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 § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
“preparing a quartz substrate” (claim 1, lines 8-9) is vague and indefinite because it is unclear as to how to prepare a quartz crystal substrate (i.e. how or in what manner is it prepared).
Claims 5-6 are confusing because the claim 1 is a method claim in which claims 5-6 are depended thereon; however, claims 5-6 fail to disclose any additional method step to further define the claimed invention but only recites the structure of the vibrator of claim 1 without any method steps to obtain such structures such as “an angular velocity detection element”, “pair of support arms”, etc.,
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by U.S. Patent 8,156,621 to Iwai.
Regarding claim 1, Iwai et al disclose a method for manufacturing a vibrator (see Fig. 1), the vibrator including a first vibration arm that has a first surface and a second surface which are in a front and back relationship (see Fig. 1a) and that has a bottomed first groove opened in the first surface, and a second vibration arm that has a bottomed second groove opened in the first surface, the method comprising: a preparation step of preparing a quartz crystal substrate (10) having the first surface and the second surface; a first film formation step of forming a first stacked body (32-36) by sequentially stacking a first underlying film, a second underlying film (see Step S112), and a first protective film (36) at the first surface (see Fig. 4b); a first patterning step of patterning the first stacked body in a manner in which the first underlying film, the second underlying film, and the first protective film remain in a region of an element formation region other than a first groove formation region and a second groove formation region, the first underlying film and the second underlying film remain in the first groove formation region, and the first underlying film remains in the second groove formation region, when a region of the quartz crystal substrate where the vibrator is formed is referred to as the element formation region, a region where the first groove is formed is referred to as the first groove formation region, and a region where the second groove is formed is referred to as the second groove formation region (see Fig. 5i); and a first dry etching step of dry etching the quartz crystal substrate from the first surface through the first stacked body (see Fig. 5j).
Regarding claim 2, Iwai discloses the first stacked body in the second groove formation region and the first stacked body in the first groove formation region sequentially disappear in the first dry etching step, and the dry etching is started in order of a removal region other than the element formation region, the second groove formation region, and the first groove formation region (see Fig. 5k).
Regarding claim 3, Iwai discloses at least one of the first underlying film and the second underlying film is a metal film (Cr/Au).
Regarding claim 4, Iwai discloses the vibrator has a bottomed third groove opened in the second surface of the first vibration arm and a bottomed fourth groove opened in the second surface of the second vibration arm (see Fig. 1), and the method of forming the bottom third and four grooves are the same as disclosed in claim 1.
Regarding claims 5-6, Iwai discloses all the limitations because claims 5-6 do not disclose any additional steps. Therefore, the manufacturing steps in claim 1 would result in forming the structures of claims 5-6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. U.S. Patent 5,738,757 to Burns et al disclose method of etching the substrate using multiple layer mask. U.S. Patent 7,861,387 to Hokibara et al disclose a method of forming a PZ resonator.
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/DN/ /DONGHAI D NGUYEN/July 25, 2026 Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3729
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