DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The term “substantially” in claims 1 and 16 is a relative term which renders the claim indefinite. The term “substantially” is not defined by the claim, the specification does not provide a standard for ascertaining the requisite degree, and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Does substantially transparent mean that a transparency level of 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90% is acceptable?
Claim 1, line 8; claim 11, line 2; claim 12, lines 2, 3, 5, 7-10; claim 15, line 2; claim 16, line 3; claim 17, line 2 recites the phrase “and/or” which renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear if the limitations following “and/or” are required by the claims. It is suggested to delete the phrase “and/or” and change to “and” or “or”.
Regarding claim 13, the phrase "preferably" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claim 9, line 2 recites “partnersusing” which should be change to “partners using”.
Claim 10, line 2 recites “the same process parameters”, there is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 11, line 2 recites “sameand/or” which should be change to “small and/or”.
Claims 2-11, 13, 14 and 18 are also rejected because they are dependent upon claims 1 and 16.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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:
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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-3, 5, 7-12 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Sandlin (US 2016/0185081) in view of Toro (JP2020040863).
With respect to the limitations of claim 1, Sandlin teaches a method for joining two joining partners (Figs 1, 13, transparent material 104, 704, opaque material 106, 706, 0029, 0030, 0042), comprising: applying a coating (Fig 13, interlayer 708, 0042) to at least one of the two joining partners so as to be arranged between the two joining partners before joining (0042, the interlayer 708 is deposited on the transparent material 704 or the absorbent opaque material 706 (or both) prior to bonding); joining the at least two joining partners to one another using laser pulses of a laser beam of a pulse laser (laser 102, 0034, 0035, 0042), at least one joining partner is substantially transparent to the laser pulses of the pulse laser (0029), and the coating comprises physical properties similar to at least one joining partner and/or a chemical constituent similar to (0042, interlayer 708 includes thin metal films such as, but not limited to, titanium, niobium, tantalum, aluminum) at least one joining partner (0030, claim 10, sapphire).
Sandlin discloses the claimed invention except for joining the at least two joining partners to one another using ultrashort laser pulses of a laser beam of an ultrashort pulse laser.
However, Toro discloses joining the at least two joining partners to one another (Figs 1-5, glass material 3, metal substrate 2, 0014, 0015, Al2O3, 0021) using ultrashort laser pulses of a laser beam of an ultrashort pulse laser (0013, 0025, ultrashort pulse laser Lk1) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the method for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a pulsed laser silent to ultrashort laser pulse with the joining the at least two joining partners to one another using ultrashort laser pulses of a laser beam of an ultrashort pulse laser of Toro for the purpose of using a known ultrashort laser pulse configuration that ensures a strong, hermetic bond between the two joining partners (0012, 0045).
With respect to the limitations of claims 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 15, Sandlin teaches at least one joining partner is a metal (0030, absorbent material 106 includes metals) or a semiconductor or an insulator or a combination thereof;
the coating comprises at least one chemical constituent (0042, interlayer 708 includes thin metal films such as, but not limited to, titanium, niobium, tantalum, aluminum) which is present in a joining partner (0030, claim 10, sapphire);
the laser beam locally melts at least one of the joining partners, or locally melts both joining partners (Fig 9A, diffusion zone 406, 0038);
the coating comprises at least one constituent (0042, interlayer 708 includes thin metal films such as, but not limited to, titanium, niobium, tantalum, aluminum) present in the other joining partner (0030, claim 10, sapphire);
the coating is thicker than three monolayers of the material of the coating (0042, thickness of the thin interlayer 708 is in the nm to a few µm range);
the coating is applied to one of the joining partners using physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, sputtering (0042, in one embodiment a soft sputtered interlayer is used) or another evaporation method;
a fracture toughness of a connection of the joining partners joined with the coating, with the same process parameters, is greater than a fracture toughness of a connection of the joining partners joined without the coating (0042, soft sputtered interlayer 708 absorbs interfacial motion of the bonded materials. This increases the interfacial strain the bond joint can handle before fracturing or cracking due to external loads or local loads);
an absorption of the laser beam by the coating is small (0042, aluminum absorbs less laser energy than silicon nitride due to aluminum’s reflective properties) and/or an absorption of the laser beam by the coating is smaller than an absorption by at least one joining partner;
the laser beam and the joining partners are moved and/or positioned relative to one another (Fig 10, motion stage 504, 506, 508, 0039).
