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 .
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed February 23, 2026 has been entered. Claims 1-10 and 21-30 remain pending in the application. Applicant’s amendments to the Claims have overcome each and every 35 U.S.C. § 112 rejection previously set forth in the Non-Final Office Action mailed November 28, 2025.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed February 23, 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues, see pages 7-9, that the previously presented prior art references fail to disclose “a gate port of the one transistor is not biased by any voltage”. Examiner respectfully disagrees.
Previously presented prior art reference Li et al. (Patent Publication Number CN 114,362,681 A), hereafter referred to as Li, does disclose “a gate port of the one transistor is not biased by any voltage”. See Li, Fig. 1, which discloses an amplifier formed by two cascode transistors, wherein transistor M1, coupled to the input terminal, does not have its gate port biased by any voltage. Therefore, Li does disclose the claimed feature, and therefore, applicant’s arguments are unconvincing and the rejections of claims 1-10 and 21-30 are maintained.
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.
Claims 1-10 are 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 1 recites the limitation "the one transistor of the first amplifier" in line 11. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim. Amending the limitation to “the one of the plurality of transistors of the first amplifier” is sufficient to overcome this rejection, which is how the limitation will be treated for examination purposes. Claims 2-10 are likewise rejected under this logic by virtue of their dependency on claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-8 and 21-26 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang et al. (Patent Publication Number US 2022/0021354 A1), hereafter referred to as Jiang, in view of Li and Petrovic (Patent Number CN 1,354,905 A), hereafter referred to as Petrovic.
Regarding claim 1, Jiang discloses:
A millimeter-wave amplifier circuit comprising (Jiang, Fig. 6, 600, see also Paragraph 73, lines 1-6): a first amplifier (Fig. 6, 204) including a plurality of transistors (Fig. 6, M1 and M2), a first inductor (Fig. 6, L1) coupled to an output of the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between L1 and 204); a second amplifier (Fig. 6, 208) coupled to the output of the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between 208 and 204); and a second inductor (Fig. 6, L2) coupled to an output of the second amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between L2 and 208), wherein the gate port of the one transistor of the first amplifier is configured to receive a single input radio frequency (RF) signal (Fig. 6, see connection between gate of M1 and RFIN) through an input matching network (Fig. 6, see connection between gate of M1 and RFIN via input matching network 202) and the drain port of the second amplifier is configured to provide a single output RF signal (Fig. 6, see connection between drain of M4 and RFOUT), and wherein the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor (Fig. 6, see coupling K between L1 and L2) but fails to disclose wherein a gate port of one of the plurality of transistors is not biased by any voltage; wherein a source port of the second amplifier is directly connected to ground, wherein a drain port of the first amplifier and a drain port of the second amplifier are directly connected to a common voltage supply line through the first inductor and the second inductor, respectively, [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at the output of the first amplifier.
However, Li teaches wherein a gate port of one of the plurality of transistors is not biased by any voltage (Li, Fig. 1, consider lack of bias voltage at gate of transistor M1); wherein a source port of the second amplifier is directly connected to ground (Fig. 2, see connection between source of M2 and ground), wherein a drain port of the first amplifier and a drain port of the second amplifier are directly connected to a common voltage supply line through the first inductor and the second inductor, respectively (Fig. 2, see connection between drain of M1 [first amplifier] and Vdd via L1 [first inductor] and between drain of M2 [second amplifier] and Vdd via L3 [second inductor]), but fails to teach [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at the output of the first amplifier.
However, Petrovic teaches [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] (Petrovic, Fig. 31, see 74 and 72) to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at the output of the first amplifier (Page 14, Paragraph 5, lines 4-8 and 12-14).
Jiang, Li, and Petrovic are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Li and Petrovic to not include a bias voltage at the gate of the input transistor of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing stable impedance matching for the circuit of Jiang (Li, Page 4, Paragraph 8, lines 1-5), to couple the source of the second amplifier directly to ground and provide a common voltage supply line for the transistors of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing an amplifier structure with low noise and high linearity (Li, Page 2, Section “Solution”, Paragraph 1, lines 1-8), and to modify the feedback inductors of Jiang to feed back an in-phase signal, which would have the effect of reducing the impact of noise (Petrovic, Page 14, Paragraph 6, lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 2, Jiang further discloses:
further comprising a frequency of operation between 10 Gigahertz (GHz) and 100 GHz (Jiang, Fig. 6, see RFin and Paragraph 73, lines 1-3 “a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to about 300 GHz”).
