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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 12/22/2022, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS is being considered by the examiner.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: 137a-c (par. 0061). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Claim Interpretation
Examiner interprets “diameter” in the manner outlined in Applicant’s Specification 0035.
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, 6-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Noda (US-20200279974-A1) in view of Inoue (US-5561301-A) and Tsai (NPL “Investigation of … Green LEDs”, “Tsai_NPL” cited and included herewith).
Regarding claim 1, Noda discloses a light-emitting device (fig. 1 w/ fig. 2 columns), comprising: a substrate (fig. 1 substrate 10, 0028); and a column portion (fig. 1 column portion central 30, 0034), wherein the column portion include: a first semiconductor layer of a first conductivity type (fig. 1 central 30 includes first semiconductor layer 32, 0035); a second semiconductor layer of a second conductivity type that is different from the first conductivity type (fig. 1 central 30 includes second semiconductor layer 36 w/ different type, 0037); and a light-emitting layer provided between the first semiconductor layer and the second semiconductor layer (fig. 1 central 30 includes light-emitting layer 34 between 32 and 36, 0036), the first semiconductor layer is provided between the substrate and the light-emitting layer (fig. 1 32 between 10 and 34), the light-emitting layer includes a first well layer and a barrier layer (fig. 2 34 includes first well layer central 341a and barrier layer (ALL 342s), 0047-0049).
Noda does not disclose the barrier layer includes a first cubic crystal layer provided between the first semiconductor layer and the first well layer.
Inoue discloses an opto-semiconductor device with an active layer comprising zincblende/cubic crystal barrier layers directly above and below well layers with a barrier layer between the bottommost well layer and the bottom semiconductor layer and spanning the width of the device (fig. 6A active layer 14 comprises cubic barrier layers 21 + 22 surrounding well layers 19, see figs. 3A-C cubic barrier layers 3 + 4, col. 4 lines 40-55, col. 5 lines 5-15 + 30-60, col. 8 lines 20-50, fig. 6A-1 bottommost 21 between bottommost 19 and semiconductor layer 12).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to add cubic crystal barrier layers above and below each well layer spanning the column to take advantage of the benefits of cubic crystal barrier layers, including higher efficiency LEDs from weaker polarization fields within zincblende and lower impact of heat on efficiency in zincblende versus wurtzite (Tsai Abstract first 10 lines). See modified fig. 2 showing the six added cubic layers. 2nd from bottom is First Layer, between 32 and central 341a.
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Modified fig. 2 (one rough example of proposed modification)
Regarding claim 2, modified Noda discloses the light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein a diameter of the first layer is greater than a diameter of the first well layer.
Modified fig. 2 first layer from claim 1 modification spans column, therefore, diameter greater than that of first well layer central 341a. See modified fig. 2 diameters.
Regarding claim 3, modified Noda discloses the light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the barrier layer includes a second layer provided between the first layer and the first well layer (modified fig. 2 342s include second layer bottommost 342 between First Layer and central 341a), and the second layer has a hexagonal crystal structure (fig. 2 bottommost 342 has 0001 c-plane (and 1101, 1122 planes), found in hexagonal structure).
Regarding claim 4, modified Noda discloses the light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the light-emitting layer includes a second well layer (modified fig. 2 34 includes second well layer topmost 341a), the first well layer is provided between the first layer and the second well layer (modified fig. 2 central 341a between First Layer and topmost 341a), and a diameter of the first layer is greater than a diameter of the second well layer (modified fig. 2 First Layer diameter greater than topmost 341a diameter).
Regarding claim 6, modified Noda discloses the light-emitting device according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of the column portions, the plurality of column portions forming a photonic crystal (fig. 1 plurality of 30 forming photonic crystal, 0034, 0043).
Regarding claim 7, modified Noda discloses the light-emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the first well layer is an InGaN layer (fig. 2 341a InGaN, 0047), and the barrier layer is a GaN layer (fig. 2 342 GaN, 0049).
Regarding claim 8, modified Noda discloses a projector comprising the light-emitting device according to claim 1 (fig. 9 projector 900 includes light-emitting device 100, 0100).
Regarding claim 9, modified Noda discloses a display comprising the light-emitting device according to claim 1 (0113, alternatively … fig. 9 900 interpreted as “display”).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Noda in view of Inoue, Tsai, and Zhang (US-20180351037-A1).
Regarding claim 5, modified Noda discloses the light-emitting device according to claim 4.
Modified Noda does not disclose wherein a diameter of the second well layer is greater than a diameter of the first well layer.
Zhang discloses a nanowire comprising a tapered active region with a plurality of quantum wells, wherein the quantum wells increase in diameter with increase in height/vertical direction (fig. 1 active region 30 contains plurality of quantum wells 32 increasing in diameter with increase in vertical direction, 0058, 0062).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to make the diameter of the second well region greater than a diameter of the first well region to increase emission area + efficiency per column portion while reducing footprint on bottom electrode/substrate (Zhang 0067-0069).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Alex Ehrlich whose telephone number is (703)756-5716. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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/A.E./Examiner, Art Unit 2828
/MINSUN O HARVEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2828