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 § 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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 1-8 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sridhar et al. (U.S. Patent No. 6,461,888) in view of Brown et al. (U.S. Patent No. 8,492,727).
Regarding to claim 1, Sridhar teaches a method of forming a micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) device comprising:
forming a first trench and a second trench in a semiconductor material layer (Fig. 1, column 4, lines 9-10, silicon is a semiconductor material);
depositing at least one trench fill material in the first trench and the second trench, wherein the at least one trench fill material comprises a metallic material (Fig. 3, column 4, lines 19-22); and
removing a portion of the semiconductor material layer around the first trench and the second trench (Fig. 6, column 4, lines 46-49).
Sridhar does not disclose the silicon material is a semiconductor matrix material.
Brown suggests silicon material could be used as a semiconductor matrix material (column 9, lines 64-65). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sridhar in view of Brown to use silicon material as a semiconductor matrix material in order to enhance etching process.
Regarding to claim 2, Sridhar teaches
portions of the at least one trench fill material in the first trench comprise a movable comb structure (Fig. 8, Fig. 11, elements 31/32); and
portions of the at least one trench fill material in the second trench comprise a stationary structure (Fig. 11, element 111).
Regarding to claim 3, Sridhar teaches the movable comb structure and the stationary structure are configured to generate an electrical output signal based on a change in capacitance between the movable comb structure and the stationary structure (column 2, lines 17-19).
Regarding to claim 4, Sridhar teaches
the movable comb structure includes a comb shaft portion (Fig. 11, element 111) and movable comb fingers laterally protruding from the comb shaft portion (Fig. 8, Fig. 11, elements 31/32); and
the stationary structure comprises stationary comb fingers that are interlaced with the movable comb fingers (Fig. 11).
Regarding to claim 5, Sridhar teaches
attaching a cap substrate to the semiconductor matrix material layer (Fig. 4, element 41);
masking areas of the first trench and the second trench with a patterned etch mask layer after depositing the at least one trench fill material in the first trench and the second trench (Fig. 5, element 51); and
anisotropically etching unmasked portions of the semiconductor matrix material layer using the patterned etch mask layer as an etch mask (Fig. 6 column 4, lines 46-49).
Regarding to claim 6, Sridhar as modified discloses isotropically etching a semiconductor material of the semiconductor matrix material layer selective to the at least one trench fill material in the first trench and the second trench (column 4, lines 54-56).
Regarding to claim 7, Sridhar teaches the at least one trench fill material comprises a semiconductor material that is deposited in the first trench and the second trench before, or after, deposition of the metallic material (Fig. 3, element 31, column 4, lines 25-26).
Regarding to claim 8, Sridhar teaches the at least one trench fill material comprises a dielectric material that is deposited in the first trench and the second trench before deposition of the metallic material (Fig. 2, element 21, column 4, lines 15-16).
Regarding to claim 17, Sridhar teaches a method of forming a micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) device comprising:
forming a first trench and a second trench in a semiconductor matrix material layer (Fig. 1, column 4, lines 9-10, silicon is a semiconductor material);
depositing at least one trench fill material layer including at least one metallic material layer or semiconductor material layer in the first trench and the second trench (Fig. 3, column 4, lines 19-22); and
removing a portion of the semiconductor matrix material layer around the first trench and the second trench by performing an isotropic etch process (Fig. 6, column 4, lines 46-49), wherein a combination of a remaining portion of the semiconductor layer and a material portion filling the first trench comprises a movable structure (Fig. 8, Fig. 11, elements 31/32), and a material portion filling the second trench comprises a stationary structure (Fig. 11, element 111).
Sridhar discloses the trench fill material layer including at least one metallic material layer or at least one semiconductor material layer (column 4, lines 18-22). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to deposit at least one trench fill material layer including at least one metallic material layer and at least one semiconductor material layer in order to obtain a desired level of conductivity and flexibility, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 227 F.2d 197, 125 USPQ 416 (CCPA 1960).
Sridhar does not disclose the silicon material is a semiconductor matrix material.
Brown suggests silicon material could be used as a semiconductor matrix material (column 9, lines 64-65). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Sridhar in view of Brown to use silicon material as a semiconductor matrix material in order to enhance etching process.
Regarding to claim 18, Sridhar teaches the material portion filling the first trench
comprises a movable comb structure that includes:
a comb shaft portion (Fig. 11, element 111); and
movable comb fingers laterally protruding from the comb shaft portion, wherein the movable comb structure comprises a first metallic material portion and a first semiconductor material portion in direct contact with the first metallic material portion (Fig. 8, Fig. 11, elements 31/32).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 9-16 are allowed.
Claims 19-20 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. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding to claim 9, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “forming a recess cavity on a first side of a semiconductor matrix layer and forming a first trench and a second trench on a second side of the semiconductor matrix material layer that is an opposite side of the first side” in combination with the rest of limitations recited in claim 9.
Regarding to claim 19, the prior art fails to anticipate or render obvious the claimed limitations including “an additional remaining portion of the semiconductor matrix layer comprises an enclosure that laterally surrounds a cavity which contains the movable structure therein” in combination with the limitations recited in claim 17.
Pertinent Art
For the benefits of the Applicant, US 9,446,937 B2, US 2006/0010978 Al, and US 10,581,344 B2, are cited on the record as being pertinent to significant disclosure through some but not all claimed features of the defined invention. These references fail to disclose “remaining portion of the semiconductor matrix layer comprises an enclosure that laterally surrounds a cavity which contains the movable structure.”
Conclusion
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/VU A VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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