Regarding claim 3, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first inductor and the second inductor have a coupling factor in a range from 0.01 to 0.05 (Jiang, see claim 3, “the mutual coupling factor K is equal to or greater than about -0.3 and less than or equal to about + 0.3” and see also Paragraph 54, lines 13-18, which suggests that a smaller coupling value [i.e. closer to 0] better controls noise degradation).
Regarding claim 4, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first inductor is part of a matching network (Jiang, Fig. 6, 206) that transforms a first impedance of the output of the first amplifier to a second impedance of an input of the second amplifier (Paragraph 40, lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 5, Jiang further discloses:
further comprising a matching network (Jiang, Fig. 6, 202) coupled to an input of the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between 202 and 204).
Regarding claim 6, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first amplifier comprises a first transistor (Jiang, Fig. 6, M1) and the second amplifier comprises a second transistor (Fig. 6, M3).
Regarding claim 7, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first amplifier further comprises a third inductor (Jiang, Fig. 6, L1’) coupled to a source of the first transistor (Fig. 6, see connection between L1’ and source of M1).
Regarding claim 8, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first amplifier comprises a third transistor (Jiang, Fig. 6, M2) coupled to an output of the first transistor (Fig. 6, see connection between M2 and M1) and the second amplifier comprises a fourth transistor (Fig. 6, M4) coupled to an output of the second transistor (Fig. 6, see connection between M4 and M3).
Regarding claim 21, Jiang discloses:
A circuit (Jiang, Fig. 6, 600) comprising: a first amplifier (Fig. 6, 204) comprising a first transistor (Fig. 6, M1) and a second transistor (Fig. 6, M2); a first inductor (Fig. 6, L1) coupled to the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between L1 and 204); a second amplifier (Fig. 6, 208) coupled to the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between 208 and 204) and comprising a third transistor (Fig. 6, M3) and a fourth transistor (Fig. 6, M4); and a second inductor (Fig. 6, L2) coupled to the second amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between L2 and 208), wherein a gate port of the first transistor of the first amplifier is configured to receive a single input radio frequency (RF) signal (Fig. 6, see connection between gate of M1 and RFIN) through an input matching network (Fig. 6, see connection between gate of M1 and RFIN via input matching network 202) and the drain port of the fourth transistor of the second amplifier is configured to provide a single output RF signal (Fig. 6, see connection between drain of M4 and RFOUT), wherein the second inductor is configured to electro-magnetically couple to the first inductor (Fig. 6, see coupling K between L1 and L2), but fails to disclose wherein a source port of the third transistor of the second amplifier is directly connected to ground, wherein a drain port of the second transistor of the first amplifier and a drain port of the fourth transistor of the second amplifier are directly connected to a common voltage supply line through the first inductor and the second inductor, respectively, and [the gate port of the first transistor of the first amplifier] not biased by any voltage, [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] so as to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at an output of the first amplifier.
However Li teaches wherein a source port of the third transistor of the second amplifier is directly connected to ground (Li, Fig. 2, see connection between source of M2 and ground), wherein a drain port of the second transistor of the first amplifier and a drain port of the fourth transistor of the second amplifier are directly connected to a common voltage supply line through the first inductor and the second inductor, respectively (Fig. 2, see connection between drain of M1 [first amplifier] and Vdd via L1 [first inductor] and between drain of M2 [second amplifier] and Vdd via L3 [second inductor]), and [the gate port of the first transistor of the first amplifier] not biased by any voltage (Fig. 1, consider lack of bias voltage at gate of transistor M1), but fails to teach [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] so as to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at an output of the first amplifier.
However, Petrovic teaches [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] (Petrovic, Fig. 31, see 74 and 72) so as to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at an output of the first amplifier (Page 14, Paragraph 5, lines 4-8 and 12-14).
Jiang, Li, and Petrovic are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Li and Petrovic to not include a bias voltage at the gate of the input transistor of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing stable impedance matching for the circuit of Jiang (Li, Page 4, Paragraph 8, lines 1-5), to couple the source of the second amplifier directly to ground and provide a common voltage supply line for the transistors of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing an amplifier structure with low noise and high linearity (Li, Page 2, Section “Solution”, Paragraph 1, lines 1-8), and to modify the feedback inductors of Jiang to feed back an in-phase signal, which would have the effect of reducing the impact of noise (Petrovic, Page 14, Paragraph 6, lines 1-3).
