CTNF 18/281,790 CTNF 100437 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Priority 02-26 AIA Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55. Specification 07-29 AIA The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: The specification recites “a vacuum degree is required to reach a limit of a device, and is usually 10 -5 Pa.” in Paragraph [0040]. It is unclear what the applicant is referring to or trying to disclose. The specification recites “a vacuum degree is required to reach a limit of a device, and is usually 10 -5 Pa.” in Paragraph [0056]. It is unclear what the applicant is referring to or trying to disclose . Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – 07-08-aia AIA (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-12-aia AIA (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-aia AIA Claim(s) 1 and 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Hsu et al. (Micromachines 2021, 12(10), 1159-NPLHsu21) . Regarding claim 1 , NPLHsu21 discloses an enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio- frequency device (pp 1 [1.1 History] L 7-9, Examiner's annotated page 1), sequentially comprising a substrate (Si Wafer-Fig 6(a)), a first AIN interposed layer (First AlN interposed/nucleation layer-Fig 6(a)), a GaN buffer layer ( first GaN of GaN/AlN superlattice-Fig 6(b)), a GaN trench layer (Second/Trench GaN of Gan/Aln superlattice)-Fig 6(b)), a second AIN interposed layer (Top AlN of Ga/AlN superlattice-Fig 6(b)), and an AIGaN barrier layer (AlGaN barrier-Fig 6(a)) from bottom to top (layers are stacked on Si in order from bottom to top-Fig 6(a)), wherein a metal drain electrode and a metal source electrode are arranged on the AIGaN barrier layer (Source/Drain electrodes are on AlGaN layer and have an ohmic contact because in metal-Fig 2, Fig 4(a)), the metal drain electrode and the metal source electrode come in ohmic contact with the AIGaN barrier layer (Fig 4(a)); a p-AIGaN layer is provided under a metal gate electrode (a gate with p-GaN layer under a metal gate electrode is called a p-GaN gate-Fig 4(b), Fig 5; The p-GaN gate can be replaced by a p-AlGaN-Page 6 L50-55, Examiner's annotated page 6); and the p-AIGaN layer is embedded into the AIGaN barrier layer (Fig 4(a)), w herein the metal gate electrode comes in Schottky contact with the AIGaN barrier layer (Schottky gate on AlGaN barrier layer-Fig 3(a), page 5 L 6-8, Examiner's annotated page 5). Regarding claim 4 , NPLHsu21 discloses all the elements of claim 1, as noted above. NPLhsu21 further discloses an enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device wherein the AIGaN barrier layer has a thickness of 5-50 nm (Thickness of 20nm so between 5nm and 50nm-Fig 14). Regarding claim 5 , NPLHsu21 discloses all the elements of claim 1, as noted above. NPLhsu21 further discloses an enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device wherein the metal gate electrode is a T-shaped gate structure (Fig 4(a)) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 2 and 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu et al. (Micromachines 2021, 12(10), 1159-NPLHsu21) in view of Li et al. (CN112635556B-Li56) from IDS . Regarding claim 2 , NPLHsu21 discloses all the elements of claim 1, as noted above. NPLhsu21 fails to disclose an enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device wherein the GaN trench layer has a thickness of 1-2 µm. Li56 teaches an enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device wherein the GaN trench layer has a thickness of 1-2 µm (Thickness of 1-3µm-Examiner's annotated Page 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2). Regarding claim 3 , NPLHsu21 discloses all the elements of claim 1, as noted above. NPLhsu21 fails to disclose an enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device wherein the second AIN interposed layer has a thickness of 0.5-2 nm. Li56 teaches an enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device wherein the second AIN interposed layer has a thickness of 0.5-2 nm (Thickness of 1 nm so between 0.5 nm and 2 nm-Examiner's annotated Page 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 6 and 9-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu et al. (Micromachines 2021, 12(10), 1159-NPLHsu21) in view of Li et al. (CN112635556B-Li56) from IDS, and further in view of Cho et al. ( IEEE Access , vol. 8, pp. 139156-139160, 2020-NPLCho20) . Regarding claim 6 , NPLHsu21 discloses all the elements of claim1, as noted above. NPLHsu21 further discloses a manufacturing method of the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device (Title, Fig 24), comprising: sequentially (layers in a given order from bottom to top so sequentially-Fig 6(a) sequential epitaxial layers) and epitaxially growing (Grown by molecular beam epitaxy so epitaxially growing-Examiner's annotated page 4 L 4-5) a first AIN interposed layer (First AlN interposed/nucleation layer-Fig 6(a)), a GaN buffer layer ( first GaN of GaN/AlN superlattice-Fig 6(b)), a GaN trench layer (Second/Trench GaN of Gan/Aln superlattice)-Fig 6(b)), a second AIN interposed layer (Top AlN of Ga/AlN superlattice-Fig 6(b)), and the AlGaN barrier layer ((AlGaN barrier-Fig 6(a)) on the substrate (layers are stacked on Si in order from bottom to top-Fig 6(a)), a HfO2 layer (Fig 5: Gate ILD HfO2) wherein the metal Mg forms a p-n junction with an undiffused AIGaN layer to effectively deplete a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) under a gate (Interface AlGaN and GaN includes a 2DEG with high electron mobility which can be depleted using the gate electrode; the interface AlN/GaN/AlGaN is an double-heterojunction, so forming a p-n junction; Mg is necessary for the depletion at the