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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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 § 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 1-6 and 11-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taniguchi et al. (US20230387881, hereinafter Taniguchi) in view of Kadota et al. (US20190319603, hereinafter Kadota).
Regarding claim 1, Taniguchi discloses an acoustic wave device (Fig. 17) comprising: a support substrate (4); an intermediate layer (24) on the support substrate; a piezoelectric layer (6) on the intermediate layer and including a first principal surface (6a) and a second principal surface (6b) opposed to each other; a first IDT electrode (7A) on the first principal surface of the piezoelectric layer; and a second IDT electrode (7B) on the second principal surface of the piezoelectric layer and opposite to the first IDT electrode; wherein the support substrate is a quartz substrate (paragraph [0043]).
Taniguchi fails to disclose the quartz substrate having Euler angles (ϕ, θ, ψ) of about 0°±10°, 70°≤θ≤170°, 90°±10°.
Kadota discloses an acoustic wave device comprising a quartz substrate (paragraphs [0015-0017]) having Euler angles in the claimed range (0°±10°, 70°≤θ≤170°, 90°±10°). Paragraph [00015] discloses angles (10°±5°, 0°≤θ≤180°, 90°±5°). Kadota discloses the characteristics of quartz substrate varying depending on the Euler angles. The specific angles disclosed by Kadota allow the power flow angle to become zero. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to use a quartz substrate having the specific cut angle in order to obtain the desired vibration characteristics, improve the temperature characteristics and higher Q, as disclosed by Kadota.
Regarding claims 2 and 3, Taniguchi discloses the intermediate layer includes a low acoustic velocity layer (silicon oxide layer 5).
Regarding claim 4, Taniguchi discloses the intermediate layer including a high acoustic velocity layer (24) directly contacting the support substrate (Fig. 17).
Regarding claim 5, the piezoelectric layer comprises lithium tantalate or lithium niobate ([paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 6, the acoustic wave device is surface acoustic wave resonator, a filter device or a multiplexer including a plurality of acoustic wave resonators. (paragraph [0004])
Regarding claim 11, Taniguchi discloses the invention as explained above for claim 1. Kadota discloses quartz substrate with the Euler angles (ϕ, θ, ψ) of about 0°±10°, 180°≤θ≤240°, 90°±10° in paragraph [0012]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to use a quartz substrate having the specific cut angle in order to obtain the desired vibration characteristics, improve the temperature characteristics and higher Q, as disclosed by Kadota.
Regarding claim 12, Taniguchi discloses the intermediate layer includes a low acoustic velocity layer (silicon oxide layer 5).
Regarding claim 13, Taniguchi discloses the piezoelectric layer comprising lithium tantalate or lithium niobate ([paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 14, the acoustic wave device is surface acoustic wave resonator, a filter device or a multiplexer including a plurality of acoustic wave resonators. (refer to paragraph [0004])
Regarding claim 15, Taniguchi discloses the invention as explained above for claim 1. Kadota discloses quartz substrate with the Euler angles (ϕ, θ, ψ) of about 0°±10°, 100°≤θ≤150°, 0°±10° in paragraph [0010]. Similar to what was explained above, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to use a quartz substrate having the specific cut angles as disclosed by Kadota in order to obtain the desired vibration characteristics, improve the temperature characteristics and higher Q.
Regarding claim 16, Taniguchi discloses the intermediate layer includes a low acoustic velocity layer (silicon oxide layer 5).
Regarding claim 17, Taniguchi discloses the piezoelectric layer comprising lithium tantalate or lithium niobate ([paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 18, the acoustic wave device is surface acoustic wave resonator, a filter device or a multiplexer including a plurality of acoustic wave resonators. (Refer to paragraph [0004])
Claims 7-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Taniguchi et al. (US20230387881)
Regarding claim 7, Taniguchi discloses a support substrate (4); an intermediate layer (24, 5) on the support substrate; a piezoelectric layer (6) on the intermediate layer and including a first principal surface and a second principal surface opposed to each other; a first IDT electrode (7A) on the first principal surface of the piezoelectric layer; and a second IDT electrode (7B) on the second principal surface of the piezoelectric layer and opposite to the first IDT electrode; wherein the intermediate layer includes a high acoustic velocity layer (24) directly contacting the support substrate; an acoustic velocity of a bulk wave propagating through the high acoustic velocity layer is higher than an acoustic velocity of an acoustic wave propagating through the piezoelectric layer; the support substrate is a quartz substrate (paragraph [0043]).
Taniguchi discloses the invention as explained above, but fails to explicitly disclose the high acoustic velocity layer having a specific thickness depending on the material. However, it is the examiner’s position that determining the specific thickness of the high acoustic velocity layer would have been an obvious matter of design choice. Considering different materials have different characteristics, the thickness of the layer could have been easily modified in order to obtain the desired characteristics.
Regarding claim 8, Taniguchi discloses the intermediate layer including a low acoustic velocity layer (5, silicon oxide).
Regarding claim 9, the piezoelectric layer comprises lithium tantalate or lithium niobate ([paragraph [0040]).
Regarding claim 10, the acoustic wave device is surface acoustic wave resonator, a filter device or a multiplexer including a plurality of acoustic wave resonators (paragraph [0004]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited references show idt electrodes formed on both sides of a piezoelectric substrate.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jaydi San Martin whose telephone number is (571)272-2018. The examiner can normally be reached on M-Th 7:45-6:00pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Dedei Hammond can be reached on 571-270-7938. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/J. San Martin/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
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