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 specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claims 1, 2, 9 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ohara et al. (JP2010118730, hereinafter Ohara).
Regarding claim 1, Ohara discloses a film bulk acoustic resonator (Fig. 9A), comprising: a substrate (11), a buffer layer (12), a first electrode layer (16), a piezoelectric layer (17), a second electrode layer (18) stacked in sequence, and a cavity structure (19) arranged between the substrate and the first electrode layer and at least partially located in the buffer layer, wherein the first electrode layer comprises an N-type semiconductor (page 5, First embodiment (4)).
Regarding claim 2, Ohara shows the cavity structure (19) comprising a through slot penetrating through the buffer layer in a direction perpendicular to a plane where the substrate is located. See Fig. 9A.
Regarding claim 9, a material of the buffer layer comprises silicon dioxide (page 5 (1) the layer 12 is a buried oxide layer, therefore the silicon dioxide limitation is anticipated).
Regarding claim 10, the piezoelectric layer comprises aluminum nitride (see page 5 (6)).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-8 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Iwashita discloses a thin film piezoelectric resonator with a cavity formed on the substrate (Fig. 2) or through the buffer layer (Fig. 1B). Kurosu et al discloses an acoustic resonator comprising an AlN piezoelectric layer and an n-type semiconductor electrode (see paragraph [0024]).
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/J. San Martin/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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