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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II, claims 11-16 in the reply filed on September 10, 2025 is acknowledged. Claims 1-10 and 187- 20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected inventions, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Drawings
Replacement drawings were received on September 10, 2025. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication 2023/0290834 as filed by Xie et al. (hereinafter, Xie).
Xie teaches forming a first mask (32) on a piezoelectric material (10) and forming a second mask (34) on the first mask. Xie teaches patterning the first mask using the second mask (see step 506 in FIG. 5). Xie teaches wet etching the piezoelectric material using the patterned first mask and forming structures of the piezoelectric material having vertical sidewalls (see, for example, FIG. 5 and [0039]).
Claims 11 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)1) and 102(1)(2) as being anticipated by US Patent Application Publication 2015/0380637 as filed by Jiang et al. (hereinafter, Jiang).
Jiang teaches forming a mask (124) on a piezoelectric material (106). Jiang teaches mask may be multilayered thereby corresponding to the claimed first mask and second mask in which the first mask is patterned using the second mask (see, for example, FIG. 1F and [0017]). Jiang teaches wet etching the piezoelectric material using the patterned first mask and forming piezoelectric material (136) having vertical sidewalls (see, for example, FIG. 1I., [0020] and [0027]).
Regarding claim 12, Jiang teaches annealing the patterned first mask before wet etching the piezoelectric material (see, for example, [0018] and [0019]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 13-16 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Regarding claim 13, the prior art of record does not teach or make obvious a process, within the context of claim 1, wherein the first mask layer is etched using an inductively coupled plasma dry etch. Regarding claim 14, the prior art of record does not teach or make obvious a process, within the context of claim 1, wherein the first mask is a silicon oxide disposed on a ScAlN piezoelectric material. Regarding claims 15 and 16, the prior art of record does not teach or make obvious a process, within the context of claim 1, wherein a ScAlN layer is wet etched through a patterned hard mask stack comprising a bottom silicon oxide layer disposed on the ScAlN and a upper nickel layer disposed on the silicon oxide layer.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US Patent Application Publication 2019/0079453 (Haemmerli et al.) Haemmerli discloses forming a first mask on a piezoelectric material and forming a second mask on the first mask. Haemmerli teaches patterning the first mask using the second mask. Haemmerli teaches wet etching the piezoelectric material using the patterned first mask and forming structures of the piezoelectric material having vertical sidewalls (see, for example, [0046], [0049] and claim 18). Haemmerli does not teach the piezoelectric material being etched is disposed on a substrate.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Allan W Olsen whose telephone number is (571)272-1441. The examiner can normally be reached variable; M-F 9-7.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Parviz Hassanzadeh can be reached at 571-272-1435. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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ALLAN W. OLSEN
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1716
/Allan W. Olsen/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1716
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