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 .
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.
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 1-2, 4-5, 11-12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP-2006294745 (Hirata) in view of US 2010/0246624 (Hiroyama).
For claim 1, Hirata teaches a semiconductor laser device (fig. 3 and 9) comprising:
a first-conductivity-type semiconductor substrate (fig. 3, 10, [0022]);
a first-conductivity-type cladding layer (fig. 3, 21, [0021]), a light emitting region between cladding layers (fig. 3, 22, [0021]), a second-conductivity-type cladding layer (fig. 3, 23, [0021]), and a second-conductivity-type contact layer (fig. 3, 24, [0021]), which are sequentially laminated above the first-conductivity-type semiconductor substrate (fig. 3); and
a resonator having a length Lc, and formed of a front end surface and a rear end surface to allow a round trip of a laser beam therebetween (fig. 9, front and rear surfaces 11 and 12), wherein
an oscillation wavelength is λ (the semiconductor device outputs light which has an oscillation wavelength; [0026]),
the resonator includes a current confinement region having a length Lf (fig. 9, portion of waveguide 50 above bottom taper and below upper taper where the current free injection region 53 extends for a width W1, [0027]) and a current injection region having a length Lc - Lf (fig. 9, remaining portion of waveguide 50),
the current confinement region is composed of
a ridge inner region of which a width is 2Wi and an effective refractive index is nai (fig. 9, region between 53 extending W1),
ridge outer regions which are provided on both sides of the ridge inner region and of which a width is Wo and an effective refractive index is nao, the ridge outer regions having current non-injection structures (fig. 9, boundary regions 51 and 52 with current-free region extending for width W1), and
cladding regions which are provided on both sides of the ridge outer regions and in which the second-conductivity-type contact layer and at least a part of the second-conductivity-type cladding layer are removed and an effective refractive index is nc (fig. 9, left of 51 and right of 52; also, fig. 3, left and right of 40).
Hirata does not explicitly recite the average refractive index recited by the expression of claim 1 or the inequality; however, the average refractive index recited is the index which is a direct result of having the claimed structure while the relationship/inequality is a direct result of the width of the ridge having multimode structure.
Hirata further teaches a number of modes allowed in a ridge-width direction in the current confinement region is m, m being an integer not less than 2 ([0004]),
the width Wo of the ridge outer region is greater than a distance from a lower end of each current non-injection structure to the active layer ([0024] and [0028]; the width can be more than 2 microns and the distance is 2 microns (the thickness of the p-type cladding)),
the current injection region is composed of
a ridge region of which a width in the ridge-width direction is 2W and an effective refractive index is na which is a real number (fig. 9, 50 including boundary regions 51 and 52 and the area therebetween in the current injection region described above), and
the cladding regions provided on both sides of the ridge region (fig. 9, left of 51 and right of 52; also, fig. 3, left and right of 40),
a number of modes allowed in the ridge-width direction in the current injection region is m which is the same as the number of modes allowed in the current confinement region (the width of waveguide 50 is the same in both regions as shown in fig. 9 and therefore the same number of modes are allowed), and
the length Lf of the current confinement region is greater than zero and smaller than the length Lc, of the resonator (fig. 9).
Hirata does not teach the light emitting is a first-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer, an active layer, a second-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer.
However, Hiroyama teaches a light emitting region comprising a first-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer, an active layer, a second-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer (fig. 26, 226b, 226s, 226f, [0203]) in order to improve luminous efficiency ([0114]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the light emitting region of Hiroyama in the device of Hirata in order to improve luminous efficiency.
For claim 2, Hirata teaches a semiconductor laser device (fig. 3 and 9) comprising:
a first-conductivity-type semiconductor substrate (fig. 3, 10, [0022]);
a first-conductivity-type cladding layer (fig. 3, 21, [0021]), a light emitting region between cladding layers (fig. 3, 22, [0021]), a second-conductivity-type cladding layer (fig. 3, 23, [0021]), and a second-conductivity-type contact layer (fig. 3, 24, [0021]), which are sequentially laminated above the first-conductivity-type semiconductor substrate (fig. 3); and
a resonator having a length L, and formed of a front end surface and a rear end surface to allow a round trip of a laser beam therebetween (fig. 9, front and rear surfaces 11 and 12), wherein
an oscillation wavelength is λ (the semiconductor device outputs light which has an oscillation wavelength; [0026]),
the resonator includes a current confinement region having a length Lf, (fig. 9, portion of waveguide 50 above bottom taper and below upper taper where the current free injection region 53 extends for a width W1, [0027]) a current injection region having a length Lc - (Lf + Lt) (fig. 9, portion of waveguide 50 without a current free injection region 53 on either side), and a taper region having a length Lt and provided between the current confinement region and the current injection region (fig. 9, portion of waveguide 50 with tapered current free injection region 53 on either side),
the current confinement region is composed of
a ridge inner region of which a width is 2Wi and an effective refractive index is nai (fig. 9, region between 53 extending W1),
ridge outer regions which are provided on both sides of the ridge inner region and of which a width is Wo and an effective refractive index is na0, the ridge outer regions having current non-injection structures (fig. 9, boundary regions 51 and 52 with current-free region extending for width W1), and
cladding regions which are provided on both sides of the ridge outer regions and in which the second-conductivity-type contact layer and at least a part of the second-conductivity-type cladding layer are removed and an effective refractive index is nc (fig. 9, left of 51 and right of 52; also, fig. 3, left and right of 40).
