DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I (claims 1-13) and newly added claims 21-27 in the reply filed on 6/17/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
Claim(s) 1-13 and 21-27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xia (US 20170301853) in view of Choi (US 20100328328).
Regarding claim 1, Xia discloses a method of forming a piezoelectric device, in figures 1 and 2a-2r, comprising:
disposing a bottom electrode layer 230/130 (figures 2d-2e, [0026, 0027]) over a substrate 101 via physical vapor deposition (PVD) [0026];
disposing a piezoelectric layer 124 (figure 2f, [0028]) over the bottom electrode layer via PVD [0028];
forming a top electrode layer 236 (figure 2g, [0029]) with a top electrode pattern 136 (figure 2h, [0030]) over the piezoelectric layer 124; and
etching the piezoelectric layer (figures 2n-2o, [0036-0038]) to form exposed portions 281 of the bottom electrode layer 130 to form the piezoelectric device (figure 2r).
Xia does not disclose the etching is laser etching.
Choi discloses a method of forming piezoelectric device, in figure 3, using laser etching (paragraph 31).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use laser etching as disclosed by Choi in the method disclosed Xia, for the purpose of improving microscopic precision and having clean process with no chemical related issues.
Regarding claim 2, Xia discloses the etching selectively etches only the piezoelectric layer 124 without damaging the top electrode layer 136 and the bottom electrode layer 130.
Regarding claims 3-5, 7 and 8, Xia in view of Choi does not disclose the laser etching is provided with the claimed ranges of power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time.
However, it is well known in the art of laser etching that power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time are result effective variables.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the laser etching is provided with the claimed ranges of power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time in the method disclosed by Xia in view of Choi, for the purpose of having enough power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time to optimally etch the piezoelectric layer without damaging the bottom electrode.
In the absence of showing of unexpected result or a criticality outside of routine optimization across the range, the examiner finds that the claimed range is obvious over the prior art.
Regarding claim 6, Xia discloses the piezoelectric layer includes one or more of aluminum nitride (AIN), scandium-doped aluminum nitride (ScAIN), lead zirconate titanate (PZT), lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate (PMN-PT), and LiNbO3 (LNO) [0014, “AIN”].
Regarding claim 9, Xia in view of Choi does not disclose the laser etching includes is performed using an optical fiber laser.
However, it is well known in the art to use optical fiber laser in the laser etching.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the laser etching use optical fiber laser in the method disclosed by Xia in view of Choi, for the purpose of improving monolithic reliability and beam quality.
Regarding claim 10, Xia in view of Choi does not disclose the top electrode layer is formed via sputtering through a proximity mask.
However, it is well known in the art to use sputtering through a proximity mask forming electrode layers.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use sputtering through a proximity mask forming electrode layers in the method disclosed by Xia in view of Choi, for the purpose of improving protection of other layers, adhesivity of the electrodes and reducing cost of manufacturing.
Regarding claim 11, Xia discloses a method of forming a piezoelectric device, in figures 1 and 2a-2r, comprising:
disposing a bottom electrode layer 130 over a substrate 101 via physical vapor deposition (PVD) [0026, 0027];
disposing a piezoelectric layer 124 over the bottom electrode 130 layer via PVD [0028],
wherein the piezoelectric layer 124 includes an aluminum nitride (AIN) or scandium- doped aluminum nitride (ScAIN) material [0014];
forming a top electrode layer 236 with a top electrode pattern 136 over the piezoelectric layer 124; and
etching the piezoelectric layer 124 (figures 2n-2o, [0036-0038]) to form exposed portions 281 of the bottom electrode layer 130 to form the piezoelectric device (figure 2r).
Xia does not disclose the etching is laser etching.
Choi discloses a method of forming piezoelectric device, in figure 3, using laser etching (paragraph 31).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use laser etching as disclosed by Choi in the method disclosed Xia, for the purpose of improving microscopic precision and having clean process with no chemical related issues.
Xia in view of Choi does not disclose the laser etching is provided with the claimed ranges of power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time.
However, it is well known in the art of laser etching that power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time are result effective variables.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the laser etching is provided with the claimed ranges of power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time in the method disclosed by Xia in view of Choi, for the purpose of having enough power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time to optimally etch the piezoelectric layer without damaging the bottom electrode.
In the absence of showing of unexpected result or a criticality outside of routine optimization across the range, the examiner finds that the claimed range is obvious over the prior art.
Regarding claim 12, Xia discloses the piezoelectric layer 124 is selectively etched (figure 2o).
Regarding claim 13, Xia discloses the etching selectively etches only the piezoelectric layer 124 without damaging the top electrode layer 136 and the bottom electrode layer 130.
Regarding claim 21, Xia discloses a method of forming a piezoelectric device, in figures 1 and 2a-2r, comprising:
disposing a bottom electrode layer 130 over a substrate 101 via physical vapor deposition (PVD) [0026, 0027];
disposing a piezoelectric layer 124 over the bottom electrode layer 130 via PVD [0028],
wherein the piezoelectric layer 124 includes an aluminum nitride (AIN) or scandium- doped aluminum nitride (ScAIN) material [0014];
forming a top electrode layer 236 with a top electrode pattern 136 over the piezoelectric layer 124; and
etching the piezoelectric layer (figures 2n-2o, [0036-0038]) to form exposed portions 281 of the bottom electrode layer 130 to form the piezoelectric device (figure 2r), the exposed portions 281 allowing access to the bottom electrode layer 130, wherein the laser etching selectively etches (figure 2o) only the piezoelectric layer 124 without damaging the top electrode layer 236 and the bottom electrode layer 130.
Xia does not disclose the etching is laser etching.
Choi discloses a method of forming piezoelectric device, in figure 3, using laser etching (paragraph 31).
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use laser etching as disclosed by Choi in the method disclosed Xia, for the purpose of improving microscopic precision and having clean process with no chemical related issues.
Regarding claims 22-25, Xia in view of Choi does not disclose the laser etching is provided with the claimed ranges of power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time.
However, it is well known in the art of laser etching that power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time are result effective variables.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the laser etching is provided with the claimed ranges of power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time in the method disclosed by Xia in view of Choi, for the purpose of having enough power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, time to optimally etch the piezoelectric layer without damaging the bottom electrode.
In the absence of showing of unexpected result or a criticality outside of routine optimization across the range, the examiner finds that the claimed range is obvious over the prior art.
Regarding claim 26, Xia in view of Choi does not disclose the laser etching includes is performed using an optical fiber laser.
However, it is well known in the art to use optical fiber laser in the laser etching.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to have the laser etching use optical fiber laser in the method disclosed by Xia in view of Choi, for the purpose of improving monolithic reliability and beam quality.
Regarding claim 27, Xia in view of Choi does not disclose the top electrode layer is formed via sputtering through a proximity mask.
However, it is well known in the art to use sputtering through a proximity mask forming electrode layers.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use sputtering through a proximity mask forming electrode layers in the method disclosed by Xia in view of Choi, for the purpose of improving protection of other layers, adhesivity of the electrodes and reducing cost of manufacturing.
Relevant prior art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wieland (US 20170008122) and Boyle (US 20020170891) disclose laser etching with ranges of power, beam diameter, frequency, wavelength, and/or time.
Beranek (US 20090060529) and Dianov (US 20050249469) disclose optical fiber laser.
Dumitru (US 20150177078), Yao (US 20120313482), Xu (US 20040163478) disclose forming electrode layers using sputtering method.
Conclusion
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/BUMSUK WON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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