Patent Application 18371159 - RECONFIGURABLE ACOUSTIC WAVE RESONATORS AND - Rejection

Patent Application 18371159 - RECONFIGURABLE ACOUSTIC WAVE RESONATORS AND

Title: RECONFIGURABLE ACOUSTIC WAVE RESONATORS AND FILTERS

Application Information

• Invention Title: RECONFIGURABLE ACOUSTIC WAVE RESONATORS AND FILTERS
• Application Number: 18371159
• Submission Date: 2025-05-13T00:00:00.000Z
• Effective Filing Date: 2023-09-21T00:00:00.000Z
• Filing Date: 2023-09-21T00:00:00.000Z
• National Class: 333
• National Sub-Class: 189000
• Examiner Employee Number: 89705
• Art Unit: 2843
• Tech Center: 2800

Rejection Summary

• 102 Rejections: 2
• 103 Rejections: 0

Cited Patents

No patents were cited in this rejection.

Office Action Text

    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.
Drawings
Figures 1-3 should be designated by a legend such as --Prior Art-- because only that which is old is illustrated. See MPEP § 608.02(g). Corrected drawings in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The replacement sheet(s) should be labeled “Replacement Sheet” in the page header (as per 37 CFR 1.84(c)) so as not to obstruct any portion of the drawing figures. If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.

