DETAILED ACTION
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 § 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) s 1-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kawai et al. (US 2021/0028763).
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Re Claim 1, Kawai et al. disclose a resonance device comprising: a first substrate (30 and 10, i.e., upper covered comprises Si substrate, Fig. 2 and Paragraph [0031] ) which includes a first silicon substrate and a resonator (10); a second substrate (20, i.e., lower cover comprises SOI substrate, Paragraph [0031]) arranged on a side of the resonator (10) opposite to the first silicon substrate (i.e., Si substrate part of 30); and a bonding portion bonding the first substrate and the second substrate to each other so as to seal a vibration space of the resonator (Paragraph [0031] and , wherein the resonator has a silicon film (i.e., the resonator 10 comprises SOI substrate and SOI has silicon layer on top surface, Paragraph [0031]) on a surface thereof facing the first silicon substrate (i.e., the silicon substrate of 30) , and the silicon film is directly bonded to the first silicon substrate (i.e., the upper cover 30 contains Si substrate is bonded to the resonator 10 contains Si layer of the SOI substrate) in an entire circumferential region surrounding the vibration space in a plan view of the first substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 2, as applied to claim 1 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the first silicon substrate (i.e., part of upper cover 30) defines a cavity (31, i.e., recess portion, Paragraph [0035]) of the vibration space (i.e., the recess portion 31 encompass the vibration space of the resonator 10), and the resonator includes a vibrating portion (120) positioned inside the vibration space (see Fig. 2), a holding portion (140, Paragraph [0036]) around the vibrating portion in a plan view of the first substrate (see Fig. 2), and a holding arm (110) connecting the holding portion (140) and the vibrating portion (120) to each other (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 3, as applied to claim 2 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the silicon film is on an entire surface of the vibrating portion on a side thereof facing the first silicon substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 4, as applied to claim 2 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including a silicon oxide film on a surface of the vibrating portion on a side thereof facing the first silicon substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 5, as applied to claim 4 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the vibrating portion includes a base portion connected to the holding arm, and a plurality of vibrating arms connected to the base portion, and the silicon oxide film is provided so as to not overlap a tip region in the plurality of vibrating arms, the tip region being opposite to the base portion in the plan view of the first substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 6, as applied to claim 1 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the second substrate (20) includes a second silicon substrate, and a silicon nitride film on at least one surface of a surface facing the resonator and a surface opposite to the surface facing the resonator in the second silicon substrate.
Re Claim 7, as applied to claim 1 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the bonding portion includes a silicon oxide film on a side of the first substrate, and a metal film which covers a side wall of the silicon oxide film (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 8, as applied to claim 1 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the bonding portion includes a silicon nitride film on a side of the first substrate, and a metal film between the silicon nitride film and the second substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 9, as applied to claim 2 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including a silicon oxide film on a bottom surface of the cavity of the first silicon substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 10, Kawai et al. disclose A resonance device manufacturing method comprising: forming a first substrate by directly bonding a first silicon substrate (i.e., i.e., upper covered comprises Si substrate, Fig. 2 and Paragraph [0031] ) and silicon film (i.e., the resonator 10 comprises SOI substrate and SOI has silicon layer on top surface, Paragraph [0031]) of a resonator (10) to each other; and bonding the first substrate (30) and a second substrate (20) to each other so as to seal a vibration space of the resonator, wherein the silicon film is in an entire circumferential region surrounding the vibration space (Paragraph [0031]) in a plan view of the first substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 11, as applied to claim 10 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including further comprising: adjusting a frequency by causing the resonator and the first substrate to collide with each other by applying a voltage to the resonator after bonding the first substrate and the second substrate to each other (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 12, as applied to claim 10 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the first silicon substrate defines a cavity of the vibration space, and the resonator includes a vibrating portion positioned inside the vibration space, a holding portion around the vibrating portion in the plan view of the first substrate, and a holding arm connecting the holding portion and the vibrating portion to each other.
Re Claim 13, as applied to claim 12 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the silicon film is on an entire surface of the vibrating portion on a side thereof facing the first silicon substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 14, as applied to claim 12 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including forming a silicon oxide film on a surface of the vibrating portion on a side thereof facing the first silicon substrate.
Re Claim 15, as applied to claim 14 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the vibrating portion includes a base portion connected to the holding arm, and a plurality of vibrating arms connected to the base portion, and the silicon oxide film is formed so as to not overlap a tip region in the plurality of vibrating arms, the tip region being opposite to the base portion in the plan view of the first substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 16, as applied to claim 10 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the second substrate includes a second silicon substrate, and the method further comprises forming a silicon nitride film on at least one surface of a surface facing the resonator and a surface opposite to the surface facing the resonator in the second silicon substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 17, as applied to claim 10 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are bonded to each other using a bonding portion that includes a silicon oxide film on a side of the first substrate, and a metal film which covers a side wall of the silicon oxide film (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 18, as applied to claim 10 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are bonded to each other using a bonding portion that includes a silicon nitride film on a side of the first substrate, and a metal film between the silicon nitride film and the second substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Re Claim 19, as applied to claim 12 above, Kawai et al. disclose all the claimed limitations including further comprising forming a silicon oxide film on a bottom surface of the cavity of the first silicon substrate (see Figs. 1, 2 and 4 and related text in Paragraphs [0029] – [0056]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure MORINGA (US 2019/0089321), Yoshii et al. (US 2019/0097600), Kawai et al. (US 2020/0112295), Inoue et al. (US 2020/0136587), Inoue et al. (US 2020/0212877) and Dehara et al. (US 2021/0152148) also disclose similar inventive subject matter that a resonance device comprise first substrate, resonator and second substrate and boding the first substrate the resonator and the third substrate together such a way to seal the vibration space of the resonator. The prior art potentially can be used to rejected the instant application claimed invention.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BROOK KEBEDE whose telephone number is 571-272-1862. The examiner can normally be reached Monday Friday 8:00 AM 5:00 PM.
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/BROOK KEBEDE/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2894
/BK/
July 10, 2026
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