DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
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 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.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group-I in the reply filed on 09/25/2025 is acknowledged. However the examiner disagrees with the election and election is incomplete. Because:
Group I, claims 1-15, is drawn to an amplifier device comprising: a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) having a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) area arranged between a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer.
Group II, claims 1-10 and 16-28, is drawn to an electronic switch device comprising: a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) having a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) area, and wherein an input channel is formed within the 2DEG area along a first direction and an output channel is formed within the 2DEG area along a second direction.
Group III, claims 1-10, 29, and 30, is drawn to an electronic phase shifter device comprising: a mixing channel is formed within the 2DEG area along the second direction having an end connecting to a second end of the middle channel, opposite the first end.
Based on applicant’s response, the examiner thinks election Group-I (having claims 1-15) would be most productive. Hence, rest of the claims 16-30 are withdrawn accordingly.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-3, 6-8 and 10-14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Brownless et al. (NPL: Graphene ballistic rectifiers: Theory and geometry dependence, see IDS), hereinafter Brownless.
Regarding claim 1, Brownless teaches an electronic device (i.e. Graphene ballistic rectifier; Fig. 2b) comprising:
a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) (p. 207, 1st sentence of conclusion) having a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) area (under metallized area in Fig. 2b in Graphene layer of Fig. 2a; electron gas inherent to,2D Graphene channel layer operating with ballistic charge transport) and wherein charge particle transport is confined within the 2DEG area (i.e. nBN layers are insulating while Graphene is highly conductive so charge transport is inherently confined to the Graphene layer; p. 202, Lines. 17-21);
a plurality of contacts arranged around the 2DEG area (p. 205, 3rd sentence of Fabrication section: Fig. 2c); and
wherein the charge particle transport within the 2DEG area operates within ballistic (e.g. title) or hydrodynamic transport regimes (p. 205, right column, Lns. 1-6 of first paragraph).
Regarding claim 2, Brownless teach the device of claim 1, wherein charge particle transport within the 2DEG area has a momentum-relaxing mean free path equal or larger than the 2DEG area's scale W (p. 201, left Col., last sentence to right Col., Ln. 3):
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Regarding claim 3, Brownless teaches the device of claim 1 wherein the 2DEG comprises graphene (Graphene ballistic rectifier; Fig. 2b).
Regarding claim 6, Brownless teaches the device of claim 1, wherein the 2DEG layer is arranged between a first layer of hBN layer and a second layer of hBN (2D layer of Graphene sandwiched between two layers of hBN shown in Fig. 2a; 1st sentence of Fabrication section, p. 205).
Regarding claim 7, Brownless teaches the device of claim 1, wherein the 2DES comprises one of amplifiers, electronic vortex switches, frequency mixers, rectifiers, multipliers, electrically-controlled micro-scale magnetic field generators, sensors, magnetic sensors, bolometers, or phase shifters (rectifier, title).
Regarding claim 8, Brownless teaches the device of claim 1, comprising a non-linear output (e.g., Figures 3a, 3b and 3d show non-linear relationships between a V_G input and a VUL output).
Regarding claim 10, Brownless teaches the device of claim 1, wherein the charge particle transport is two- dimensional (i.e. transport through layer of Graphene between two planar layers of hBN as in Fig. 2a is inherently two-dimensional because the Graphene is conductive while the hBN is not and Graphene is a monolayer).
Regarding claim 11, Brownless teaches an amplifier device comprising:
a two-dimensional electron system (2DES) having a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) (p. 207, 1st sentence of conclusion) area arranged between a first semiconductor layer and a second semiconductor layer, and wherein a primary channel is formed within the 2DEG area and wherein charge particle transport is confined within the primary channel (i.e. hBN layers are insulating while Graphene is highly conductive so charge transport is inherently confined to the Graphene layer; p. 202, Lns. 17-21);
a plurality of contacts arranged around the primary channel, wherein the contacts comprise an input/emitter contact, an output/collector contact and
a ground/base contact (p. 205, 3rd sentence of Fabrication section: Fig. 2c); and
wherein the charge particle transport within the primary channel operates within ballistic or hydrodynamic transport regimes (p. 205, right column, Lns. 1-6 of first paragraph)..
Regarding claim 12, Brownless teaches the amplifier device of claim 11, wherein charge particle transport within the primary channel has a momentum-relaxing mean free path (imr) equal or larger than the primary channel's width W (p. 201, left Col., last sentence to right Col., Ln. 3):
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Regarding claim 13, Brownless teaches the amplifier device of claim 11, wherein the primary channel is formed within the 2DEG by lithographic techniques comprising etching at a top layer, electrostatic gating, dry/wet etching, reactive ion etching, focused ion beam milling, electron beam lithography, and photo-lithography (Based on these designs, four GBRs are fabricated, The-devices are fabricated using hBN/Gr/hBN stacks, as shown in Fig. 2(a), which were prepared on a 290 nm SiQ2/Si substrate using standard me- - chanical exfoliation and dry transfer methods [29]. The patterns were etched with a CHF3/O2 mixture using an Oxford Instruments System 100 reactive-ion etching system. Contacts were formed using 3 nm Cr and 70 nm Au deposited using electron beam evaporation immediately following etching of the contact area. Because the etch rate of the graphene is far lower than boron nitride, etching leaves a narrow strip of graphene exposed at the edge, which can be connected by deposited metal, forming a high quality ‘one-dimensional contact’ [30], Page 206 in Fabrication).
