DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the Election and Amendment filed on May 18, 2026.
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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of Group II, claims 1-14 in the reply filed on May 18, 2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
Claims 15-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply.
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.
Claims 1-9, 13, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ostholt et al. (WO 2020030222 A1).
In re claim 1, Ostholt et al. discloses (fig. 2; Translation portion below) a method for producing a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device, the method comprising: providing a substrate (1) comprising a first substrate surface and an opposite second substrate surface, wherein the substrate comprises a sacrificial layer (6) arranged at the first substrate surface; depositing a membrane material layer (7) onto the sacrificial layer; structuring a cavity (3) into the substrate, the cavity extending between the second substrate surface and the sacrificial layer (6); releasing the membrane material layer by removing the sacrificial layer from the cavity such that the cavity is adjacent to the membrane material layer, wherein the released membrane material layer forms a free-standing membrane structure (2) covering the cavity ; and creating optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Translated Sections of Ostholt
FIG. 2 shows the method steps shown in FIG. 1 for the production of a plurality of mutually enclosing annular closed peripheral contours;
3 shows a variant of the method shown in FIG. 2 with a plurality of circumferential contours introduced only on one side.
The method according to the invention for producing microstructures in a substrate 1 with membrane-like, bridging or overhanging surfaces 2 is explained in more detail below with reference to the individual method steps shown in FIG. 1. The overhanging surfaces 2 arise as a result of a weakening of the material caused by an etching process and of material removal to produce a recess 3 in the substrate. For this purpose, in a first method step, modifications 4 are introduced into the substrate 1, which is made of glass, for example, by means of laser radiation along an annularly closed peripheral contour 5 in the substrate 1, as can be seen in a plan view of the substrate 1. In a first step, a sacrificial layer 6 that is not resistant to a wet chemical etching bath and then a membrane layer 7 that is resistant to the etching medium, for example a metal layer, are applied to the substrate 1 modified in this way.
An etching attack by an etching medium (not shown further) then takes place primarily on a side of the substrate 1 facing away from the membrane layer 7. The etching attack leads to a linear, groove-shaped removal of the substrate material along the circumferential contour 5, the etching progress taking place at least substantially perpendicular to the surface of the substrate 1. With progressive removal and correspondingly deepened groove-shaped material removal, the sacrificial layer 6 is finally reached. As a result of the etching effect, this dissolves not only in accordance with the peripheral contour 5, but also in the transverse direction thereof. As a result, the area enclosed by the peripheral contour 5 loses its adhesion or binding and can be easily removed from the substrate 1 under the action of gravity. The desired overhang contour 5, which can be used, for example, as a membrane, thus spans the recess 3.
FIGS. 2 and 3 also show variants of the method which are defined by a plurality of circumferential contours, for example concentrically enclosing one another 5 in connection with an additional etching step before the application of the sacrificial layer 6 and the membrane layer 7 differ from the method shown in FIG.
The various circumferential contours 5 do not have to be arranged at a uniform distance from one another. For example, adjacent peripheral contours 5 could also intersect. Likewise, the enclosed peripheral contours 5 need not be closed in a ring, but can also be introduced into the substrate 1 in a manner restricted to a surface section thereof. After completion of the laser modification along the various circumferential contours 5, a first etching attack takes place in an etching bath, as a result of which, in the region of the circumferential contours 5, material is removed as a groove-shaped recess 3 depending on the modification with or different depths are introduced into the substrate surface. In the next step, corresponding to the method step shown in FIG. 1 and sacrificial layer 6 and membrane layer 7, the uneven contour is formed accordingly.
The subsequent etching of a side of the substrate 1 facing away from the membrane layer 7 leads to a linear removal of the substrate material along all circumferential contours 5, so that the region enclosed by the outer circumferential contour 5 is finally released from the substrate 1. The surface 2 thus has, in addition to flat areas, also contoured, wave-shaped areas on the edge, which can serve, for example in the sense of a bellows, for length compensation. In particular, this gives the overhang contour section-by-section flexible or elastic properties that open up completely new possible uses.
Advantages
The generic method for precision machining of glass by means of laser-induced deep etching has become known as LIDE (Laser Induced Deep Etching). The LIDE process enables extremely precise holes and structures to be made at high speed, thus creating the conditions for the increased use of glass as a material in microsystem technology.
The object of the present invention is to provide a microstructure with which a reduction in the die size of a MEMS pressure detection device can be achieved while increasing the sensitivity and reducing the pressure non-linearities.
In re claim 2, Ostholt et al. discloses (fig. 2) wherein creating the nanostructures comprises removing portions of the membrane material layer using one or more laser beams used in the applied laser structuring process, the nanostructures remain between the removed portions of the membrane material layer, such that the nanostructures are monolithically integrated in the membrane material layer.
In re claims 3 and 4, Ostholt et al. discloses (fig. 2) wherein the applied laser structuring process uses a femtosecond laser or a picosecond laser or wherein the applied laser structuring process comprises Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP) (which are well-known lasers or processes in the art of semiconductors used for manufacturing).
In re claims 5-7, Ostholt et al. discloses (fig. 2) creating the nanostructures comprises distributing the nanostructures in a random or periodic pattern along the respective membrane surface of the membrane material layer. The nanostructures are created in a first membrane surface of the membrane material layer, the first membrane surface faces the cavity, such that the nanostructures also face the cavity, and one or more laser beams used in the applied laser structuring process is guided through the cavity to reach the first membrane surface of the membrane material layer. The nanostructures are created in a second membrane surface of the membrane material layer, and the second membrane surface faces away from the cavity such that the nanostructures also face away from the cavity.
In re claims 8 and 9, Ostholt et al. discloses (fig. 2) one or more laser beams are used in the applied laser structuring process is guided over the second substrate surface located outside the cavity, such that additional nanostructures are created in the second substrate surface. One or more laser beams used in the applied laser structuring process is guided over one or more inner substrate portions residing inside the cavity, such that additional nanostructures are created in the one or more inner substrate portions.
In re claims 13 and 14, Ostholt does not specifically disclose the process of coating the nanostructures with an organic (SAM) or growing the inorganic nanodots and nanowires. However, such processes are well known in the art of semiconductors for forming MEMs components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-12 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. Hedenig (US Pub. 2017/0355591 A1), Chen (US Pub. 2023/0234837 A1), Klein (EP-3620429 B1), Brockmeier (DE-102016118268-A1), Liu (CN-212344061 A1), Meng (CN-113460952 A), Fu (CN-110730411 A), and Wang (CN-108217577 B).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW E WARREN whose telephone number is (571)272-1737. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 10am - 6pm.
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/MATTHEW E WARREN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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