Hirata does not explicitly recite the average refractive index recited by the expression of claim 2 or the inequality; however, the average refractive index recited is the index which is a direct result of having the claimed structure while the relationship/inequality is a direct result of the width of the ridge having multimode structure.
Hirata further teaches a number of modes allowed in a ridge-width direction in the current confinement region is m, m being an integer not less than 2 ([0004]),
the width Wo of the ridge outer region is greater than a distance from a lower end of each current non-injection structure to the active layer ([0024] and [0028]; the width can be more than 2 microns and the distance is 2 microns (the thickness of the p-type cladding)),
the current injection region is composed of
a ridge region of which a width in the ridge-width direction is 2W and an effective refractive index is na which is a real number (fig. 9, 50 including boundary regions 51 and 52 and the area therebetween in the current injection region described above), and
the cladding regions provided on outer sides of the ridge region (fig. 9, left of 51 and right of 52; also, fig. 3, left and right of 40),
a number of modes allowed in the ridge-width direction in the current injection region is m which is the same as the number of modes allowed in the current confinement region (the width of waveguide 50 is the same in both regions as shown in fig. 9 and therefore the same number of modes are allowed),
the length Lf of the current confinement region is greater than zero (fig. 9),
the length Lt of the taper region is greater than zero (fig. 9), and
a width in the ridge-width direction of each current non-injection structure in the taper region coincides with the width Wo of the ridge outer region at an end contacting with the current confinement region, and decreases toward the current injection region from the current confinement region, so as to become zero at a part contacting with the current injection region (fig. 9, angled top and bottom of 53).
Hirata does not teach the light emitting is a first-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer, an active layer, a second-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer.
However, Hiroyama teaches a light emitting region comprising a first-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer, an active layer, a second-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer (fig. 26, 226b, 226s, 226f, [0203]) in order to improve luminous efficiency ([0114]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the light emitting region of Hiroyama in the device of Hirata in order to improve luminous efficiency.
For claims 4 and 11, Hirata does not teach the current non-injection structures in the ridge outer regions are formed of proton implanted regions. However, the examiner takes official notice that proton implantation for non-injection regions in laser devices was well-known in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use well-known proton implantation as a simple substitution for the current non-injection structure of Hirata as the substituted components and their functions were known in the art and the substitution would have yielded predictable results. In the present case, the substituted component provides an alternative means to provide a non-injection region with the added benefit of not requiring an etching step. See MPEP 2143 I.B.
For claims 5 and 12 Hirata further teaches the current non-injection structures in the ridge outer regions are formed of insulation films respectively coating parts of surfaces on both ends in the ridge-width direction of the second-conductivity-type contact layer in the ridge outer regions (fig. 14, 60, [0054]).
Claims 7, 9, 14, 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over JP-2006294745 (Hirata) in view of US 2010/0246624 (Hiroyama) and US 2010/0103970 (Shigihara).
For claim 7 and 14, the previous combination does not teach a layer thickness of the first-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer is greater than a layer thickness of the second-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer.
However, Shigihara teaches a layer thickness of the first-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer (fig. 3, 4 and 5) is greater than a layer thickness of the second-conductivity-type-side optical guide layer (fig. 3, 7) in order to increase efficiency ([0058]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the thicknesses of Shigihara with the invention of the previous combination in order to in order to increase efficiency.
For claim 9 and 16, the previous combination does not teach does not teach a refractive index ncn of the first-conductivity-type cladding layer is greater than a refractive index ncp of the second-conductivity-type cladding layer.
However, Shigihara teaches a refractive index ncn of the first-conductivity-type cladding layer is greater than a refractive index ncp of the second-conductivity-type cladding layer in order to increase the confinement factor ([0059]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the relative refractive indexes of Shigihara with the invention of the previous combination in order to increase the confinement factor.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6, 8, 10, 13, and 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: The closest prior art cited in the rejection of claims 1 and 2 above does not teach the additional limitations of the dependent claims and there is no suggestion or motivation to modify Hirata as claimed.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael W Carter whose telephone number is (571)270-1872. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9:00-5:30.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MinSun Harvey can be reached at 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 published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Michael Carter/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
Prosecution Insights