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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendment to Claim 11 in the response filed on 3 December 2025 is acknowledged.
Regarding Applicant’s argument about the prior art rejections of Claims 11 – 18 on pages 5 – 6 of the response filed on 3 December 2025, the Examiner has considered Applicant’s argument but said arguments are moot because they do not apply to the new grounds of rejection presented in this Office Action, necessitated by Applicant’s amendment.
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.
Claims 11 – 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over UDREA (US 20200168599 A1) in view of MARINELLA (US 9761675 B1).
Regarding Independent Claim 11,
UDREA discloses:
A resistor structure (Fig. 14), comprising:
a buffer layer on a substrate (Fig. 14: "transition layer" 3 on a "Silicon substrate" 4);
a barrier layer on the buffer layer (Fig. 14: "AlGaN layer" 1 on 3);
a p-type semiconductor layer on the barrier layer (Fig. 14: "pGaN" layer 11 on 1);
and an electrode on and directly contacting the barrier layer (Fig. 14: "source terminal" 8 on and directly contacting 1);
UDREA further discloses:
wherein said electrode is provided on the buffer layer (Fig. 14: "source terminal" 8 on 3).
However, UDREA does not disclose:
the electrode on and directly contacting the barrier layer and the buffer layer.
Although, for a similar device, MARINELLA discloses:
the electrode on and directly contacting the barrier layer and the buffer layer (Fig. 2A: “source” 210 on and directly contacting the “barrier layer” 290 and the “buffer layer” 295).
Further, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the source electrode design of UDREA with that of MARINELLA, as these inventions are from the same field of endeavor, and the overall device design of MARINELLA is known in the art to provide advantages with regard to breakdown voltage and reliability, MARINELLA ¶ [Col. 2, Lin. 30]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to consider and/or employ the various component designs of MARINELLA, including but not limited to its source electrode design.
Regarding Claim 12,
UDREA in view of MARINELLA discloses all of the limitations of Claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
UDREA further discloses:
wherein a width of the barrier layer is less than a width of the buffer layer. (Fig. 14 shows the left-right width of 1 is less than the left-right width of 3.)
Regarding Claim 13,
UDREA in view of MARINELLA discloses all of the limitations of Claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
UDREA further discloses:
wherein the electrode comprises a source electrode. (¶ [0116] teaches 8 comprises a "source terminal".)
Regarding Claim 14,
UDREA in view of MARINELLA discloses all of the of Independent Claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
UDREA further discloses:
forming the electrode on a top surface and sidewalls of the barrier layer. (Fig. 14 shows 8 on a top surface of 1--indirectly--and on sidewalls of 1--directly.)
Regarding Claim 15,
UDREA in view of MARINELLA discloses all of the limitations of Claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
UDREA further discloses:
wherein the electrode comprises a reverse U-shape. (Fig. 15 shows 8 comprises a reverse U-shape between two given "source fingers" 8 and a connecting portion of "source pad" 18, which is construed to be a part of 8.)
Regarding Claim 16,
UDREA in view of MARINELLA discloses all of the limitations of Claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
UDREA is silent to:
wherein the buffer layer comprises gallium nitride (GaN).
However, MARINELLA discloses:
wherein the buffer layer comprises gallium nitride (GaN). (Fig. 1A shows a buffer layer 195 for a similar device structure comprises gallium nitride (GaN).) It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to specify the buffer layer of UDREA contain GaN, as taught by MARINELLA because these inventions are from the same field of endeavor, and GaN is a well-known "useful material" choice in this context, MARINELLA ¶ [Col. 7, Lin. 15].
Regarding Claim 17,
UDREA in view of MARINELLA discloses all of the limitations of Claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
UDREA further discloses:
wherein the barrier layer comprise AlxGa1-xN. (¶ [0115] teaches 1 comprises AlGaN.)
Regarding Claim 18,
UDREA in view of MARINELLA discloses all of the limitations of Claim 11, upon which this claim depends.
UDREA further discloses:
wherein the p-type semiconductor layer comprises p-type gallium nitride (pGaN). (¶ [0006] teaches 11 comprises p-type gallium nitride (pGaN).)
Conclusion
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 Kenneth S. Stephenson whose telephone number is (571)272-6686. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Friday, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. (EST)..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julio Maldonado can be reached at (571) 272-1864. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/K.S.S./Examiner, Art Unit 2898
/JULIO J MALDONADO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2898