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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 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 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 – 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sarada (JP 2014-158183) in view of Ordinary Skill in the Art.
Sarada discloses, regarding,
Claim 1, A resonator device comprising: a base substrate 1 having a first surface and a second surface in a front-to-back relationship with the first surface; a resonator element 3 located on a first surface side of the base substrate 1 and including a resonator substrate and an electrode terminal disposed at a base-substrate-side surface of the resonator substrate (see Fig. 1); a mounting terminal 35, 34 disposed at the first surface; and a metal bump 36, 37 disposed between the base substrate and the resonator element 31 (see Fig. 3), the metal bump being configured to bond the base substrate and the resonator element (see Fig. 3) and electrically couple the mounting terminal and the electrode terminal (see Figs. 2, 4). It is noted that Sarada discloses that the metal bump connection is the same as the electrode 36, 37, which have a cross sectional area of one to several tens of micrometer and a diameter of 20 micrometer to 100 micrometer and have a cylinder shape (see English machine translation pertaining to Fig. 3). Based on the formula A = (Pi) x (r2), it is feasible to obtain a cross sectional area of the metal bump at a bonding portion to be between 491 μm2 or more and 4007 μm2 or less. For example if the diameter is 50 micrometer, the radius is 25; based on the area formula, that would yield a cross sectional area of 625 μm2, which is a numerical value within the optimized range disclosed in the claim. It is noted that other possible ranges could be obtained since Sarada discloses that the diameter can be from 20 micrometer to 100 micrometers.
Furthermore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to come with those optimum ranges that the applicant discloses, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Sarada further discloses, regarding,
Claims 2 – 9, the cross-sectional area of the metal bump is 707 μm2 or more and 4007 μm2 or less; 962 μm2 or more and 4007 μm2 or less; 491 μm2 or more and 2895 μm2 or less; 707 μm2 or more and 2895 μm2 or less; 962 μm2 or more and 2895 μm2 or less; 491 μm2 or more and 2254 μm2 or less; 707 μm2 or more and 2254 μm2 or less; 962 μm2 or more and 2254 μm2 or less since it would be feasible to obtain such values based on the formula A = (Pi) x (r2), and that the diameter of the metal bump ranges from 20 micrometer to 100 micrometer.
Furthermore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention was made to come with those optimum ranges that the applicant discloses, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Claim 10, the metal bump has a length of 25 μm or less in a direction orthogonal to the first surface since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Claim 11, a side surface of the metal bump is perpendicular to the base-substrate-side surface of the resonator substrate (see Fig. 3).
Claim 12, in a cross-section perpendicular to the base-substrate-side surface of the resonator substrate, a side surface of the metal bump is along a virtual line perpendicular to the base-substrate-side surface of the resonator substrate (see Figs. 3, 10, 11, 12).
Claim 13, the metal bump is a plated bump (see Fig. 10).
Claim 14, the metal bump has a cylindrical shape (see Fig. 3).
Claim 15, the metal bump has a cylindrical shape, and a diameter of the metal bump is 30 μm or more and 71.43 μm or less (see English machine translation pertaining to Fig. 3).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to design the device as disclosed by Sarada and disclose the optimum ranges pertaining to the cross sectional area in order to suppress the stress application of a vibrating piece since it has been that discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233.
Claim(s) 16 – 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sarada and Ordinary Skill in the Art as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Takeuchi et al (US 2022/0173715).
The combined rejection discloses all of the elements above. However, the combined rejection does not disclose the elements below.
On the other hand, Takeuchi et al discloses, regarding,
Claim 16, in at least one of the electrode terminal and the mounting terminal, a low elastic modulus layer having an elastic modulus lower than that of the metal bump is provided (Fig. 1; paragraphs 0022, 0029, 0038).
Claim 17, the resonator element is a thickness-shear resonator element (0033).
Claim 18, the resonator element is a quartz crystal resonator element including an AT cut quartz crystal substrate (0035).
Claim 19, the base substrate includes an integrated circuit portion that includes an oscillation circuit, the resonator device further comprising: a lid body bonded to the first surface of the base substrate and configured to accommodate the resonator element in an accommodation space between the lid body and the base substrate (see Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to design the combined device as disclosed above and to modify the invention per the limitations disclosed by Takeuchi et al for the purpose of avoiding vibration deterioration in a resonator.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Julio C. Gonzalez whose telephone number is (571)272-2024. The examiner can normally be reached M-F.
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/Julio C. Gonzalez/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2831
July 29, 2026
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