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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Amended claim 1 recites the limitations “wherein an entirety of the lower interface layer is doped with impurities of a first conductive type” and “wherein an entirety of the upper interface layer is and doped with impurities of a second conductive type other than the first conductive type”. Amended claim 11 recites the limitations “wherein an entirety of the lower interface layer is doped with impurities of a first conductive type” and “wherein an entirety of the upper interface layer is doped with impurities of a second conductive type other than the first conductive type”. Amended claim 18 recites the limitations “wherein an entirety of the lower interface layer is doped with n-type impurities that are metal atoms” and “wherein an entirety of the upper interface layer is doped with p-type impurities that are metal atoms”. These limitations were not described in the application as originally filed and constitute new matter. The application as originally filed only describes the lower interface layer and the upper interface layer are doped with impurities. See paragraph [0065] of the specification of the instant application. The application as originally filed does not describe that the entire lower interface layer is doped with impurities; the application as originally filed does not describe that the entire upper interface layer is doped with impurities. Here, it is well known in the semiconductor device manufacturing that a layer can be doped with impurities for the entire layer (for example, by mixing impurities in the depositing gas for the entire duration of a chemical vapor deposition process), or a layer can be doped partially (for example, only at the upper surface of the layer by a surface implantation process). The instant application did not specify that the entire lower interface layer and the entire upper interface layer are doped with impurities.
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 SHIH TSUN A CHOU whose telephone number is (408)918-7583. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-16:00 Arizona Time.
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/SHIH TSUN A CHOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2811
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