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 Objections
Applicant is advised that should claim 4 be found allowable, claim 20 will be objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate thereof. When two claims in an application are duplicates or else are so close in content that they both cover the same thing, despite a slight difference in wording, it is proper after allowing one claim to object to the other as being a substantial duplicate of the allowed claim. See MPEP § 608.01(m).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 3-6, 8-14, and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Landru (US PG Pub 2016/0233125).
Regarding claim 1, Landru teaches a process of transferring (abstract and Figs. 2 and 5) a working layer (3) onto a support substrate (4), the process comprising the following steps:
a) providing a donor substrate (1) that comprises, starting from a main face, a donor layer (3) formed from a piezoelectric material (para. 0050) and a handle substrate (1’ as shown in Fig. 2d), the donor layer disposed on one face of the handle substrate (as shown in Fig. 2);
b) forming a weakened zone through implantation of species in the donor layer, the weakened zone being parallel to the main face (para. 0053), the weakened zone and the main face delimiting a working layer (as shown in Fig. 2);
c) joining the support substrate (4) with the donor substrate in such a way as to interpose the donor layer between the handle substrate and the support substrate (para. 0055 and as shown in Fig. 2b); and
d) subjecting the joined support substrate and donor substrate to a heat treatment (paras. 0059, 0088-0089; and Fig. 5) comprising, in this order, a first phase and a second phase (para. 0088);
the first phase having a first duration and comprising an increase in temperature to a first temperature (as shown in Fig. 5) and is designed first, to allow a maturation of defects generated by the species in the weakened zone and, second, to prevent initiation of a fracture the weakened zone (paras. 0059, 0088-0089);
the second phase having a second duration and comprising a hold period at a second temperature lower than the first temperature (as shown in Fig. 5), the second phase being designed to initiate a fracture along the weakened zone and thus to transfer the working layer onto the support substrate (paras. 0059, 0088-0089).
Regarding claim 3, Landru teaches the first phase comprises, in this order: an increase in temperature, a hold period at the first temperature, and a decrease in temperature to the second temperature (as shown in Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 4, Landru teaches the first phase is adjusted according to implantation conditions of the species during performance of step b (paras. 0059, 0088-0089).
Regarding claim 5, Landru teaches a relative difference between coefficients of thermal expansion of materials forming, respectively, the handle substrate and the support substrate is less than 10% (the handle and support substrates may be the same material per para. 0049 therefore having the same coefficient of thermal expansion).
Regarding claim 6, Landru teaches the handle substrate comprises a bulk substrate and an intermediate layer on one face of bulk substrate (para. 0051), the intermediate layer being interposed between the donor layer and the bulk substrate (para. 0051).
Regarding claims 8 and 17, Landru teaches the second duration is 2 hours (para. 0107), falling within the ranges within each of these claims.
Regarding claim 9 and 18, Landru teaches the second temperature is ambient temperature (per para. 0093 the second temperature can be ambient temperature), which is within the ranges within each of these claims.
Regarding claim 10, Landru teaches the species comprise at least one element selected from: hydrogen ions, helium ions (para. 0054).
Regarding claim 11, Landru teaches the piezoelectric material comprises at least one element selected from: LiTaO3, LiNbO3 (para. 0050).
Regarding claim 12, Landru teaches step c) of joining is preceded by a step of forming of a layer of dielectric material on the donor layer and/or on a front face of the support substrate (para. 0051).
Regarding claim 13, Landru teaches step c) of joining comprises a molecular bonding (para. 0056).
Regarding claim 14, Landru teaches the intermediate layer comprises a polymeric material (materials of para. 0051 have a polymeric material structure).
Regarding claim 19, Landru teaches the first phase comprises, in this order: an increase in temperature, a hold period at the first temperature, and a decrease in temperature to the second temperature (as shown in Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 20, Landru teaches the first phase is adjusted according to implantation conditions of the species during performance of step b (paras. 0059, 0088-0089).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Landru, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Huyet (FR 3068508A1, previously made of record).
Regarding claim 2, Landru does not teach these features.
However, Huyet teaches a transfer method comprising a heat treatment with a strengthening phase preceding the first phase and performed at a strengthening temperature lower than the first temperature, the strengthening phase being intended to strengthen a bonding energy of an interface formed between the support substrate and the donor substrate during joining (pg. 8, lines 21-26).
In view of Landru’s teachings, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to modify Landru’s heat treatment to include Huyet’s strengthening phase to predictably obtain and improved bond during joining.
Claims 7 and 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Landru.
Regarding claims 7 and 15-16 and the temperature ranges within each of these claims, the courts have held that “generally, differences in concentration or temperature will not support the patentability of subject matter encompassed by the prior art unless there is evidence indicating such concentration or temperature is critical”. Furthermore, “[W]here the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges by routine experimentation.” See MPEP § 2144.05.II and In re Aller, 220 F.2d 454, 456, 105 USPQ 233, 235 (CCPA 1955).
Thus, in view of Landru’s teachings and these considerations, one of ordinary skill in the art would have selected a first temperature within each of these ranges as matter of routine design choice and/or routine experimentation.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JIM R SMITH whose telephone number is (303)297-4318. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 9-6 MST.
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/JIMMY R SMITH JR./Examiner, Art Unit 1745