DETAILED ACTION
Notice to Applicant
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the first direction" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-4, 9, and 11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al. US 2023/0231533 in view of Wang US 2013/0321100, as cited by the Applicant, and Nakagawa US 2013/0286610.
As per claims 1-4, 9, and 11, Zhang et al. discloses in Figs. 1, 6, and 7 an acoustic resonator (e.g. bulk acoustic wave resonator) comprising:
as per claim 1, a substrate (e.g. supporting plate 1); a piezoelectric layer (e.g. piezoelectric base 2); and an IDT (e.g. transducers 4 and 5) at a surface of the piezoelectric layer, the IDT including a plurality of interleaved fingers (e.g. interdigital electrodes 9) extending from a first busbar (e.g. top bus bar 6) and a second busbar (e.g. bottom bus bar 6), wherein at least one region (Annotated Fig. 6 below, region annotated as A) extends into at least a portion of the piezoelectric layer (Figs. 6-7; Through holes 10 disposed within the region extend through an entirety of the piezoelectric base 2 as shown.), the at least one region including an area between the first busbar and a tip of at least one finger of the plurality of interleaved fingers extending from the second busbar (Annotated Fig. 6 below; The region annotated as A includes an area between the top bus bar 6 and a tip of electrodes 9 which extend from the bottom bus bar 6.);
as per claim 2, wherein two adjacent fingers of the plurality of interleaved fingers (Annotated Fig. 6 below, two adjacent electrodes 9 annotated as B which extend from the top bus bar 6) extend from a first direction (e.g. top to bottom vertical direction) and the at least one region is located between the two adjacent fingers relative to a direction that is substantially perpendicular to a direction in which the fingers extend (Annotated Fig. 6 below; At least a portion of the region annotated as A (a corresponding through hole 10 therein) is disposed between the electrodes annotated as B relative to a horizontal direction that is perpendicular to the vertical direction.);
as per claim 3, wherein the at least one region comprises a plurality of first regions (e.g. plurality of through holes 10), each of the plurality of regions being located (i) between a different set of adjacent fingers extending from the first busbar (Annotated Fig. 6 below; Each of the through holes 10 within the portion annotated as A is located between a different set of adjacent electrodes extending from the top bus bar 6.), and (ii) between the first busbar and a tip of a corresponding finger of the plurality of interleaved fingers extending from the second busbar (Each of the through holes 10 within the portion annotated as A is located between the top bus bar 6 and a tip of a corresponding electrode 9 extending from bottom bus bar 6.);
as per claim 4, further comprising a plurality of second regions (Annotated Fig. 6 below, through holes 10 within the portion annotated as C) extending in at least a portion of the piezoelectric layer (Figs. 6-7; Through holes 10 disposed within the region extend through an entirety of the piezoelectric base 2 as shown.), each of the plurality of second regions being located (i) between the second busbar and a tip of a corresponding finger of the plurality of interleaved fingers extending from the first busbar (Annotated Fig. 6 below; Each of the through holes 10 within the portion annotated as C is located between the bottom bus bar 6 and a tip of a corresponding electrode 9 extending from the top bus bar 6.), and (ii) between a different set of adjacent fingers extending from the second busbar (Annotated Fig. 6 below; Each of the through holes 10 within the portion annotated as C is located between a different set of adjacent electrodes extending from the bottom bus bar 6.);
as per claim 9, wherein the at least one region is directly adjacent to the first busbar, such that the first busbar defines a sidewall of the at least one region (Annotated Fig. 6 below; The region annotated as A is directly adjacent the top bus bar 6, such that the top bus bar 6 necessarily acts as a top “sidewall” of the region annotated as A.); and
as per claim 11, wherein the at least one region extends fully through the piezoelectric layer (Figs. 6-7; Through holes 10 disposed within the region extend through an entirety of the piezoelectric base 2 as shown.).
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However, Zhang et al. does not disclose a Bragg reflector layer disposed between the substrate and the piezoelectric layer; a surface of the piezoelectric layer facing the Bragg reflector layer; and the at least one region and the plurality of second regions being etched regions.
Zhang et al. further discloses in Fig. 1 a cavity 3 disposed within the substrate 1 and further discloses in Paragraph 58 that through holes 10 are formed by a punching process. Wang exemplarily discloses in Fig. 1 an acoustic circuit 100 comprising a cavity 310, where the cavity can be replaced with a Bragg reflector (Paragraph 65 of Wang). Nakagawa exemplarily discloses in Fig. 2 a circuit 100 comprising through-holes 213 and 215, where the through-holes are formed by known processes in the art, such as for example punching and etching (Paragraph 61 of Nakagawa). Before the effective filing date, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have replaced the generic cavity of Zhang et al. with a specific Bragg reflector as exemplarily taught by Wang as being an obvious art substitution of equivalence. It would have been further obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have alternatively formed the through-holes of the combination circuit via any known process other than punching, such as for example etching, as being an obvious design consideration of yielding expected results based on the exemplary teachings of Nakagawa.
As an obvious consequence of the modifications, the combination would have necessarily included: a Bragg reflector layer disposed between the substrate and the piezoelectric layer; a surface of the piezoelectric facing the Bragg reflector layer (Fig. 1 of Zhang et al.; In the combination circuit, a bottom surface of the piezoelectric base 2 faces the Bragg reflector.); and the at least one region and the plurality of second regions being etched regions.
Claims 14-16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wang et al. US 2022/0294423, Zhang et al. US 2023/0231533, Wang US 2013/0321100, as cited by the Applicant, and Nakagawa US 2013/0286610, all taken in combination.
As per claims 14-16 and 19-20, Wang et al. discloses in Fig. 20 a radio frequency module (e.g. module 170), comprising: a filter device (Paragraph 118, acoustic wave device 172 which is a filter) including a plurality of bulk acoustic resonators (Paragraph 119, plurality of BAW resonators); and a radio frequency circuit (e.g. other circuitry 173) coupled to the filter device, the filter device and the radio frequency circuit being enclosed within a common package (e.g. package substrate 176).
However, Wang et al. does not disclose each of the plurality of bulk acoustic resonators including the limitations recited therein.
The combination of Zhang et al. in view of Wang and Nakagawa discloses a bulk acoustic resonator comprising all of the limitations recited within claims 14-16 and 19-20 including a portion of the piezoelectric layer is removed (See above description pertaining to claims 1, 3, 4, and 11 which are the same as the limitations recited in claims 14-16 and 19-20, and thus are not repeated for the sake of brevity.).
Before the effective filing date, it would have been further obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have replaced each of the generic BAW resonators of Wang et al. with the specific BAW resonator of the combination circuit as being obvious art substitutions of equivalents. As an obvious consequence of the modification, the combination would have necessarily included each of the plurality of bulk acoustic resonators including the limitations recited therein.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8, 10, 12-13, and 17-18 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
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/RAKESH B PATEL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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