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 with traverse of Group I in the reply filed on 12/2/25 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the product (Group I) cannot be made by another and materially different process than the process presented (Group II) and there would not be a serious search and examination burden (Remark Page 6). This is not found persuasive because the process (Group II) at least includes removing (claim 18) and etching (claim 19) a piezoelectric layer to form a cavity. Different process(es) that does not include removing and etching of the piezoelectric layer, such as deposit the piezoelectric layer thru a mask or use of a sacrificial layer for the cavity space during the deposition, would be useable to form the product (Group I). The removing and etching a piezoelectric layer (of Group II) would certainty made 1. the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art in view of their different classification; 2. the inventions have acquired a separate status in the art due to their recognized divergent subject matter; and/or 3. the inventions require a different field of search (e.g., searching different classes/subclasses or electronic resources, or employing different search strategies or search queries). Therefore, a serious search and examination burden exist.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 1-15 are elected.
Claims 16-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 12/2/25.
As a reminder: The examiner has required restriction between product or apparatus claims and process claims. Where applicant elects claims directed to the product/apparatus, and all product/apparatus claims are subsequently found allowable, withdrawn process claims that include all the limitations of the allowable product/apparatus claims should be considered for rejoinder. All claims directed to a nonelected process invention must include all the limitations of an allowable product/apparatus claim for that process invention to be rejoined.
In the event of rejoinder, the requirement for restriction between the product/apparatus claims and the rejoined process claims will be withdrawn, and the rejoined process claims will be fully examined for patentability in accordance with 37 CFR 1.104. Thus, to be allowable, the rejoined claims must meet all criteria for patentability including the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 101, 102, 103 and 112. Until all claims to the elected product/apparatus are found allowable, an otherwise proper restriction requirement between product/apparatus claims and process claims may be maintained. Withdrawn process claims that are not commensurate in scope with an allowable product/apparatus claim will not be rejoined. See MPEP § 821.04. Additionally, in order for rejoinder to occur, applicant is advised that the process claims should be amended during prosecution to require the limitations of the product/apparatus claims. Failure to do so may result in no rejoinder. Further, note that the prohibition against double patenting rejections of 35 U.S.C. 121 does not apply where the restriction requirement is withdrawn by the examiner before the patent issues. See MPEP § 804.01.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 7-12, 14, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Miura US 2008/0129418.
1. Miura discloses an electroacoustic device (Figs. 1A,B, 4D, 7D, 13A etc.) comprising:
a piezoelectric layer (16); a surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator (13) disposed above the piezoelectric layer;
a first non-piezoelectric region (Fig. 4D item 18 or 20; Fig. 7D item 22; Fig. 13A item 24; [0076]) disposed adjacent to the piezoelectric layer; and
an interdigital capacitor (IDC; 14) electrically coupled to the SAW resonator and disposed above the first non-piezoelectric region (see Figs. 4D, 7D, 13A).
2. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein no portion of the piezoelectric layer is disposed between the IDC and the first non-piezoelectric region, such that the IDC is decoupled from the piezoelectric layer (Fig. 4D, 13A, no piezoelectric layer between the IDC 14 and items 20, 24).
7. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein the first non-piezoelectric region comprises a first dielectric material (18).
8. The electroacoustic device of claim 7, wherein the first dielectric material comprises silicon dioxide (SiO2, [0038]).
9. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, further comprising a second non-piezoelectric region (18) disposed below the first non-piezoelectric region (20; [0076]: any combination of dielectric layers).
10. The electroacoustic device of claim 9, wherein the first non-piezoelectric region comprises a first material ([0038], 20, Al2O3), wherein the second non-piezoelectric region comprises a second material (18, SiO2), and wherein the first material has a higher dielectric constant than the second material (inherent of the material, see also the included McPherson reference).
11. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein the SAW resonator is a thin film SAW resonator (as the layers are considered as thin film in micro- or nano- meter throughout the disclosure), wherein the TF-SAW resonator comprises a temperature compensation layer (18) disposed below the first non-piezoelectric region (20), and wherein the temperature compensation layer comprises silicon dioxide (SiO2; [0049]; Figs. 4D, 7D).
12. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein a distance between a top of a finger (12) included in the SAW resonator and the piezoelectric layer and a distance between a top of a finger (14) included in the IDC and the first non-piezoelectric region are different (see Fig. 4D, 13A).
14. A filter circuit (Fig. 14) comprising a plurality of resonators (30, 31) and a capacitor (14) electrically coupled to a resonator in the plurality of resonators, wherein the capacitor and the resonator comprise the IDC and the SAW resonator, respectively, of the electroacoustic device of claim 1.
