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 .
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because throughout the abstract, the abstract recites the terms "comprising or comprises", which is improper language for the abstract. The applicant should replace the terms with the term --has or having--, to provide the abstract with proper language. Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Claim Objections
Claims 1-10 is /are objected to because of the following informalities:
“A method of preparing a piezoelectric transducer, comprising: “(preamble claims 1-10, line 1) should be directed to: -- “A method of manufacturing a piezoelectric transducer, the method comprising steps of:” --, for clarity of the claim scope, since preparing is not making/manufacturing. Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-10 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.
It is unclear as to exactly what being referring to as “a preset a preset direction of the piezoelectric transducer on a piezoelectric wafer” (see claim 1, lines 2-3) since no wafer have been providing and a predetermining of a preset direction on the wafer prior to a marking step.
many terms and/or phrases is/are unclear and not understood the following are examples:
alternative “or perpendicular to” (see claim 1, lines 2, 4 and similar occurrence in other claims 2-10) should be removed for clarity of the method claim formats
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102/103
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
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) 1-2, 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Zhang et al (CN111341904A). In an Alternatively, Claim(s) 1-2, 8-10 is/are also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al as relied upon above in view of Ko et al (KR20160022658).
Zhang et al discloses the claimed method of preparing a piezoelectric transducer, comprising:
forming a first marker 3 parallel to a preset direction of the piezoelectric transducer on a piezoelectric wafer (see under summary invention, about ¶¶ [0002-0003] and Fig. 4);
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forming a second 32 marker parallel to or perpendicular to a dicing direction of a carrier wafer on the carrier wafer 4, the second marker and the first marker having the same shape (see Fig. 6 above); and
aligning the first marker 31 and the second mark 32, bonding the piezoelectric wafer 11 and the carrier wafer 4 to form a process wafer 11, 4 (see Fig. 8), wherein the process wafer comprises a first surface of the piezoelectric wafer 11 configured to form the piezoelectric transducer (see Fig. 9 for the process wafer configured to form the piezoelectric transducer).
If it is argued that the Zhang et al does not teach the step of: ”aligning the first marker 31 and the second mark, bonding the piezoelectric wafer and the carrier wafer to form a process wafer” then Applicant(s) refers to the Ko reference which discloses the above includes aligning the first marker AM1 located on upper side of a first semiconductor substrate 100 and the second mark AM2 on a second semiconductor substrate 200, bonding the piezoelectric wafer and the carrier wafer to form a process wafer W (see Figs. 1-4, and discussed under the abstract entirely). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having an ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention to employ the KO ‘s teaching at noted above onto the invention of Zhang et al in order to facilitate the preparation wafer process the motivation for the combination references can be obtained by either reference since both is/are in same field of invention (see last three lines under the abstract provided by the Ko et al).
As applied to claim 2, “wherein the first marker comprises a first primary positioning edge of the piezoelectric wafer, the second marker comprises a second primary positioning edge of the carrier wafer, the step of forming the first marker parallel to or perpendicular to the preset direction of the piezoelectric transducer on the piezoelectric wafer comprises: grinding or cutting the piezoelectric wafer along a first direction to form the first primary positioning edge, the first direction being parallel or perpendicular to the preset direction; the step of forming the second marker parallel to or perpendicular to the dicing direction of the carrier wafer on the carrier wafer comprises: grinding or cutting the carrier wafer along a second direction to form the second primary positioning edge, the second direction being parallel or perpendicular to the dicing direction “ grinding or cutting and/or other means for marking is/are well known in the art, therefore above is/are not inventive features when departing from the modified of Zhang/Ko set forth above and common general knowledge without exercising any inventive skills.
Limitations of claims 8-10 are also met by the Zhang et al reference since 8-10 requirement in form of the alignment mark and clearly that the Zhang reference discloses the masking and patterning by etching (see discussion under Summary invention about ¶¶ [0004-0007] of the machine translation, also see Fig. 6 depicts grinding tool 7 associated with the process of positioning marks forming).
As applied to claim 10, noting the Zhang et al discloses, wherein the first marking pattern 31 is formed by the first marking film layer 1, and the second marking pattern 32 is a groove provided in the second marking film layer 1, respectively (see Zhang et al reference Fig. 6). Furthermore, limitation of claim 10, is not inventive method features when departing from the modified of Zhang/Ko above.
Conclusion
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/MINH N TRINH/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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