DETAILED ACTION
Examiner has received and accepted the amended claims and remarks filed on 4 May 2026. These amended claims and remarks are the claims and remarks being referred to in the instant Office Action.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 - 3 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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.
Claim(s) 1 - 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rogers et al. (US 2018/0313800).
Regarding Claim 1, Rogers discloses a structure capable of being a thermal conductivity sensor for measuring a concentration of a gas, in at least Figure 1C, the sensor comprising: a substrate portion (102); an intermediate layer (160) disposed on the substrate portion (Figure 1C); a semiconductor layer (162) disposed on the intermediate layer (e.g. silicon carbide and silicon nitride are known semiconductors) [0067] (Figure 1C); and a dielectric layer (164) comprising a dielectric membrane [0068] (Figure 1C), the dielectric membrane provided with a heater (110), the dielectric membrane comprising one or more openings (see openings to the left and right of 101 in 164) (Figure 1C); wherein the dielectric membrane is located over a gap ( between 164 and 102 including 104), the gap being located in the semiconductor layer (Figure 1C),
Rogers fails to expressly disclose the gap has a thickness of up to 20 µm.
Rogers does disclose the device is on the µm scale [0124] or smaller [0065].
As such, it would have been obvious to size the gap to a thickness at the µm scale, including up to 20 µm, for the benefit of modifying the sensitivity and power consumption of the sensor, as taught by Rogers [0029].
Regarding Claim 2, Rogers discloses the gap is located in the intermediate layer (portions of gap in 160).
Regarding Claim 3, Rogers discloses the substrate portion comprises a semiconductor [0034; and the intermediate layer comprises an insulator [0066].
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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ALEXANDER A. MERCADO
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2855
/ALEXANDER A MERCADO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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