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 Interpretation
Note that the rejections below groups the apparatus claim with corresponding method claims, since the method claims are generic forming steps in which the apparatus structure would anticipate such steps.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5 and 11-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Guyette et al. (US2021/0399717 A1).
First Interpretation:
In regards to claim 1, Guyette et al. teaches in Fig. 10 a radio frequency ladder filter comprising:
A plurality of series transversely-excited film bulk acoustic wave resonators (XBAR S1-S5); and
A plurality of shunt transversely-excited film bulk acoustic wave resonators (XBAR P1-P4), at least one of the plurality of shunt bulk acoustic wave resonators (any one of XBAR P1-P4) exhibiting a different electromechanical coupling coefficient than at least one of the plurality of series bulk acoustic wave resonators (any one of XBAR S2-S4)(XBAR P1-P4 are “high coupling” XBARs while S2-S4 are “low coupling” XBARs), at least one of the bulk acoustic wave resonators (any one of XBAR P1-P4) exhibiting a higher electromechanical coupling coefficient than another one (anyone of XBAR S2-S4) of the bulk acoustic wave resonators having a thicker piezoelectric material layer stack than the another one of the bulk acoustic wave resonators (based on paragraphs [0040] and [0043], a XBAR resonant frequency is determined based on a thickness of the XBAR piezoelectric layer, the ladder filter shown in Fig. 10 forms a bandpass filter in which the series resonators will necessarily have a frequency higher than the shunt resonators, therefore a piezoelectric thickness of all the series resonators will be larger/thicker than a piezoelectric thickness of the parallel resonators).
In regards to claim 2, based on Fig. 10, each of the plurality of shunt bulk acoustic wave resonators (XBARs P1-P4) exhibits substantially the same electromechanical coupling coefficient (i.e. all of XBAR P1-P4 are “high coupling” XBARs)
In regards to claim 3, based on Fig. 10, different ones (S1/S5 and S2/S3/S4) of the plurality of series bulk acoustic wave resonators exhibit different electromechanical coupling coefficients (S1/S5 are “high coupling” XBARs while S2/S3/S4 are “low coupling” XBARs).
In regards to claims 11 and 12, based on paragraphs [0003] and [0030], the ladder filter is used in a duplexer (type of radio frequency module) which is included in a communication device (i.e. type of radio frequency device).
Second Interpretation:
In regards to claim 1, Guyette et al. teaches in Fig. 12 a radio frequency ladder filter comprising:
A plurality of series transversely-excited film bulk acoustic wave resonators (XBAR S1-S5); and
A plurality of shunt transversely-excited film bulk acoustic wave resonators (XBAR P1-P4), at least one of the plurality of shunt bulk acoustic wave resonators (any one of XBAR P1 or P4) exhibiting a different electromechanical coupling coefficient than at least one of the plurality of series bulk acoustic wave resonators (any one of XBAR S2-S4)(XBAR P1 and P4 are “high coupling” XBARs while S2-S4 are “low coupling” XBARs), at least one of the bulk acoustic wave resonators (XBAR P1 or P4) exhibiting a higher electromechanical coupling coefficient than another one (anyone of XBAR S2-S4) of the bulk acoustic wave resonators having a thicker piezoelectric material layer stack than the another one of the bulk acoustic wave resonators (based on paragraphs [0040] and [0043], a XBAR resonant frequency is determined based on a thickness of the XBAR piezoelectric layer, the ladder filter shown in Fig. 12 forms a bandpass filter in which the series resonators will necessarily have a frequency higher than the shunt resonators, therefore a piezoelectric thickness of all the series resonators will be larger/thicker than a piezoelectric thickness of the parallel resonators).
In regards to claim 4, based on Fig. 12, different ones of the plurality of shunt bulk acoustic wave resonators exhibit different electromechanical coupling coefficients (XBARs P1/P4 are “high coupling” XBARs while P2/P3 are “low coupling” XBARs).
In regards to claim 5, based on Fig. 12, different ones (S1/S5 and S2/S3/S4) of the plurality of series bulk acoustic wave resonators exhibit different electromechanical coupling coefficients (S1/S5 are “high coupling” XBARs while S2/S3/S4 are “low coupling” XBARs).
In regards to claims 11 and 12, based on paragraphs [0003] and [0030], the ladder filter is used in a duplexer (type of radio frequency module) which is included in a communication device (i.e. type of radio frequency device).
Third Interpretation:
In regards to claims 13 and 19, based on Figs. 12 and 15B a die (Fig. 15B: 1560) including a plurality of acoustic wave resonators (Fig. 12, S1-S5 and P1-P5), each of the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including a piezoelectric material film, the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators including a first subset (S1 and S5) with a first piezoelectric material film configuration causing the first subset to exhibit a relatively high kt2 (coupling coefficient) value (S1 and S5 are “high coupling” XBARs) and a second subset (XBARs P2 and P3) with a second piezoelectric material film configuration causing the second subset to exhibit a relatively lower kt2 value than the first subset (XBARs P2 and P3 are “low coupling” XBARs).
In regards to claims 14, 15 and 20, based on Fig. 12, the first piezoelectric material film (XBARs S1 and S5) configuration includes a single piezoelectric material film stack including a greater thickness then the second single piezoelectric material film (XBARs P2 and P3) configuration (based on paragraphs [0040] and [0043], a XBAR resonant frequency is determined based on a thickness of the XBAR piezoelectric layer, the ladder filter shown in Fig. 12 forms a bandpass filter in which the series resonators will necessarily have a frequency higher than the shunt resonators, therefore a piezoelectric thickness of all the series resonators will be larger/thicker than a piezoelectric thickness of the parallel resonators).
In regards to claim 16, based on paragraph [0030], the ladder bandpass filter of Fig. 12 is used in a duplexer, therefore the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators forms a first radio frequency filter and a second radio frequency filter, the first radio frequency filter and the second radio frequency filter having non-overlapping passbands (i.e. a duplexer will have non-overlapping passbands).
In regards to claim 17, based on Fig. 12, the first radio frequency filter and the second radio frequency filter are configured as ladder filters (i.e. each filter having the ladder filter of Fig. 12), each including series arm resonators and shunt arm resonators selected from among the plurality of bulk acoustic wave resonators.
In regards to claim 18, based on Fig. 12, wherein the series arm resonators of one of the first radio frequency filter or the second radio frequency filter exhibit different kt2 values then the shunt arm resonators of the one of the first radio frequency filter or the second radio frequency filter (each ladder filter has the filter configuration shown in Fig. 12, therefore the shunt arm resonators P2 and P3 will have a different kt2 value than series resonators S1 and S5).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-10 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
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Pollard (US2022/0045664 A1) teaches in Fig. 4 a ladder filter comprising a plurality of series bulk acoustic wave resonators (404 and 422) and a plurality of shunt bulk acoustic wave resonators (402 and 420), wherein the shunt bulk acoustic wave resonators have a higher electromechanical coupling coefficient than the series bulk acoustic wave resonators, since the shunt resonators have a thicker piezoelectric layer than the series resonators.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JORGE L SALAZAR JR whose telephone number is (571)-272-9326. The examiner can normally be reached between 9am - 6pm Monday-Friday.
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/JORGE L SALAZAR JR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2843
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