With respect to the limitations of claim 12, Sandlin in view of Toro discloses a wavelength of the ultrashort laser pulses is between 200 nm and 5000 nm and/or a pulse duration of a laser pulse is between 50 fs and 10 ps (Toro, 0013) and/or a plurality of laser pulses are emitted in a pulse train, a repetition rate of the laser pulses in the pulse train being between 1 kHz and 50 GHz, and/or individual laser pulses are emitted, a repetition rate of the individual laser pulses being between 1 kHz and 50 MHz, and/or a numerical aperture of the focused laser beam is between 0.1 and 0.7, and/or a fluence at the focus is greater than 0.01 J/cm2, and/or a raw beam diameter preferably has a magnitude of 5 mm, and/or a average laser power is between 0.5 W and 50 W (Toro, 0013)
Claims 4 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Sandlin (US 2016/0185081) in view of Toro (JP2020040863) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Marjanovic (US 2015/0166395).
With respect to the limitations of claim 4, Sandlin discloses the laser beam has a focus zone used to join the coating and the two boundary surfaces of the joining partners that face one another (Fig 13). Sandlin in view of Toro discloses the claimed invention except for the laser beam has a focus zone elongated in a beam direction. However, Marjanovic discloses the laser beam has a focus zone elongated in a beam direction (Fig 2A, focal line 2b, 0080, 0082) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the method for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a transparent joining partner and laser focus zone silent to an elongated focus zone with the laser beam has a focus zone elongated in a beam direction of Marjanovic for the purpose of providing a known elongated focus zone that allows the substrate material to be heated along a length of the focus zone (0082), thereby forming an increasing bonding area.
Modifying Sandlin in view of Toro with the elongated focus zone of Marjanovic would allow for the elongated focus zone to overlap the coating and penetrate the through two boundary surfaces of the joining partners that face one another and/or to penetrate through at least one of two boundary surfaces of the joining partners that face away from one another.
With respect to the limitations of claim 14, Toro discloses a laser beam having a pulse length between 1 ns and 100 ps (0013). Sandlin in view of Toro discloses the claimed invention except for the ultrashort laser pulses of the laser beam are introduced into the material together with a further laser beam that is a continuous- wave laser beam or carrying pulses having a pulse length of between 1 ns and 100 ps.
However, Marjanovic discloses further laser beams are introduced into the material together (Fig 3A, 0089, the laser beam focal line 2b is not only a single focal point for the laser beam, but rather a series of focal points for different rays in the laser beam) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the method for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a transparent joining partner and laser beam silent to multiple laser beams with the ultrashort laser pulses of the laser beam are introduced into the material together with a further laser beam that is a continuous- wave laser beam or carrying pulses having a pulse length of between 1 ns and 100 ps of Marjanovic for the purpose of providing a known elongated focus zone that allows the substrate material to be heated along a length of the focus zone, thereby forming an increasing bonding area.
With respect to the limitations of claim 16, Sandlin teaches a device (Figs 1, 8, 10, 13, rapid room-temperature bulk material bond system 300, 0037) for joining two joining partners (Figs 1, 13, transparent material 104, 704, opaque material 106, 706, 0029, 0030, 0042), comprising a pulse laser configured to emit a laser beam carrying laser pulses (laser 102, 0034, 0035, 0042), an advancing device configured to shift and/or position the joining partners and the laser beam relative to one another (Fig 10, motion stage 504, 506, 508, 0039), a focusing optical unit configured to generate an intensity boost of the laser beam (focus optic assembly 510, 0039), the laser pulses of the laser beam of the pulse laser configured to join the to joining partners (laser 102, 0034, 0035, 0042), at least one joining partner is substantially transparent to the laser pulses of the pulse laser (0029), and at least one of the joining partners includes a coating on a surface (Fig 13, interlayer 708, 0042) arranged intended to join with another of the two joining partners (0042, the interlayer 708 is deposited on the transparent material 704 or the absorbent opaque material 706 (or both) prior to bonding), the coating comprises physical properties similar to at least one joining partner and/or a chemical constituent similar to (0042, interlayer 708 includes thin metal films such as, but not limited to, titanium, niobium, tantalum, aluminum) at least one joining partner (0030, claim 10, sapphire).
Sandlin discloses the claimed invention except for comprising an ultrashort pulse laser configured to emit a laser beam carrying ultrashort laser pulses, the focusing optical unit comprising a beam shaping optical unit configured to impose on the laser beam a focus zone elongated in a direction of beam propagation.
