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 Objections
Claim 89 is objected to under 37 CFR 1.75 as being a substantial duplicate of claim 85. 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 (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 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) 74-95 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Rivas et al. (U.S. Publication No. 2020/0353463 A1; hereinafter Rivas) With respect to claim 74, Rivas discloses a protected structure for generating an electrode structure comprising a uniformly smooth surface, the protected structure comprising: a substrate [102]; one or more electrodes [106] disposed on at least a portion of the substrate (see ¶[0100]); and a sacrificial cap [110] disposed on each of the one or more electrodes (see ¶[0100]; Figure 1C)).
With respect to claim 75, Rivas discloses wherein the sacrificial cap comprises a c-bridge (See ¶[0100]).
With respect to claim 76, Rivas discloses wherein the c-bridge connects the one or more electrodes to acoustic energy management layers [116] embedded within the substrate (see ¶[0101] and ¶[0106]).
With respect to claim 77, Rivas discloses wherein the sacrificial cap comprises: a bottom aluminum nitride layer disposed directly on the electrode; a tungsten layer disposed over the bottom aluminum nitride layer; and a top aluminum nitride layer disposed over the tungsten layer (See ¶[0106]).
With respect to claim 78, Rivas discloses wherein the one or more electrodes comprise a tungsten layer disposed over a layer comprising a metal, a metal alloy, or any combination thereof (See ¶[0099]).
With respect to claim 79, Rivas discloses wherein the metal is selected from the group consisting of: Tungsten (W), Aluminum (Al), Copper (Cu), Titanium (Ti), Molybdenum (Mo), Platinum (Pt), Ruthenium (Ru), Iridium (Ir), and any combination thereof (See ¶[0099]).
With respect to claim 80, Rivas discloses wherein the metal alloy comprises an aluminum-copper (AlCu) alloy or a Titanium-Tungsten (TiW) alloy (See ¶[0099]).
With respect to claim 81, Rivas discloses wherein the substrate comprises a planarization film [204] (See Figure 3).
With respect to claim 82, Rivas discloses wherein the planarization film comprises silicon dioxide, TEOS, or any combination thereof (see Figure 3 and ¶[0126]).
With respect to claim 83, Rivas discloses wherein a plurality of acoustic energy management layers are embedded within the substrate (See Figure 11 and ¶[0134]).
With respect to claim 84, Rivas discloses wherein the plurality of acoustic energy management layers comprises a plurality of acoustic reflector layers (See ¶[0104]).
With respect to claim 85, Rivas discloses an electrode structure comprising a uniformly smooth surface, the electrode structure comprising: a substrate [102]; a planarization film [204] disposed on the substrate (See Figure 1C and Figure 3), the planarization film comprising an upper surface; and one or more electrodes [106] disposed on the substrate, wherein a sacrificial cap [110] on each of the one or more electrodes preserved the uniformity of the surface of the electrode structure during a first planarization procedure, and wherein the one or more electrodes and the upper surface of the planarization film were smoothed by a second planarization procedure (See ¶[0132-0133]).
With respect to claim 86, Rivas discloses wherein the sacrificial cap comprises a c-bridge (See ¶[0100]).
With respect to claim 87, Rivas discloses at least a portion of the c-bridge (See ¶[0100]).
With respect to claim 88, Rivas discloses wherein the one or more electrodes comprise a tungsten layer disposed over a layer comprising a metal, a metal alloy, or any combination thereof (See ¶[0099]).
With respect to claim 89, Rivas discloses wherein the substrate comprises a planarization film [204] (See Figure 3).
With respect to claim 90, Rivas discloses wherein the planarization film comprises silicon dioxide, TEOS, or any combination thereof (see Figure 3 and ¶[0126]).
With respect to claim 91, Rivas discloses wherein a plurality of acoustic energy management layers are embedded within the substrate (See Figure 11 and ¶[0134]).
With respect to claim 92, Rivas discloses wherein the plurality of acoustic energy management layers comprises a plurality of acoustic reflector layers (See ¶[0104]).
With respect to claim 93, Rivas discloses a piezoelectric structure with increased surface uniformity, the piezoelectric structure comprising: an electrode structure comprising a uniformly smooth surface (See Figure 1C and 6), the electrode structure comprising: a substrate [200]; a planarization film [204] disposed on the substrate, the planarization film comprising an upper surface; and one or more electrodes [210] disposed on the substrate, wherein a sacrificial cap [212] on each of the one or more electrodes preserved the uniformity of the surface of the electrode structure during a first planarization procedure, and wherein the one or more electrodes and the upper surface of the planarization film were smoothed by a second planarization procedure (See ¶[0132-0133]); and a piezoelectric material layer [214] disposed on a top surface of the one or more electrodes, the piezoelectric material layer comprising a c-axis having an orientation substantially perpendicular to a top surface of each of the one or more electrodes (see ¶[0100]; Figure 7).
With respect to claim 94, Rivas discloses wherein the piezoelectric material layer comprises a seed layer and a bulk material layer (See ¶[0130]).
With respect to claim 95, Rivas discloses w herein the piezoelectric material layer comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: AlN, ScAlN, ZnO, PZT, and any combination thereof (See ¶[0130]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN HAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7546. The examiner can normally be reached 9.00-5.00PM PST.
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/JONATHAN HAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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