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 .
Preliminary Amendment
The preliminary amendment filed on June 21st, 2024 has been entered.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS filed on June 04th, 2025 has been considered.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Microsystems including a substrate and cavity formed within a thickness of the substrate and manufacturing method.
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) 16, 25, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by NPL, Hongrui et al. “Fabrication of thick silicon dioxide sacrificial and isolation blocks in a silicon substrate”, pages 87-95, August 24th, 2021, cited in the IDS filed on 06/04/2025.
In re claim 16, Hungrui discloses a method for use in manufacturing a microsystem, the method comprising: (a) forming an array of pillars in a thickness of a substrate, a volume enclosing the array of pillars defining a cavity in the substrate (see page 88, 2nd paragraph, and fig. 2a); (b) transforming at least some of the pillars into a sacrificial material (see page 88, 2nd and 3rd paragraphs and figs. 2b-d); (c) depositing a sacrificial material layer using a non-conformal deposition process to fill up the cavity while encasing hollow channels between the transformed pillars of the pillars array, thereby obtaining a cavity (air void) filled with an etching facilitator arrangement (see page 92, 1st and 2nd paragraphs and fig. 10).
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In re claim 25, as applied to claim 16 above, Hongrui discloses wherein the substrate being made of silicon, the step of transforming into a sacrificial material includes an oxidation process and the non-conformal sacrificial material layer deposition includes a non-conformal silicon-dioxide layer deposition (see page 91 and figs. 2a-d).
In re claim 30, Hongrui discloses a device for use in MEMS manufacturing including: (a) a substrate; (b) a cavity formed within a thickness of the substrate, wherein said cavity comprises a pillars array made of sacrificial material (see page 88, 1st and 2nd paragraph and fig. 2c, said pillars array having been deposited with a non-conformal layer of sacrificial material to fill said cavity while embedding one or more hollow channels between the pillars of the pillars array (see page 92, 1st and 2nd paragraphs and fig. 10).
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) 17 and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NPL, Hongrui et al. “Fabrication of thick silicon dioxide sacrificial and isolation blocks in a silicon substrate”, pages 87-95, August 24th,2021, cited in the IDS filed on 06/04/2025, in view of Chinn et al. (U.S. Pub. 2004/0053505).
In re claim 17, as applied to claim 16 above, Hongrui discloses wherein forming the array of pillars in a thickness of a substrate comprises ii) etching the patterned substrate around said features to form the pillars array beneath the features array and the cavity surrounding the pillars array, the cavity including a mesh of trenches between the pillars of the pillars array (see page 88 and figs. 2a-b) but is silent to i) patterning the substrate to form a mask layer defining an array of features.
However, Chinn discloses in a same field of endeavor, a method for use in a manufacturing a microsystems including, inter-alia, patterning the substrate 102 to form a mask layer 108 defining an array of features (see paragraph [0037] and figs. 1A-C).
Therefore, it is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to be motivated to incorporate the technique as taught by Chinn into the method for use in manufacturing a microsystems in Hongrui in order to enable the process of patterning the substrate to form a mask layer defining an array of features in Hongrui to be performed in order to fabricate the array of pillars in a thickness of the substrate.
In re claim 18, as applied to claim 17 above, Hongrui in combination with Chinn discloses wherein the mask layer 106 further includes a cavity outline and the array of features is within said cavity outline (see paragraph [0037] and figs. 1A-C of Chinn).
Claim(s) 19-24 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over NPL, Hongrui et al. “Fabrication of thick silicon dioxide sacrificial and isolation blocks in a silicon substrate”, pages 87-95, August 24th,2021, cited in the IDS filed on 06/04/2025.
In re claims 19 and 20, as applied to claim 16 above, it is respectfully submitted that it would have obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify at least some of the features in the features array have a shape of a stem including at least one arm extending outwards and at least some of the features in the features array have a shape of a stem with at least three arms extending outwards since it is respectfully submitted that, the configuration regarding about the shape the features array was a matter of choice which a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found obvious absent persuasive evidence that the particular configuration was significant (In re Dailey, 357 F.2d 669, 149 USPQ 47 (CCPA 1966)).
In re claims 21 and 22, as applied to claim 16 above, since Hongrui discloses transforming at least sone of the pillars into a sacrificial material (see page 88 and figs. 2a-d). It is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to transforming at least some of the pillars into a sacrificial material includes fully transforming each pillar of the pillars array into sacrificial material or partially transforming one or more pillars of the pillars array into sacrificial material in according to design specification for forming the MEMs structure.
In re claims 23 and 24, as applied to claim 16 above, it is respectfully submitted that it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have at least some of the hollow channels are interconnected in at least one network of interconnected channels and at least one hollow channel is not connected with the other hollow channels in according to design specification for forming the MEMs structure.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 26-29 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.
Dehe et al. (U.S. Pub. 2014/0264651) discloses a device for use in MEMS manufacturing including: (a) a substrate 10; (b) a cavity 110 formed within a thickness of the substrate 10 (see paragraph [0027] and fig. 1A).
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/KHIEM D NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2892
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