interface metal gate/p-gate layer so the metal Mg forms the p-n junction with an undiffused AlGaN layer-Page 4-6 [1.3.1.] Examiner's annotated pages 4-6), thereby obtaining an enhanced radio-frequency device (Abstract-L5-10, Page 1 [1.1 History] L 7-9, Examiner's annotated page 1); and Manufacturing the T-shaped metal gate electrode (Gate-process flow-Fig 5). NPLHsu21 does not explicitly disclose a manufacturing method of the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device comprising: performing photoetching on an epitaxial wafer of the AlGaN barrier layer to expose a metal gate electrode region, evaporating metal Mg and a layer, and performing annealing to form the p-AIGaN layer, thereby obtaining an enhanced radio-frequency device with a gate length of no more than 0.25 µm; and manufacturing the metal source electrode, the metal drain electrode. Li56 teaches a manufacturing method of the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device comprising: performing photoetching on an epitaxial wafer of the AlGaN barrier layer to expose a metal gate electrode region (Step S5-Examiner's annotated page 4), evaporating metal Mg (Step S5-Examiner's annotated page 4) and a layer (epitaxial passivation layer-Step S9-Examiner's annotated Page 3), and performing annealing to form the p-AIGaN layer (annealing the region under the gate forming p-type AlGaN layer-Step S5-Examiner's annotated page 4); and manufacturing the metal source electrode, the metal drain electrode. (Step S6-Examiner's annotated Page 3) It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2). NPLHsu21 and Li56 combination does not teaches a manufacturing method of the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device comprising: thereby obtaining an enhanced radio-frequency device with a gate length of no more than 0.25 µm. NPLCho20 teaches a manufacturing method of the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device comprising: thereby obtaining an enhanced radio-frequency device with a gate length of no more than 0.25 µm (Gate length of 190 nm so no more than 0.25 µm-Abstract L5) . It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21 in view of Li56, as taught by NPLCho20 for the purpose of improving Radio-frequency Performance (NPLCho20 Title). Regarding claim 9 , NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination teaches all the elements of claim 6, as noted above. Li56 further teaches a manufacturing method wherein the metal drain electrode and the metal source electrode (Examiner's annotated Page 3) are formed by rapid annealing (rapid annealing of the ohmic contact so the drain and source metal electrodes-Examiner's annotated Page 4); and the rapid annealing is performed at 800-9000C in a presence of N2, a heat preservation time being 10- 60 s, and a heating rate being 10-200C/s (rapid annealing at 800-900 degree centigrade with N2, for a heat preservation time of 20-40s, at a rate of 15-20 degree centigrade/s so with a heat preservation time of 10-60s at a heating rate of 10-200C/s-Examiner's annotated Page 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2). Regarding claim 10 , NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination teaches all the elements of claim 6, as noted above. Li56 further teaches a manufacturing method wherein the first AIN interposed layer, the second AIN interposed layer, the GaN trench layer and the AIGaN barrier layer are grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) at 850-9500C (Examiner's annotated Page 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2). Regarding claim 11 , NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination teaches all the elements of claim 6, as noted above. Li56 further teaches a manufacturing method wherein in the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device, the GaN trench layer has a thickness of 1-2 µm (Thickness of 1-3µm-Examiner's annotated Page 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2). Regarding claim 12 , NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination teaches all the elements of claim 6, as noted above. Li56 further teaches a manufacturing method wherein in the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device, the second AIN interposed layer has a thickness of 0.5-2 nm Thickness of 1 nm so between 0.5nm and 2 nm-Examiner's annotated Page 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2). Regarding claim 13 , NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination teaches all the elements of claim 6, as noted above. Li56 further teaches a manufacturing method wherein in the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device, the AlGaN barrier layer has a thickness of 5-50 nm (Thickness of 5 to 50nm-Examiner's annotated Page 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the enhanced GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) radio-frequency device of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, as taught by Li56 for the purpose of enhancing the gate control capability (Li56: Annotated Page 4 [The beneficial effect of the present invention] (2) L2). Regarding claim 14 , NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination teaches all the elements of claim 6, as noted above. NPLHsu21 further discloses a manufacturing method wherein in the enhanced GaN HEMT radio-frequency device, the metal gate electrode is a T-shaped gate structure (Fig 4(a)) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hsu et al. (Micromachines 2021, 12(10), 1159-NPLHsu21) in view of Li et al. (CN112635556B-Li56) from IDS, in view of Cho et al. ( IEEE Access , vol. 8, pp. 139156-139160, 2020-NPLCho20), in view of Wu et al (IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 