Regarding claim 14, Brownless teaches the amplifier device of claim 11, wherein the contacts comprise one of metal contacts or secondary channels formed within the primary channel (Based on these designs, four GBRs are fabricated, The-devices are fabricated using hBN/Gr/hBN stacks, as shown in Fig. 2(a), which were prepared on a 290 nm SiQ2/Si substrate using standard me- - chanical exfoliation and dry transfer methods [29]. The patterns were etched with a CHF3/O2 mixture using an Oxford Instruments System 100 reactive-ion etching system. Contacts were formed using 3 nm Cr and 70 nm Au deposited using electron beam evaporation immediately following etching of the contact area. Because the etch rate of the graphene is far lower than boron nitride, etching leaves a narrow strip of graphene exposed at the edge, which can be connected by deposited metal, forming a high quality ‘one-dimensional contact’ [30], Page 206 in Fabrication).
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 4, 5 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brownless et al. (NPL: Graphene ballistic rectifiers: Theory and geometry dependence, see IDS), hereinafter Brownless, in view of Baldwin et al. (US Patent: 5051791 A), hereinafter Baldwin.
Regarding claim 4, Brownless does not explicitly teach the device of claim 1, wherein the 2DEG layer is arranged between two layers of semiconductor materials.
Baldwin discloses the device of claim 1, wherein the 2DEG layer is arranged between two layers of semiconductor materials ("at interface" of "heterostructure GaAs/AIGaAs" with "the 2 DEG confined to .. .interface", Col. 1, Lns. 65-68).
Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use Brownless’s device with other teaching from Baldwin such that solid state electronic devices comprise a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), emission means of ballistic 2DEG electrons, collection means of 2DEG electrons, and control means disposed between the emissions means and the collection means such that ballistic 2DEG electrons that travel from the emission means to the collections means pass through a portion of the device that underlies the control means. By means of the control means the electron density in the portion of the device can be changed, whereby the path of ballistic 2DEG electrons can be affected, in a manner analogous to refraction in optics.
Regarding claim 5, Brownless, in view of Baldwin, teach the device of claim 1, wherein the 2DEG layer is arranged between an AlGaAs layer and a GaAs layer ("GaAs/AIGaAs structure", Col. 1, Lns. 65-68 in Baldwin).
Regarding claim 9, Brownless, in view of Baldwin, teach the device of claim 1, wherein the charge particle transport is one- dimensional (e.g., Figures 3a, 3b and 3d show non-linear relationships between a V_G input and a VUL output in Baldwin).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brownless et al. (NPL: Graphene ballistic rectifiers: Theory and geometry dependence, see IDS), hereinafter Brownless, in view of Heiblum et al. (US 5,712,491 A), hereinafter Heiblum.
Regarding claim 15, Brownless does not explicitly teach the amplifier device of claim 11, wherein an input current signal injected into the input/emitter contact is amplified by an amount G = W/We at the output/collector contact, wherein W is the primary channel's width and We is the input/emitter contact's width (the primary channel's width" is best interpreted as --a width of the primary channel-- and 'the input/emitter contact's width" is best interpreted as -a width of the input/emitter parallel to the width of the primary channel--. see Fig. 3).
Heiblum discloses a transistor-like amplifier device that includes a 2DEG area confining ballistic charge carriers between semiconductor layers and has emitter/input, base/ground, and collector/output contacts. However, like most semiconductor devices, the gain is set by biasing in Heiblum, not by a geometric ratio of channel 'width' to input/emitter contact 'width' as is claimed ("The gain of the device is set by the various voltages applied to the emitter, collector and base.", Col. 6, Lns. 18-31).
Hence, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use Brownless’s device with other teaching from Heiblum such that solid state electronic devices comprise a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), emission means of ballistic 2DEG electrons, collection means of 2DEG electrons, and control means disposed between the emissions means and the collection means such that ballistic 2DEG electrons that travel from the emission means to the collections means pass through a portion of the device that underlies the control means. By means of the control means the electron density in the portion of the device can be changed, whereby the path of ballistic 2DEG electrons can be affected, in a manner analogous to refraction in optics.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form PTO-892.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHEIKH MARUF whose telephone number is (571)270-1903. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8am-6pm EDT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chad Dicke can be reached on 571-270-7996. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SHEIKH MARUF/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897