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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group 1 (claims 1-11) in the reply filed on 2/12/2026 is acknowledged.
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, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cha et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2020/0071824.
Regarding claim 1, Cha discloses a method for making a nanofluidic cell (“a nanofluidic device” [Abstract]) for in situ characterization of nanobubbles in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) (“Enhanced oil recovery methods are utilized to increase the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from an oil field” [0002]), comprising: preparing a silicon substrate (“The substrate can have a clean and flat surface and can be made of, for example, silicon” [0026]); forming a coating of a photoresist over the silicon substrate (“a photoresist is coated on a substrate” [0026]); drawing a pattern in the photoresist with electron lithography (EL) (“electron beam lithography can be used to remove the photoresist” [0027]); etching the pattern by removing a portion of the photoresist to form a hollow pattern (“after the patterns are drawn and etched, the etched hollow patterns can be filled with calcite by using ALD with a calcite precursor gas” [0040]); depositing calcite in the hollow pattern by atomic layer deposition (ALD) (“At 508, calcite is deposited in the predefined pattern using atomic layer deposition (ALD)” [0040]); removing remaining photoresist, forming a calcite patterned silicon substrate (“using a solvent, a remaining portion of the photoresist layer is removed to expose the deposited calcite in the predefined pattern and on the top surface of the SiN substrate” [0041]); packaging the calcite patterned silicon substrate in a metal case (“the package includes a metal casing around the substrate” [0042]), wherein the metal case has inlet connections and outlet connections for fluid flow (“the casing has an inlet line 212 that allows a fluid, such as brine solution 214, to enter the nanofluidic device 200 and an outlet line 216 that allows fluid to exit” [0032]); and mounting a transparent window over the calcite patterned silicon substrate to form the nanofluidic cell (“The casing can include a top portion with a window” [0042]).
Regarding claim 2, Cha discloses selecting a size of the silicon substrate based, at least in part, on the size of a holder for a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) (“The size of the SiN substrate can depend on the size of the hole in the TEM holder and can typically be smaller than the hole (for example, smaller than 3 millimeters (mm) in diameter)” [0019]).
Regarding claim 3, Cha discloses that forming the coating of the photoresist comprises applying a coating of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) over the silicon substrate (“After the SiN substrate is prepared, a photoresist can be spin-coated on the surface of SiN substrate. The photoresist can consist of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or SU-8 (a non-trademarked material name of a commonly-used photoresist), for example” [0020]).
Regarding claim 4, Cha discloses that forming the coating of the photoresist comprises applying a coating of epoxy photoresist (SU-8) over the silicon substrate (“After the SiN substrate is prepared, a photoresist can be spin-coated on the surface of SiN substrate. The photoresist can consist of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or SU-8 (a non-trademarked material name of a commonly-used photoresist), for example” [0020]).
Regarding claim 5, Cha discloses that forming the coating of the photoresist comprises spin coating the photoresist over the silicon substrate (“a photoresist can be spin-coated on the surface of SiN substrate” [0020]).
Regarding claim 6, Cha discloses that drawing the pattern comprises forming cylindrical shapes of about 50 nm to about 100 nm in diameter (“the size of the pattern can be in the range of 50-100 nm of diameter” [0021]).
Regarding claim 7, Cha discloses that etching the pattern comprises dissolving the photoresist that has not been exposed to an electron beam (“For negative resists, the development of the resist removes the unexposed portion of the resist” [0028]).
Regarding claim 9, Cha discloses that removing the remaining photoresist comprises dissolving photoresist that has been exposed to an electron beam (“For positive resists, the development of the resist can remove the exposed portion of the resist” [0028]).
Regarding claim 11, Cha discloses that mounting the transparent window over the calcite patterned silicon substrate comprises mounting a window in direct contact with the calcite patterned silicon (“the calcite channels 206 can be packaged in a casing 208 with a window 210 transparent to an electron beam on top of the calcite channels 206” [0032]).
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(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cha et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2020/0071824 in view of Kelley et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2010/0294049.
Regarding claim 10, Cha discloses packaging the calcite patterned silicon substrate in a metal case (“the package includes a metal casing around the substrate” [0042]) but does not disclose that the metal case comprises an aluminum, stainless steel, or titanium case.
Kelley discloses “A hermetic sample holder for use in performing microanalysis of a sample under a controlled atmosphere environment” [Abstract] including “a sample holder body with a sample cavity” [Abstract], wherein “The sample holder components may be fabricated from various materials suitable for a particular application as would be apparent to one of skill in the art. In one embodiment, the sample holder is manufactured from an aluminum alloy, such as 6061” [0075], and “If desired, a quartz window (not shown) may be incorporated into the holder cover 24 for optical microscopy examination in situ of sealed and/or processed samples” [0077].
It would have been obvious to one possessing ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the metal case of Cha with the specific metal disclosed in Kelley in order to utilize a particular metal to embody the metal of the case of Cha wherein the metal is known to have properties desirable in electron microscopy holder devices.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 8 is 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.
Regarding claim 8; Cha et al. U.S. PGPUB No. 2020/0071824 discloses a method for making a nanofluidic cell (“a nanofluidic device” [Abstract]) for in situ characterization of nanobubbles in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) (“Enhanced oil recovery methods are utilized to increase the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from an oil field” [0002]), comprising: preparing a silicon substrate (“The substrate can have a clean and flat surface and can be made of, for example, silicon” [0026]); forming a coating of a photoresist over the silicon substrate (“a photoresist is coated on a substrate” [0026]); drawing a pattern in the photoresist with electron lithography (EL) (“electron beam lithography can be used to remove the photoresist” [0027]); etching the pattern by removing a portion of the photoresist to form a hollow pattern (“after the patterns are drawn and etched, the etched hollow patterns can be filled with calcite by using ALD with a calcite precursor gas” [0040]); depositing calcite in the hollow pattern by atomic layer deposition (ALD) (“At 508, calcite is deposited in the predefined pattern using atomic layer deposition (ALD)” [0040]); removing remaining photoresist, forming a calcite patterned silicon substrate (“using a solvent, a remaining portion of the photoresist layer is removed to expose the deposited calcite in the predefined pattern and on the top surface of the SiN substrate” [0041]); packaging the calcite patterned silicon substrate in a metal case (“the package includes a metal casing around the substrate” [0042]), wherein the metal case has inlet connections and outlet connections for fluid flow (“the casing has an inlet line 212 that allows a fluid, such as brine solution 214, to enter the nanofluidic device 200 and an outlet line 216 that allows fluid to exit” [0032]); and mounting a transparent window over the calcite patterned silicon substrate to form the nanofluidic cell (“The casing can include a top portion with a window” [0042]). Cha discloses the claimed invention except that there is no explicit disclosure of alternating deposition of calcium ions with carbon dioxide.
The prior art fails to teach or reasonably suggest, in combination with the other claim limitations, a method for making a nanofluidic cell for in situ characterization of nanobubbles in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), comprising: depositing calcite in the hollow pattern by atomic layer deposition (ALD) comprising: alternating deposition of calcium ions with carbon dioxide.
Conclusion
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/JASON L MCCORMACK/Examiner, Art Unit 2881