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 § 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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamane et al. (WO2021060513, using US20220216844 as the translation) in view of JP2018182499 (hereinafter JP’499).
Regarding claim 1, Yamane discloses an acoustic wave device comprising: a support (2) with a thickness in a first direction and including a support substrate (2, 7); a piezoelectric layer (4) provided on the support; and an IDT electrode (5) provided on a main surface of the piezoelectric layer and including first and second electrode fingers (51, 52) and first and second busbar electrodes (611, 621), the first electrode finger extending in a second direction which intersects with the first direction, the first electrode finger being connected to the first busbar electrode, the second electrode finger extending in the second direction and facing a corresponding one of the first electrode finger in a third direction which is perpendicular to the second direction, the second electrode finger being connected to the second busbar electrode; wherein a space (26) is included in the support at a position that at least partially corresponds to a position of the IDT electrode when the support is seen from above in the first direction, the first electrode finger or the second electrode finger includes an underlying metal layer (titanium, paragraph [0068]) and a first metal layer (aluminum), the underlying metal layer contacting the piezoelectric layer, the first metal layer being stacked above the underlying metal layer; the underlying metal layer includes at least one of Ni, Cr, and Ti (titanium). Yamane fails to explicitly disclose the piezoelectric layer including a diffusion layer at a position at which the piezoelectric layer contacts the underlying metal layer in the first direction, the diffusion layer including at least one of Ni, Cr, and Ti. However, JP’499 teaches that when the metal film and the piezoelectric substrate are subject to high heat during the manufacturing process diffusion between the electrode material and the piezoelectric layer will occur (see description of Figs. 5A and 5B). Therefore, by forming a titanium adhesive layer on the piezoelectric substrate and exposing the elements to heat, a diffusion layer comprising titanium will be obtained. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to obtain a diffusion layer comprising titanium if no suppressive measures are provided in order to minimize the diffusion between the metal layer and the piezoelectric layer.
Regarding claim 2, JP’499 discloses that regions 50 and 52 have a thickness of several nm. The characteristics of the diffusion layer would depend on specific elements and factors during the manufacturing process. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to determine the desired characteristics as necessitated by the specific requirements of the particular application and express the depth of the diffusion layer on an expression obtained by experimentation.
Regarding claims 3 and 4, Yamane discloses the thickness of the piezoelectric layer (4) is about 400nm (see paragraph [0056]), and smaller than 2p.
Regarding claim 5, the piezoelectric layer is LN or LT (paragraph [0007]).
Regarding claim 6, the acoustic wave generates a bulk wave of a thickness shear mode (See paragraph [0042]).
Regarding claims 7 and 8, d/p~0.24 (See Fig. 9A, paragraph [0087]).
Regarding claim 9, please refer to paragraph [0094].
Regarding claim 10, refer to paragraph [0080].
Regarding claim 11, paragraph [0055] discloses Euler angles (φ, θ, ψ) of the piezoelectric layer 4, wherein φ is about 0°±10° and θ is about 0°±10°, ψ is any angle.
Regarding claim 12, the width of the electrode fingers is about 500nm (paragraph [0061]).
Regarding claim 13, an angle between a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the first and second electrode fingers and a polarization direction is in a range of about 90±10° (paragraph [0042]).
Regarding claims 14 and 16, Yamane discloses an intermediate layer (7) made of silicon oxide.
Regarding claim 15, the support substrate and the intermediate layer are frame-shaped and include cavities defining the space.
Regarding claims 17 and 18, the support substrate is made of silicon (abstract).
Regarding claim 19, Yamane fails to disclose the support substrate is made of one of aluminum oxide, lithium tantalate, lithium niobate, quartz, alumina, magnesia, sapphire, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon carbide, zirconia, cordierite, mullite, steatite, forsterite, diamond, glass, or gallium nitride. Selection from among known, suitable materials has long been held to be within the skill expected of the routineer and therefore obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application to provide a support substrate made of one of the recited materials as necessitated by the specific requirements of the particular application since the general characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of specific materials, such as aluminum oxide, lithium tantalate, lithium niobate, quartz, alumina, magnesia, sapphire, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, silicon carbide, zirconia, cordierite, mullite, steatite, forsterite, diamond, glass, or gallium nitride to form the substrate of an acoustic device are well known, so that the choice of anyone of them as a substitute for any one of the others to obtain the known or naturally expected advantages of the chosen material presents in general a case of good judgment instead of a case of invention.
Regarding claim 20, reflectors (8) are positioned on either side of the idt electrodes (Fig. 26).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Hada et al. disclose IDT electrode comprising a multilayer structure comprising a NiCr/Ti layer formed close to the piezoelectric layer. Kando discloses a multilayer structure comprising gold as the base layer. Sakaguchi discloses how to minimize the diffusion of titanium into the piezoelectric layer during the manufacturing process.
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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/J. San Martin/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2837
