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 § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-7, 10-11and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guang-jie, CN 113432725.
Regarding Claim 1, Guang-jie discloses; A sensing device, comprising: a substrate (Fig. 1-2; 1); a circuit layer disposed on the substrate (Fig. 1-2, 14 and Page 11; ¶ 1; measuring circuit system 1), and the circuit layer comprising a plurality of driving circuits (Fig. 1-2 and Page 10; ¶ 3; measuring circuit system 1 for a plurality of array arranged infrared detector pixel); and a plurality of sensing units disposed on the circuit layer (Fig. 1-2 and Page 10; ¶ 3; the infrared detector comprises a plurality of array arranged infrared detector pixel), and each of the sensing units comprises: a supporting part electrically connected to one of the plurality of driving circuits (Fig. 1-2 and Page 11; ¶ 4; the beam structure 11 is electrically connected with the CMOS measuring circuit system 1 through the first columnar structure 61 and the supporting base 42); and a sensing part electrically connected to the supporting part (Fig. 1-2 and Page 11; ¶ 4; the absorbing plate 10 is used for converting the infrared signal into electric signal and electrically connected with the corresponding first columnar structure 61 through the second columnar structure 62 and the corresponding beam structure 11), and the sensing part is separated from the circuit layer by a first cavity and the supporting part (Fig. 1-2; the absorbing plate 10 is separated from columnar structure 61 and measuring circuit system 1 by the cavity formed by sacrificial layer), wherein in a normal direction of the substrate, at least a portion of the supporting part is disposed between the circuit layer and the sensing part (Fig. 1-2; columnar structure 61 disposed between the absorbing plate 10 and measuring circuit system 1), wherein the sensing part comprises an absorbing layer (Fig. 1-2, 6 and Page 25; ¶ 2; absorbing plate 10 comprises a third dielectric layer 130) and a sensing layer (Fig. 1-2, 6 and Page 25; ¶ 2; absorbing plate 10 comprises a heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120), and the absorbing layer is disposed between the sensing layer and the supporting part (Fig. 1-2, 6 and Page 25; ¶ 2; absorbing plate 10 comprises a heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120, a third dielectric layer 130 over the beam structure 11), so that the sensing layer and the supporting part are separated by a second cavity configured there between (Fig. 1-2, 6 and Page 25; ¶ 2; cavity between the second columnar structure 62 separate heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120 from beam structure 11), wherein respective sides of the sensing layer and the absorbing layer are aligned in the normal direction of the substrate (Fig. 1-2, 6 and Page 25; ¶ 2; absorbing plate 10 comprises a third dielectric layer 130 and heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120 and sides of third dielectric layer 130 and heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120 are aligned in normal direction from the substrate 1, see the attached Fig. 6 below).
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Regarding Claim 2, Guang-jie discloses; the circuit layer further comprises a reflective layer (Fig. 1-2 and Page 11; ¶ 3; sensing structure 2 comprises a resonant cavity composed of a reflective layer 4), the reflective layer is electrically insulated from the driving circuit (Fig. 1-2 and Page 16; ¶ 4; the sealed release isolation layer 3 located between the CMOS measuring circuit system 1 and CMOS infrared sensing structure 2 interface), and at least a portion of the first cavity is disposed between the reflective layer and the sensing part (Fig. 1-2; the cavity formed by sacrificial layer disposed between reflective layer 4 and the absorbing plate 10).
Regarding Claim 3, Guang-jie discloses; the supporting part comprises a cantilever (Fig. 1-2 and Page 11; ¶ 3; beam structure 11), a first terminal part of the cantilever is fixed to the circuit layer (Fig. 1-2 and Page 11; ¶ 3; the beam structure 11 is electrically connected with the CMOS measuring circuit system 1 through the first columnar structure 61), and a second terminal part of the cantilever supports the sensing part (Fig. 1-2 and Page 11; ¶ 4; second columnar structure 62 is directly electrically connected with the corresponding absorbing plate 10).
Regarding Claim 4, Guang-jie discloses; the supporting part further comprises a bridge pier (Fig. 1-2 and Page 22; ¶ 3; first dielectric layer 13), and the bridge pier is connected to the cantilever (Fig. 1-2 and Page 22; ¶ 3; the beam structure 11 comprises a first dielectric layer 13), wherein the first terminal part of the cantilever is fixed on the circuit layer by the bridge pier( Fig. 1-2 and Page 22; ¶ 3; first columnar structure 61of the beam structure 11 fixed on the circuit system 1 with the first dielectric layer 13).