Regarding claim 22, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the circuit is configured to operate with a frequency between 10 Gigahertz (GHz) and 100 GHz (Jiang, Fig. 6, see RFin and Paragraph 73, lines 1-3 “a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to about 300 GHz”).
Regarding claim 23, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first inductor and the second inductor have a coupling factor in a range from 0.01 to 0.05 (Jiang, see claim 3, “the mutual coupling factor K is equal to or greater than about -0.3 and less than or equal to about + 0.3” and see also Paragraph 54, lines 13-18, which suggests that a smaller coupling value [i.e. closer to 0] better controls noise degradation).
Regarding claim 24, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first inductor is part of a matching network (Jiang, Fig. 6, 206) that transforms a first impedance of the output of the first amplifier to a second impedance of an input of the second amplifier (Paragraph 40, lines 1-5).
Regarding claim 25, Jiang further discloses:
further comprising a matching network (Jiang, Fig. 6, 202) coupled to an input of the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between 202 and 204).
Regarding claim 26, Jiang further discloses:
wherein the first amplifier further comprises a third inductor (Jiang, Fig. 6, L1’) coupled between a source of the first transistor and ground (Fig. 6, see connection between L1’, source of M1, and ground).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Li and Petrovic as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Donggu (Patent Publication Number KR 2022/0067137 A), hereafter referred to as Donggu.
Regarding claim 9, Jiang, Li, and Petrovic fail to disclose:
The circuit of claim 8, wherein the third transistor and the fourth transistor are deep n-well transistors.
However, Donggu teaches wherein the third transistor (Donggu, Figs. 5a-b, 520) and the fourth transistor (Figs. 5a-b, 520) are deep n-well transistors (Fig. 5b, see deep n-well 525 in transistor 520).
Jiang, Li, Petrovic, and Donggu are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Donggu to modify the cascode transistors of Jiang to be deep n-well transistors, which would have the effect of reducing manufacturing costs (Donggu, Page 5, Paragraph 2, lines 9-12).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Li and Petrovic as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Chen et al. (Patent Number CN 105,375,886 B), hereafter referred to as Chen.
Regarding claim 10, Jiang fails to disclose:
further comprising: a third amplifier coupled to the output of the second amplifier; and a third inductor coupled to an output of the third amplifier, wherein the third inductor electro-magnetically couples to the second inductor to send a third signal substantially in-phase with the first signal.
However, Chen teaches further comprising: a third amplifier (Chen, Fig. 2, MN3) coupled to the output of the second amplifier (Fig. 2, see connection between MN3 and MN2); and a third inductor (Fig. 2, see right inductor of XM3) coupled to an output of the third amplifier (Fig. 2, see connection between MN3 and right inductor of XM3), but fails to teach wherein the third inductor electro-magnetically couples to the second inductor to send a third signal substantially in-phase with the first signal.
However, Petrovic further teaches wherein the third inductor (Petrovic, Fig. 31, 74) electro-magnetically couples to the second inductor (Fig. 31, 72, see also connection to 74) to send a third signal substantially in-phase with the first signal (Page 14, Paragraph 5, lines 5-8 and 12-14).
Jiang, Li, Petrovic, and Chen are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Petrovic and Chen to modify the amplifier of Jiang to include a third amplifier stage, which would have the effect of providing for a higher gain (Chen, Page 5, Paragraph 2, lines 5-6) and to modify the third stage inductor of Chen to feed back an in-phase signal, which would have the effect of reducing the impact of noise (Petrovic, Page 14, Paragraph 6, lines 1-3).
Claims 27-28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Li and Petrovic as applied to claim 21 above, and further in view of Kim et al. (Patent Publication Number CN 104,702,223 A), hereafter referred to as Kim.
Regarding claim 27, Jiang, Li, and Petrovic fail to disclose:
wherein the first inductor includes a first spiral portion, and the second inductor includes a second spiral portion.
However, Kim teaches wherein the first inductor includes a first spiral portion (Kim, Fig. 8B, 862a), and the second inductor includes a second spiral portion (Fig. 8B, 842a).