846-849, June 2019-NPLWu19), in view of Li et al. (CN 109888013 A-Li13), in view of Yao et al. (CN 111129161 A-Yao61), and further in view of Li et al. (CN 210607267 U-Li67) . Regarding claim 7 , NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination teaches all the elements of claim 6, as noted above. NPLHsu21, Li56, and NPLCho20 combination does not teach a manufacturing method wherein the p- AIGaN layer is formed as follows: spin-coating a negative photoresist for 10 µm on the epitaxial wafer of the AIGaN barrier layer, performing the photoetching with electron beam exposure to expose a region under the metal gate electrode, evaporating the metal Mg and the HfO2 layer, and performing the annealing to form the p-AIGaN layer. NPLWu19 teaches a manufacturing method wherein the p- AIGaN layer is formed as follows: spin-coating a photoresist on the epitaxial wafer of the AIGaN barrier layer (Spin-coating of photoresist on epitaxial wafer of AlGaN barrier-Fig 2,[Device Design and Fabrication] L 2-6, Examiner's annotated Page 846, Examiner's annotated Page 847), performing the photoetching with electron beam exposure to expose a region under the metal gate electrode (Fig 1d, Examiner's annotated Page 847). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the manufacturing method of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, and further in view of Li56, as taught by NPLWu19 for the purpose of improving linearity of gate swing ([Introduction] Examiner's annotated Page 846). NPLWu19 does not teach a manufacturing method comprising a negative photoresist of 10 µm evaporating the metal Mg and the HfO2 layer, and performing the annealing to form the p-AIGaN layer. Li13 teaches a manufacturing method comprising evaporating the metal Mg (depositing a layer of metal magnesium by electron beam evaporation-Examiner's annotated Page 4), and performing the annealing to form the p-AIGaN layer (thermal annealing the barrier layer to form p-AlGaN layer-Examiner's annotated Page 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the manufacturing method of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, in view of Li56, and further in view of NPLWu19, as taught by Li13 for the purpose of reducing the cost (Li19-Examiner's annotated Page 7). Li13 does not teach a manufacturing method comprising a negative photoresist of 10 µm, and evaporating the HfO2 layer. Yao61 teaches a manufacturing method comprising evaporating the HfO2 layer (PVD of HfO2-Examiner's annotated Page 3). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the manufacturing method of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, in view of Li56, in view of NPLWu19, and further in view of Li13, as taught by Yao61 for the purpose of reducing defects at interfaces between insulating layer and active layer (Yao61:Examiner's annotated Page 4). Yao61 does not teach a manufacturing method comprising a negative photoresist of 10 µm. Li67 teaches a manufacturing method comprising a negative photoresist of 10 µm (800nm thick of negative photoresist, the gate length between 1 and 10 µm so a negative resist of 10 µm-Examiner's annotated Page 5, Page 2). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the manufacturing method of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, in view of Li56, in view of NPLWu19, in view of Li13, and further in view of Yao61 as taught by Li67 for the purpose of being suitable for industrial production (Li13-Examiner's annotated Page 4). Regarding claim 8 , NPLHsu21, Li56, NPLCho20, NPLWu19, Li13, Yao61, and Li67 combination teaches all the elements of claim 7, as noted above. Li13 further teaches a manufacturing method comprising wherein the annealing is performed at 400-850 o C for 1-10 min (Thermal annealing temperature between 100 and 1200 degrees centigrade for a time between 5 to 300 minutes, so the annealing is performed at 400-850 o C for 1-10 min-Examiner's annotated Page 4). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the manufacturing method of NPLHsu21 in view of NPLCho20, in view of Li56, in view of NPLWu19, in view of Yao61, and further in view of Li67, as taught by Li13 for the purpose of reducing the cost (Li19-Examiner's annotated Page 7) . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure : Kim et al. ( IEEE Electron Device Letters , vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 995-998, July 2018-NPLKim18) teaches a manufacturing method of a AlGAN/GaN HEMT with a T-shaped Gate on a dielectric layer (Fig 1). Sun et al. (WO2016141762 with Machine Translation-Sun62) teaches an AlGaN/GaN heterojunction with a p-type layer (Fig S5). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NATHALIE R FAYETTE whose telephone number is (571)272-1220. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:30 am-6pm ET. 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, Christine Kim can be reached at (571) 272-8458. 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. NATHALIE R. FAYETTE Examiner Art Unit 2812 /NATHALIE R FAYETTE/Examiner, Art Unit 2812 11/24/2023 /CHRISTINE S. KIM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 2 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 3 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 4 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 5 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 6 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 7 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 8 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 9 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 10 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 11 Art Unit: 2812 Application/Control Number: 18/281,790 Page 12 Art Unit: 2812