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 § 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) 1-2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP 2022025051 A (NEC Corp).
Regarding claim 1: NEC Corp teaches a bolometer comprising: a base material that has a stacking surface (base substrate 101); two electrodes each of which has a main surface and a side surface extending from the main surface to the stacking surface (electrodes 103); and a film that contains carbon nanotubes (bolometer film 104 contains carbon nanotubes (Abstract)), wherein the film includes: a first portion that is stacked on the main surface (unlabeled but seen in at least Fig. 1b, Fig. 2); a second portion that is stacked on the stacking surface between the two electrodes (unlabeled but seen in at least Fig. 1b, Fig. 2); and a connection portion that connects the first portion and the second portion and is provided on the side surface (Fig. 1b, Fig. 2), and wherein an average film thickness of the second portion is less than 10 nm (“The bolometer film is a carbon nanotube film containing 67 mass% or more of semiconductor carbon nanotubes with respect to a total amount of carbon nanotubes and having a thickness in a range of 10 nm to 1 μm”, Abstract).
Regarding claim 2: NEC Corp teaches the bolometer according to claim 1 (see above), wherein the second portion includes a first orientation layer in which the carbon nanotubes are oriented (“Carbon nanotubes, preferably single-walled carbon nanotubes, are dispersed with a nonionic surfactant, the dispersion is placed in a vertical separator, and a voltage is applied to the electrodes arranged above and below to perform carrier-free electrophoresis.”, which is interpreted as providing an orientation to this layer of carbon nanotubes).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4 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:
NEC Corp teaches the bolometer according to claim 2, but is silent regarding an additional layer between the stacking surface and the first orientation layer, and wherein the carbon nanotubes are oriented in random directions (as in claim 3), and is also silent regarding a second orientation layer and a difference in densities between the two layers.
Therefore, the subject matter of claims 3 and 4 is novel over NEC Corp.
The Examiner has identified US 20130002394 A1 and US 7723684 B1 as the next closest teachings to the subject matter of the claimed invention. Yet both references are also silent regarding the limitations untaught by NEC Corp.
Therefore, even in any combination of these references, these limitations would remain novel and non-obvious over the prior art.
Therefore, the subject matter of claims 3 and 4 would be allowable.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
JP 2020532713 A teaches a bolometer containing a substrate, a support structure containing at least one SiGe layer and at least one Si layer, an absorber containing reduced graphene oxide, and a thermistor containing partially reduced graphene oxide.
WO 2018046441 A1 teaches a sensor that comprises a reference bolometer and a plurality of sensing bolometers.
JP 6084018 B2 teaches bolometer detectors having antennas, and more particularly to detectors having crossed bowtie antennas for the purpose of detecting electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz region.
JP 2011054974 A teaches a resistive material for a bolometer, a bolometer for an infrared detector using the resistive material, and a method of manufacturing the bolometer.
DE 102004058393 A1 teaches an infrared sensor has a silicon semiconductor substrate, to support a membrane as a thin section, together with an insulating film of silicon oxide or silicon nitride on it.
JP 2003121255 A teaches a bolometer type infrared detector capable of restraining a temperature drift caused by self-heating, and free from characteristic deterioration by a noise.
JP H10274561 A teaches a detecting element high in manufacturing yield and productivity, small in thermal time constant and reduced in afterimage by forming thermally separated structure with an upper layer part and a lower layer part spatially separated by vacuum or filler gas, and electrically connecting both layer parts by an electrode film on an insulating protective film or in the insulating protective film.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JULIA FITZPATRICK whose telephone number is (703)756-5783. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 8am-4pm.
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/JULIA FITZPATRICK/ Examiner, Art Unit 2855
/LAURA MARTIN SWEENEY/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
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