Jiang, Li, Petrovic, and Kim are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Kim to make the inductors of Jiang spiral inductors, which would have the effect of enabling control over the electrical characteristics of the inductors of Jiang (Kim, Paragraphs 83-85).
Regarding claim 28, Jiang, Li, and Petrovic fail to disclose:
wherein a distance between an edge of the first spiral portion and an edge of the second spiral portion is in a range between 100 um and 200 um.
However, Kim further teaches wherein a distance between an edge of the first spiral portion and an edge of the second spiral portion is in a range between 100 um and 200 um (Kim, Paragraph 84, lines 1-5 [spacing between inductors 862a and 842a is 200 um]).
Jiang, Li, Petrovic, and Kim are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Kim to provide 200 um of distance between the inductors of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing appropriate isolation for the inductors of Jiang (Kim, Paragraph 84, lines 1-5).
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Chen, Li, and Petrovic.
Regarding claim 29, Jiang discloses:
A circuit (Jiang, Fig. 6, 600) comprising: a first amplifier (Fig. 6, 204) comprising a first transistor (Fig. 6, M1) and a second transistor (Fig. 6, M2); a first inductor (Fig. 6, L1) coupled to the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between L1 and 204); a second amplifier (Fig. 6, 208) coupled to the first amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between 208 and 204) and comprising a third transistor (Fig. 6, M3) and a fourth transistor (Fig. 6, M4); a second inductor (Fig. 6, L2) coupled to the second amplifier (Fig. 6, see connection between L2 and 208); wherein a gate port of the first transistor of the first amplifier is configured to receive a single input radio frequency (RF) signal (Fig. 6, see connection between gate of M1 and RFIN) through an input matching network (Fig. 6, see connection between gate of M1 and RFIN via input matching network 202) and the drain port of the third amplifier is configured to provide a single output RF signal (Fig. 6, see connection between drain of M4 and RFOUT), wherein the second inductor is configured to electro-magnetically couple to the first inductor (Fig. 6, see coupling K between L1 and L2), but fails to disclose a third amplifier coupled to the second amplifier; and a third inductor coupled to the third amplifier, wherein a source port of the third transistor of the second amplifier and a source port of the third amplifier are each directly connected to ground, wherein a drain port of the second transistor of the first amplifier, a drain port of the fourth transistor of the second amplifier, and a drain port of the third amplifier are directly connected to a common voltage supply line through the first inductor, the second inductor, and the third inductor, respectively, and [the gate port of the first transistor of the first amplifier] not biased by any voltage, [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] so as to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at an output of the first amplifier, and the third inductor is configured to electro-magnetically couple to the second inductor to send a third signal substantially in-phase with the first signal.
However, Chen teaches a third amplifier (Chen, Fig. 2, MN3) coupled to the second amplifier (Fig. 2, see connection between MN3 and MN2); and a third inductor (Fig. 2, see right inductor of XM3) coupled to the third amplifier (Fig. 2, see connection between MN3 and right inductor of XM3), but fails to teach wherein a source port of the third transistor of the second amplifier and a source port of the third amplifier are each directly connected to ground, wherein a drain port of the second transistor of the first amplifier, a drain port of the fourth transistor of the second amplifier, and a drain port of the third amplifier are directly connected to a common voltage supply line through the first inductor, the second inductor, and the third inductor, respectively, and [the gate port of the first transistor of the first amplifier] not biased by any voltage, [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] so as to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at an output of the first amplifier, and the third inductor is configured to electro-magnetically couple to the second inductor to send a third signal substantially in-phase with the first signal.
However, Li teaches wherein a source port of the third transistor of the second amplifier and a source port of the third amplifier are each directly connected to ground (Li, Fig. 2, see connection between source of M2 and ground, consider also an implementation including a third amplifier stage as suggested by Chen above, with a structure similar to the second amplifier stage of Li), wherein a drain port of the second transistor of the first amplifier, a drain port of the fourth transistor of the second amplifier, and a drain port of the third amplifier are directly connected to a common voltage supply line through the first inductor, the second inductor, and the third inductor, respectively (Fig. 2, see connection between drain of M1 [first amplifier] and Vdd via L1 [first inductor] and between drain of M2 [second amplifier] and Vdd via L3 [second inductor], consider also an implementation including a third amplifier stage as suggested by Chen above, with a structure similar to the second amplifier stage of Li), and [the gate port of the first transistor of the first amplifier] not biased by any voltage (Fig. 1, consider lack of bias voltage at gate of transistor M1), but fails to teach [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] so as to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at an output of the first amplifier, and the third inductor is configured to electro-magnetically couple to the second inductor to send a third signal substantially in-phase with the first signal.