Regarding Claim 5, Guang-jie discloses; the supporting part further comprises a first fixing member (Fig. 1-2, 6; solid structure 601), and the first fixing member is disposed on the first terminal part (Fig. 1-6; solid structure 601 disposed on first columnar structure 61of the beam structure 11).
Regarding Claim 6, Guang-jie discloses; a material of the first fixing member comprises Mo, MoN, MoW, or W (Fig. 1-2, 6; the first columnar structure 61 of the solid structure 601 of material comprises tungsten).
Regarding Claim 7, Guang-jie discloses; the supporting part further comprises a supporting layer, and the first fixing member is disposed on the supporting layer (Fig. 1-6; solid structure 601 of the side wall is covered with a layer of dielectric layer 602).
Regarding Claim 10, Guang-jie discloses; the sensing part further comprises a second fixing member (Fig. 1-2, 6; the solid structure 605 of the second columnar structure 62), and the second fixing member is disposed (Fig. 1-2, 6; the solid structure 605 of the second columnar structure 62 disposed over third dielectric layer 130) on the absorbing layer.
Regarding Claim 11, Guang-jie discloses; a material of the second fixing member comprises Mo, MoN, MoW, or W (Fig. 1-2,6; the solid structure 605 of the material comprises tungsten).
Regarding Claim 15, Guang-jie discloses; a material of the sensing layer comprises a-Si, VOx, YBaCuO, GeSiO, SiGe, BiLaSrMnO, or a combination thereof (Fig. 1-2, 6 and Page 25; ¶ 2; heat sensitive medium layer 120 comprises vanadium oxide).
Regarding Claim 16, Guang-jie discloses; a readout circuit and a logic circuit, the readout circuit is coupled to the plurality of driving circuits, and the logic circuit is coupled to the readout circuit (Fig. 1-2, 14 and Page 19; ¶ 4-5; CMOS measurement circuit system 1 includes a bias generation circuit 7; column-level analog front-end circuit 8 and row-level circuit 9 with and a plurality of gate drive sub-circuits 722).
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 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Guang-jie, CN 113432725 as applied to claims 1-7, 10-11and 15-16 above, and further in view of Ang, US 2022/0162062.
Regarding claim 14, Guang-jie substantially discloses the invention including absorbing plate with heat-sensitive layer but is silent about a material of the absorbing layer comprises Ti, TiN, Pt, Au, Ni, Nb, or a combination thereof. However, Ang teaches that the absorber layer, for example, is configured to absorb incident IR radiation. The absorber layer a titanium nitride (TiN) layer [0046]. It would have been obvious to one with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Guang-jie by providing a material of the absorbing layer comprises Ti, TiN, Pt, Au, Ni, Nb, or a combination thereof so that the absorber is configured to absorb most of the incident IR radiation [0046].
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 5/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding applicant’s arguments on the page 10-11 of the remarks that Guang-jie disclose respective sides of the third dielectric layer 130 (corresponding to the claimed sensing layer) and the heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120 (corresponding to the claimed absorbing layer) are not aligned in the normal direction of the substrate 1 since the heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120 should be protected by the third dielectric layer 130 and the fourth dielectric layer 150. In reality, the heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120 is surrounded by the third dielectric layer 130 and the fourth dielectric layer 150. However, in the rejection above with the attached Fig. 6, the examiner clearly shows that the sides of third dielectric layer 130 and heat-sensitive dielectric layer 120 are aligned in the normal direction of the substrate 1, as the claim language does not define the respective side as left, right , top or bottom, also claim language does not clearly define that the respective sides are aligned with each other, therefore the arguments are unsound. Also, applicant has the opportunity to amend the claims during prosecution, giving a claim its broadest reasonable interpretation will reduce the possibility that the claim, once issued, will be interpreted more broadly than is justified- MPEP 2111.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 12 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
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AZM PARVEZ whose telephone number is (571)272-1447. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9-6 EST.
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/AZM PARVEZ/
Examiner
Art Unit 2892
/NORMAN D RICHARDS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2892
Prosecution Insights