s teaching for the combination’s metal electrode (201) and thereafter the combination ( Chang, Jiang , Peidous and Masuyama )’s metal electrode has a thickness of 50 nm which fall in the claimed range for both claim 7 and 17, since, selection of a known sizes or thickness based on its suitability for its intended use supported a prima facie obviousness determination in Sinclair & Carroll Co. v. Interchemical Corp., 325 U.S. 327, 65 USPQ 297 (1945). Therefore, in the instant case, selection of a known thickness of 50 nm metal electrode (201) as claimed, is held to be obvious and unpatentable over the combination of ( Chang, Jiang and Peidous and Masuyama ). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOAZZAM HOSSAIN whose telephone number is (571)270-7960. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8:30AM - 6:00 PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julio J. Maldonado can be reached on 571-272-1864 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MOAZZAM HOSSAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898 December 7, 2025 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 2 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 3 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 4 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 5 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 6 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 7 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 8 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 9 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 10 Art Unit: 2898 Application/Control Number: 17/923,648 Page 11 Art Unit: 2898
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

May 16, 2023
Application Filed
Sep 29, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
Dec 07, 2025
Non-Final Rejection — §103
Mar 23, 2026
Response Filed

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Expected OA Rounds
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Grant Probability
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