However, Petrovic teaches [the second inductor electro-magnetically couples to the first inductor] (Petrovic, Fig. 31, see 74 and 72) so as to send a first signal substantially in-phase with a second signal generated at an output of the first amplifier (Page 14, Paragraph 5, liens 4-8 and 12-14), and the third inductor (Petrovic, Fig. 31, 74) is configured to electro-magnetically couple to the second inductor (Fig. 31, 72, see also connection to 74) to send a third signal substantially in-phase with the first signal (Page 14, Paragraph 5, lines 5-8 and 12-14).
Jiang, Chen, Li, and Petrovic are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Chen, Li, and Petrovic to modify the amplifier of Jiang to include a third amplifier stage, which would have the effect of providing for a higher gain (Chen, Page 5, Paragraph 2, lines 5-6), to not include a bias voltage at the gate of the input transistor of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing stable impedance matching for the circuit of Jiang (Li, Page 4, Paragraph 8, lines 1-5), to couple the source of the second amplifier directly to ground and provide a common voltage supply line for the transistors of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing an amplifier structure with low noise and high linearity (Li, Page 2, Section “Solution”, Paragraph 1, lines 1-8), and to modify the feedback inductors of Jiang and Chen to feed back an in-phase signal, which would have the effect of reducing the impact of noise (Petrovic, Page 14, Paragraph 6, lines 1-3).
Claim 30 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jiang in view of Chen, Li, and Petrovic as applied to claim 29 above, and further in view of Kim.
Regarding claim 30, Jiang, Chen, Li, and Petrovic fail to disclose:
wherein the first inductor includes a first spiral portion, the second inductor includes a second spiral portion, and the third inductor includes a third spiral portion, and wherein a first distance between an edge of the first spiral portion and an edge of the second spiral portion is in a range between 100 um and 200 um, and a second distance between an edge of the second spiral portion and an edge of the third spiral portion is in a range between 100 um and 200 um.
However, Kim teaches wherein the first inductor includes a first spiral portion (Kim, Fig. 8B, 862a), the second inductor includes a second spiral portion (Fig. 8B, 842a), and the third inductor includes a third spiral portion (Fig. 8B, 862a), and wherein a first distance between an edge of the first spiral portion and an edge of the second spiral portion is in a range between 100 um and 200 um (Paragraph 84, lines 1-5 [spacing between inductors 862a and 842a is 200 um]), and a second distance between an edge of the second spiral portion and an edge of the third spiral portion is in a range between 100 um and 200 um (Paragraph 84, lines 1-5 [spacing between inductors 862a and 842a is 200 um]).
Jiang, Chen, Li, Petrovic, and Kim are all considered to be analogous to the claimed invention because they are in the same field of improving amplifiers used in radio frequency communications. Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to have modified Jiang to incorporate the teachings of Kim to make the inductors of Jiang spiral inductors, which would have the effect of enabling control over the electrical characteristics of the inductors of Jiang (Kim, Paragraphs 83-85) to provide 200 um of distance between the inductors of Jiang, which would have the effect of providing appropriate isolation for the inductors of Jiang (Kim, Paragraph 84, lines 1-5).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Medra et al. (Patent Publication Number US 2022/0311391 A1) discloses (Figs. 2B-C) an amplifier with feedback spiral inductors.
Liang et al. (Patent Number US 10,277,170 B1) discloses (Paragraphs 10-13) an amplifier using operating frequencies between 28 and 59 GHz.
Fard et al. (Patent Publication Number US 2022/0337205 A1) discloses (Fig. 1) a single-stage amplifier using feedback coupled inductors.
Kupferman et al (Patent Publication Number CN 108,701,674 A). discloses (Fig. 4) a 3-stage millimeter wave amplifier.
Jones (Patent Number US 3,289,074 A) discloses (Paragraph 9) an inductive coupling factor between 0.01 and 0.1.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Lance T Bartol whose telephone number is (703)756-1267. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 6:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. CT, Alternating Fridays 6:30 - 3:00.
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/LANCE TORBJORN BARTOL/Examiner, Art Unit 2843
/ANDREA LINDGREN BALTZELL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2843