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 .
This Office action is in response to Amendments filed 6/1/2026.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2020/0013766 A1) in view of Zhu et al. (US 2020/0227255 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses a display device (Fig. 7) comprising:
first banks (BNK1 and BNK2) spaced apart from one another and disposed on a substrate (SUB);
a first electrode and a second electrode (CNE2 and CNE2) disposed on the respective first banks to cover the respective first banks, the first electrode and the second electrode being spaced apart from each other; and
a light-emitting element (LD) disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode.
Kim does not disclose the specific structure of the light-emitting element as claimed.
Zhu, in the same field of endeavor, discloses a light-emitting element (800 in Fig. 8A) comprising:
an active layer (“Active Layers”);
a first semiconductor layer (combination of porous GaN DBR and n-GaN); and
a second semiconductor layer (p-GaN) disposed between the active layer and first electrode (top electrode), the first semiconductor layer, the active layer, and the second semiconductor layer being sequentially stacked on each other in a first direction (see Fig. 8A), and
the first semiconductor layer comprises: a main semiconductor layer (combination of n-GaN and Porous GaN DBR); and
a nanoporous layer having a greater concentration of porious material than that of the main semiconductor layer (Porous GaN DBR) and being disposed in the main semiconductor layer (as it is a part of the main semiconductor layer, it is disposed in the main semiconductor layer) such that the main semiconductor layer covers an outer peripheral surface of the nanoporous layer (the outer peripheral surface of the nanoporous layer being the external surface which extends all the way around the nanoporous, see annotated copy of Fig. 8A, below), the outer peripheral surface of the nanoporous layer extending between opposite ends of the nanoporous layer in the first direction (as the outer peripheral surface of the nanoporous layer extends the entire length of the nanoporous layer, it extends between all opposite ends of the nanoporous layer).
As such, Kim differs from the claimed invention by the substitution of a light-emitting element with a nanoporous structure with a light-emitting element without a nanoporous structure. However, light-emitting elements with a nanoporous structure and the corresponding function was known in the art (see discussion of Zhu, above). As such, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the Application's effective filing date to have substituted the known light-emitting element with a nanoporous structure as taught by Zhu for the light-emitting element of Kim and the results of the substitution would have been predictable. (see MPEP § 2143(I)(B)).
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Regarding claim 2, Kim in view of Zhu discloses the display device of claim 1, as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses wherein the main semiconductor layer directly contacts an outer surface of the nanoporous layer (see Fig. 8A).
Regarding claim 3, Kim in view of Zhu discloses the display device of claim 2, as discussed above.
Zhu further discloses wherein the main semiconductor layer includes GaN doped with n-type Si (¶ 0044).
Regarding claim 4, Kim in view of Zhu further discloses weherein the second semiconductor layer includes GaN doped with p-type dopant (see Fig. 8A).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-15 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: claim 5 further limits the subject matter of claim 4 by requiring the presence of an additional semiconductor layer between an end of the nanoporous layer in the first direction and the main semiconductor layer. Kim in view of Zhu, considered to be the closest prior art of record, does not disclose the inclusion of such a layer. Further, including as Zhu uses the nanoporous layer as a growth substrate for forming the main semiconductor layer, it would not have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time the Application was filed to modify the structure to include such a layer.
Claims 6-15 depend from claim 5 and are allowable based on this dependency.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s Amendments to claim 5 overcome the 35 USC 112 rejections noted in the prior Office action.
Applicant's arguments filed 6/1/2026 concerning the rejection of claims 1-4 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant’s arguments are directed to what Applicant considers to be the outer peripheral surface of Zhu. However, Applicant has not provided any evidence that an outer peripheral surface is required to consists of only a single plane. As seen in the annotated copy of Fig. 8A above, the entirety of the outer peripheral surface of Zhu may be considered an outer peripheral surface.
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.
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/C.A.C/ Examiner, Art Unit 2815 /JOSHUA BENITEZ ROSARIO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2815
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