Claims 1-3, 5-9, and 12-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Miyake US Patent 8,869,363.
As per claims 1-3, 5-9, 12-15, Miyake discloses in Fig. 3f a reconfigurable bulk acoustic wave (BAW) device / reconfigurable transducer / reconfigurable filter (e.g. piezoelectric filter 1; The filter 1 is “reconfigurable” by virtue of a frequency therein being able to be adjusted (i.e. “reconfigured”) as stated in the Abstract. Further, BAW resonators therein are inherently transducers since they convert electrical to acoustic waves, as well-known in the art.), comprising:
as per claims 1 and 3, a first reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. upper thin film piezoelectric resonator 40); and a second reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. lower thin film piezoelectric resonator 20) stacked vertically over or under the first reconfigurable BAW resonator (The resonator 20 is stacked under the resonator 40.), wherein the first reconfigurable BAW resonator and the second reconfigurable BAW resonator each include: a first electrode (e.g. electrode layer 43 of resonator 40 and upper unlabeled electrode layer of resonator 20); a second electrode (e.g. electrode layer 41 of resonator 40 and lower unlabeled electrode layer of resonator 20); and a ferroelectric layer (i.e. lead zirconate titanate) (Col. 6 lines 56-60, layer 42 of resonator 40 and layer 22 (not labeled but stated) of resonator 20 which are made of lead zirconate titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the first electrode and the second electrode;
as per claim 2, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode each comprise aluminum (Col. 6 lines 59-62; The electrode layers each include Al.);
as per claim 5, a coupling layer (e.g. acoustic coupling layer 30) between the first reconfigurable BAW resonator and the second reconfigurable BAW resonator;
as per claim 6, wherein the coupling layer comprises silicon dioxide (Col. 6 lines 40-42; The layer 30 is made of SiO2 (silicon dioxide).);
as per claims 7 and 9, a first reconfigurable transducer (e.g. upper thin film piezoelectric resonator 40) stacked vertically over a second reconfigurable transducer (e.g. lower thin film piezoelectric resonator 20); an intermediate electrode (e.g. electrode layer 41) between the first reconfigurable transducer and the second reconfigurable transducer (The electrode layer 41 is disposed between resonator 20 and layers 42/43 of the resonator 40.), wherein: the first reconfigurable transducer comprises: a first electrode (e.g. electrode layer 43 of resonator 40); a first ferroelectric layer (i.e. lead zirconate titanate) (Col. 6 lines 56-60, layer 42 of resonator 40 which is made of lead zirconate titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the first electrode and the intermediate electrode (Layer 42 is disposed between layers 41 and 43.); and the second reconfigurable transducer comprises a second ferroelectric layer (Col. 6 lines 56-60, layer 22 (not labeled but stated) of resonator 20 which is made of lead zirconate titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the intermediate electrode and a second electrode (The layer 22 is disposed between the layer 41 and a bottom layer of resonator 20.): 
as per claim 8, wherein the first electrode, the intermediate electrode, and the second electrode each comprise aluminum (Col. 6 lines 59-62; The electrode layers each include Al.);
as per claim 12, a reflector (e.g. acoustic reflection layer 10 (unlabeled in Fig. 3f but see related Fig. 1a)) arranged over the first electrode of the first reconfigurable transducer or the second electrode of the second reconfigurable transducer (The layer 10 is disposed over a bottom surface of the bottom electrode of resonator 20.);
as per claim 14, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode each comprise aluminum (Col. 6 lines 59-62; The electrode layers each include Al.); and
as per claims 13 and 15, a first reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. upper thin film piezoelectric resonator 40); and a second reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. lower thin film piezoelectric resonator 20) stacked vertically over or under the first reconfigurable BAW resonator (The resonator 20 is stacked under the resonator 40.), and a coupling structure (Col. 6 lines 40-42, layer 30) comprising one or more coupling layers between the first reconfigurable BAW resonator and the second reconfigurable BAW resonator, wherein the first reconfigurable BAW resonator and the second reconfigurable BAW resonator each include: a first electrode (e.g. electrode layer 43 of resonator 40 and upper unlabeled electrode layer of resonator 20); a second electrode (e.g. electrode layer 41 of resonator 40 and lower unlabeled electrode layer of resonator 20); and a ferroelectric layer (i.e. lead zirconate titanate) (Col. 6 lines 56-60, layer 42 of resonator 40 and layer 22 (not labeled but stated) of resonator 20 which are made of lead zirconate titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the first electrode and the second electrode; and a reflector (e.g. acoustic reflection layer 10 (unlabeled in Fig. 3f but see related Fig. 1a)) between the second reconfigurable BAW resonator and a substrate (e.g. substrate 7 (unlabeled in Fig. 3f but see related Fig. 1a)).
Claims 1, 3-4, 7, 9-11, 13, and 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Volatier et al. US Patent 7,586,391.
As per claims 1, 3-4, 7, 9-11, 13, 15-17, Volatier et al. discloses in Fig. 9 a reconfigurable bulk acoustic wave (BAW) device / reconfigurable transducer / reconfigurable filter (e.g. switchable resonator filter 500; The filter 500 is “reconfigurable” by virtue of a frequency therein being able to be switchable (i.e. “reconfigurable”). Further, BAW resonators therein are inherently transducers since they convert electrical to acoustic waves, as well-known in the art.), comprising:
as per claims 1 and 3, a first reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. resonator 118b); and a second reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. resonator 108b) stacked vertically over or under the first reconfigurable BAW resonator (The resonator 108b is stacked under the resonator 118b.), wherein the first reconfigurable BAW resonator and the second reconfigurable BAW resonator each include: a first electrode (e.g. electrode 124b of resonator 118b and electrode 114b of resonator 108b); a second electrode (e.g. electrode 122b of resonator 118b and electrode 112b of resonator 108b); and a ferroelectric layer (i.e. barium titanate) (Col. 6 lines 6-10, layer 120b of resonator 118b and layer 110b of resonator 108b are made of barium titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the first electrode and the second electrode;
as per claim 4, a direct current power supply (e.g. DC control voltage DC2) operably connected to at least one of the first reconfigurable BAW resonator or the second reconfigurable BAW resonator (DC control voltage DC2 is connected to the resonators 118b and 108b.);
as per claims 7 and 9, a first reconfigurable transducer (e.g. resonator 118b) stacked vertically over a second reconfigurable transducer (e.g. resonator 108b); an intermediate electrode (e.g. electrode 114b) between the first reconfigurable transducer and the second reconfigurable transducer (The electrode 114b is disposed between resonator 118b and layers 110b/112b of the resonator 108b.), wherein: the first reconfigurable transducer comprises: a first electrode (e.g. electrode 124b); a first ferroelectric layer (i.e. barium titanate) (Col. 6 lines 6-10, layer 120b which is made of barium titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the first electrode and the intermediate electrode (Layer 120b is disposed between layers 124b and 114b.); and the second reconfigurable transducer comprises a second ferroelectric layer (Col. 6 lines 6-10, layer 110b which is made of barium titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the intermediate electrode and a second electrode (The layer 110b is disposed between the electrode 114b and a “second electrode” 112b.);
as per claim 10, a direct current power supply (e.g. DC control voltage DC2) operably connected to the first electrode and the intermediate electrode (The voltage DC2 is electrically connected to the electrodes 124b and 114b.);
as per claim 11, a direct current power supply (e.g. DC control voltage DC2) operably connected to the intermediate electrode and the second electrode (The voltage DC2 is electrically connected to the electrodes 114b and 112b.);
as per claims 13 and 15, a first reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. resonator 118b); and a second reconfigurable BAW resonator (e.g. resonator 108b) stacked vertically over or under the first reconfigurable BAW resonator (The resonator 108b is stacked under the resonator 118b.), and a coupling structure (e.g. acoustic coupling layers 116) comprising one or more coupling layers between the first reconfigurable BAW resonator and the second reconfigurable BAW resonator, wherein the first reconfigurable BAW resonator and the second reconfigurable BAW resonator each include: a first electrode (e.g. electrode 124b of resonator 118b and electrode 114b of resonator 108b); a second electrode (e.g. electrode 122b of resonator 118b and electrode 112b of resonator 108b); and a ferroelectric layer (i.e. barium titanate) (Col. 6 lines 6-10, layer 120b of resonator 118b and layer 110b of resonator 108b are made of barium titanate which is a ferroelectric, as well-known in the art) between the first electrode and the second electrode; and a reflector (e.g. Bragg mirror 136) between the second reconfigurable BAW resonator and a substrate (e.g. substrate 102);
as per claim 16, a direct current power supply (e.g. DC voltage DC2) operably connected to the first electrode and the second electrode of the first reconfigurable BAW resonator (DC voltage DC2 is connected to electrodes 124b and 122b of resonator 118b.); and
as per claim 17, a direct current power supply operably connected to the first electrode and the second electrode of the second reconfigurable BAW resonator (DC voltage DC2 is connected to electrodes 114b and 112b of resonator 108b.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-20 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