15. A wireless device ([0004], [0006], [0079], antenna duplexer, mobile) comprising the electroacoustic device of claim 1, the wireless device further comprising at least one of an antenna or a radio frequency (RF) circuit coupled to the electroacoustic device.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 7, 8, 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Murase US 2017/0279432.
1. Murase discloses an electroacoustic device (Figs. 1, 2, 14, etc.) comprising:
a piezoelectric layer (2); a surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator (S2) disposed above the piezoelectric layer;
a first non-piezoelectric region (Fig. 14 item 49; [0088]) disposed adjacent to the piezoelectric layer; and
an interdigital capacitor (IDC; 8, 48) electrically coupled to the SAW resonator and disposed above the first non-piezoelectric region.
2. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein no portion of the piezoelectric layer is disposed between the IDC and the first non-piezoelectric region, such that the IDC is decoupled from the piezoelectric layer (Fig. 14, no piezoelectric layer between the IDC 48 and item 49).
7. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein the first non-piezoelectric region comprises a first dielectric material (49; [0089]).
8. The electroacoustic device of claim 7, wherein the first dielectric material comprises silicon dioxide (SiO2, [0089]).
12. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein a distance between a top of a finger included in the SAW resonator (S2) and the piezoelectric layer and a distance between a top of a finger (48) included in the IDC and the first non-piezoelectric region are different (see Figs. 1, 14; the extra layers between the items 48 and 2 created the different distance).
13. The electroacoustic device of claim 1, wherein an array of fingers included in the IDC are aligned in a first direction (Fig. 2, horizontal) and wherein an array of fingers included in the SAW resonator are aligned in a second direction (vertical; Fig. 5), perpendicular to the first direction.
14. A filter circuit (Fig. 1) comprising a plurality of resonators (S1, S2, etc.) and a capacitor (18) electrically coupled to a resonator in the plurality of resonators, wherein the capacitor and the resonator comprise the IDC and the SAW resonator, respectively, of the electroacoustic device of claim 1.
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) 6, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miura US 2008/0129418 in view of Goto US 10,778,181.
6. Miura discloses the electroacoustic device as discussed above, but does not disclose a top surface of the first non-piezoelectric region is lower than a top surface of the piezoelectric layer.
Goto exemplarily discloses an electroacoustic device (Fig. 21, etc.) comprising: a piezoelectric layer (12), a resonator with IDT electrode (14) disposed above the piezoelectric layer; a non-piezoelectric region (22) disposed adjacent to the piezoelectric layer for temperature compensation (Col. 19 lines 44-57).
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have added a non-piezoelectric region adjacent to the piezoelectric layer as in Goto. The modification is obvious for temperature compensation as taught by Goto (Col. 19 lines 44-57). As a result of the combination, the added non-piezoelectric layer adjacent to the piezoelectric layer and entirety under the piezoelectric layer, it would also be under the IDC of Miura, thus effectively (and alternatively) the added non-piezoelectric region can also be read as a first non-piezoelectric region (instead of Miura’s items 18, 20, 22, 24) wherein the IDC is disposed above and a top surface of the first non-piezoelectric region (Goto: item 22) is lower than a top surface of the piezoelectric layer (Goto: item 12; Mimura: item 16).
11. In an alternative implementation that Miura discloses the electroacoustic device as discussed above, including the SAW resonator is a thin film SAW resonator (as the layers are considered as thin film in micro- or nano- meter throughout the disclosure), but does not explicitly disclose a temperature compensation layer disposed below the first non-piezoelectric region, and wherein the temperature compensation layer comprises silicon dioxide (SiO2).
Goto exemplarily discloses an electroacoustic device (Fig. 21, etc.) comprising: a piezoelectric layer (12), a resonator with IDT electrode (14) disposed above the piezoelectric layer; a temperature compensation layer disposed below the piezoelectric layer, and wherein the temperature compensation layer comprises silicon dioxide (SiO2;
(Col. 19 lines 63-64).
At the time of the filing, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have added a temperature compensation layer of SiO2 below the piezoelectric layer as in Goto. The modification is obvious for temperature compensation as taught by Goto (Col. 19 lines 44-57). As a result of the combination, the added temperature compensation layer under the piezoelectric layer would also be below the first
non-piezoelectric layer (Miura’s items 18, 20, 22, 24) thereby meeting the claim limitation.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-5 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. McPherson (“Trends in the Ultimate Breakdown Strength of High Dielectric-Constant Materials”) discloses the dielectric constants for various materials in Table I.
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/A.W/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843