However, Toro discloses joining the at least two joining partners to one another (Figs 1-5, glass material 3, metal substrate 2, 0014, 0015, Al2O3, 0021) comprising an ultrashort pulse laser configured to emit a laser beam carrying ultrashort laser pulses (0013, 0025, ultrashort pulse laser Lk1) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the device for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a pulsed laser silent to ultrashort laser pulse with the joining the at least two joining partners to one another using ultrashort laser pulses of a laser beam of an ultrashort pulse laser of Toro for the purpose of using a known ultrashort laser pulse configuration that ensures a strong, hermetic bond between the two joining partners (0012, 0045).
Additionally, Marjanovic discloses the focusing optical unit comprising a beam shaping optical unit configured to impose on the laser beam a focus zone elongated (Fig 1, 2, axicon optical element 10, other lens 11, 12, 0078) in a direction of beam propagation is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the device for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a focusing optical unit silent to an elongated focus zone with focusing optical unit comprising a beam shaping optical unit configured to impose on the laser beam a focus zone elongated of Marjanovic for the purpose of providing a known elongated focus zone that allows the substrate material to be heated along a length of the focus zone (0082), thereby forming an increasing bonding area.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Sandlin (US 2016/0185081) in view of Toro (JP2020040863) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Becker (US 20190263709).
With respect to the limitations of claim 6, Sandlin in view of Toro discloses the claim invention except for the laser beam is a quasi-nondiffractive laser beam. However, Becker discloses the laser beam is a quasi-nondiffractive laser beam (0108, 0124, example quasi non-diffracting beams include Gauss-Bessel beams and Bessel beams) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the method for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a transparent glass partner silent to quasi-nondiffractive laser beam with the laser beam is a quasi-nondiffractive laser beam of Becker for the purpose of using a known laser beam configuration that controls or optimizes the intensity distribution of the pulsed laser beam to reduce diffraction for achieving low divergence when laser processing transparent, glass materials with small spot sizes.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Sandlin (US 2016/0185081) in view of Toro (JP2020040863) as applied to claim 1, further in view of Dabich (CN109071325). An English machine translation of Dabich (CN109071325) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892).
With respect to the limitations of claim 13, Sandlin in view of Toro discloses the claimed invention except for a laser pulse energy is temporally modulated from pulse to pulse with a modulation rate being between 100 Hz and 10 kHz, and a modulation shape preferably being sine2-shaped or triangular. However, Dabich discloses a laser pulse energy is temporally modulated (modulation rate, 0090, 0094) from pulse to pulse with a modulation rate being between 100 Hz and 10 kHz (0180, repetition frequency of at least 1 kHz), and a modulation shape preferably being sine2-shaped or triangular is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the method for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a transparent glass partner silent to a modulated laser beam with a laser pulse energy is temporally modulated from pulse to pulse with a modulation rate being between 100 Hz and 10 kHz, and a modulation shape preferably being sine2-shaped or triangular of Dabich for the purpose of providing a known modulated laser configuration that is suitable for laser welding of transparent glass partners and can increase the transparency, strength, and/or airtightness of the seal, reduce manufacturing costs and/or complexity, and/or increase productivity and/or yield (0010).
Claims 17 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Sandlin (US 2016/0185081) in view of Toro (JP2020040863) and Marjanovic (US 2015/0166395) as applied to claim 16, further in view of Dongbing (CN111168234). An English machine translation of Dongbing (CN111168234) is included with the Notice of Reference Cited (PTO-892).
With respect to the limitations of claims 17 and 18, Sandlin in view of Toro and Marjanovic discloses the claimed invention except for the focusing optical unit comprises a distance sensor configured to regulate a distance and/or a positioning of the joining partners relative to a reference point in space; the focusing optical unit comprises a camera configured to regulate an establishing of the laser focus. However, Dongbing discloses the focusing optical unit comprises a distance sensor (Fig 1, CCD camera 8, 0033) configured to regulate a distance (0020, 0035) and/or a positioning of the joining partners relative to a reference point in space; the focusing optical unit comprises a camera (Fig 1, CCD camera 8, 0033) configured to regulate an establishing of the laser focus (0020, 0035) is known in the art. It would have been obvious for one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to adapt the device for joining two joining partners of Sandlin having a transparent glass partner and focus optical unit silent a regulated laser focus with the focusing optical unit comprises a distance sensor configured to regulate a distance and/or a positioning of the joining partners relative to a reference point in space; the focusing optical unit comprises a camera configured to regulate an establishing of the laser focus of Dongbing for the purpose of providing a known focusing optical unit configuration that employs a dynamic adjustment mechanism where the focal length of the optical system is adjusted in real time and is especially suitable for transparent material applications (0020).
Conclusion
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/THIEN S TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3761 11/14/2025