DETAILED ACTION
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
3. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over YANG et al. ( US 20220385041), and further in view of Tan et al. (US 20210336422).
Regarding claim 1, YANG et al. discloses in fig. 7 and specification: a Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) device, comprising: a substrate (see, 202, fig. 7, see also, paragraph [0036]); a first reflector region (see, 206, fig. 7) over the substrate; a second reflector region (see, 215, fig. 7) over the first reflector region; a plurality of active regions (see, 210a, 210b, fig. 7) between the first reflector region and second reflector region; an oxide aperture (see, 214, OA, fig. 7, see also, paragraph [0037], here, oxidation aperture (OA)) between the first reflector region and second reflector region; and a surface relief structure (see, 216, fig. 7, see also, paragraph [0044], here, a curved surface, or the like) over the second reflector region.
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However, YANG et al. is silent as to the limitation of “an implantation region
between the first reflector region and second reflector region for electrical confinement”.
Tan et al. discloses that the electrical and optical confinement, also referred to
herein as a confinement layer (or multi-layered structure), can be achieved by, for example, buried tunnel junction (BTJ), or lateral oxidation, ion implantation or other techniques that are known in the art (see, paragraph [0018]). Even though Tan et al. does not disclose that “an implantation region between the first reflector region and second reflector region for electrical confinement” as claimed, Tan et al. discloses the limitation can be realized for electrical confinement.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art at
the time of invention to combine the limitation of “an implantation region between the first reflector region and second reflector region for electrical confinement” with a VCSEL of YANG et al. because the limitation allows for achieving the electrical confinement of the VCSEL (see, paragraph [0018] of Tan et al.).
Regarding claim 2, the modified device of YANG et al. discloses in fig. 7 and specification (YANG et al.) the VCSEL device of claim 1, wherein the first reflector region and the second reflector region each comprise a Distributed Bragg Reflector (DBR) structure (see, n-DBR, p-DBR, fig. 7).
Regarding claim 3, the modified device of YANG et al. discloses in fig. 7 and specification (YANG et al.) the VCSEL device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of active regions each include a quantum- well configuration (see, MQW, fig. 7).
Regarding claim 4, the modified device of YANG et al. discloses in fig. 7 and specification (YANG et al.) the VCSEL device of claim 1, the oxide aperture is between the second reflector region and the plurality of active regions (see, MQW, fig. 7).
Regarding claim 5, the modified device of YANG et al. discloses in fig. 7 and specification (YANG et al.) the VCSEL device of claim 1, wherein the implantation region is between two of the plurality of active regions. Even though Tan et al. does not disclose that the limitation of “an implantation region between wherein the implantation region is between two of the plurality of active regions” as claimed, Tan et al. discloses the limitation can be realized because the limitation allows for achieving the electrical confinement of the VCSEL using the multi-layered structure (see, paragraph [0018] of Tan et al.).
Regarding claim 6, claim 6 is rejected for the same reasons applied to claim 5 because the limitation allows for achieving the electrical confinement of the VCSEL using the multi-layered structure (see, paragraph [0018] of Tan et al.).
Regarding claim 7, the modified device of YANG et al. discloses in fig. 7 and specification (YANG et al.) the VCSEL device of claim 1, wherein the surface relief structure has a mechanism to suppress higher-order modes of an output beam of the VCSEL device (see, paragraph [0045]).
Regarding claims 8-14 , method claims 8-14 are rejected for the same reasons applied to device claims 1-7 since the limitations of method claims 8-15 are implemented by the limitations of device claim 1-7.
Regarding claims 15-20 , device claims 15-20 are rejected for the same reasons applied to device claims 1-7 since the limitations of device claims 15-20 are implemented by the limitations of device claims 1-7.
Conclusion
4. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kinam Park whose telephone number is (571) 270-1738. The examiner can normally be reached on from 9:00 AM-5:00 PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, MINSUN HARVEY, can be reached on (571) 272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/KINAM PARK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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