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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species I (claims 1 – 3 and 6) in the reply filed on September 22, 2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 –
(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.
Claims 1 – 3 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sato (US 2009/0008676).
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(Claim 1) Sato teaches a bidirectional power transistor, comprising:
an AlGaN/GaN structure (18/10, paragraphs 48, 55);
a first gate structure (28a); and
a second gate structure (28b);
wherein a surface of the AlGaN/GaN structure has a depression having a first slanting sidewall and a second slanting sidewall,
the depression having a width that is greater than a height of the depression (fig. 13, at theta equals 60 degrees the height = √3a, and width = 2a, paragraph 54);
the first gate structure is situated on the first slanting sidewall and the second gate structure is situated on the second slanting sidewall.
(Claim 2) Sato teaches wherein an angle of the first slanting sidewall and an angle of the second slanting sidewall each has a value ranging from 30 degrees to 60 degrees to a transverse direction (paragraph 54).
(Claim 3) Sato teaches wherein the angle of the first slanting sidewall and the angle of the second slanting sidewall are equal in terms of their absolute value.
(Claim 6) Sato teaches a method for producing a bidirectional power transistor, the method comprising the following steps:
producing, along a transverse direction, a depression on an undoped GaN layer (10), the depression having a first slanting sidewall and a second slanting sidewall on an undoped GaN layer and having a width that is greater than a height of the depression (fig. 13, at theta equals 60 degrees the height = √3a, and width = 2a, paragraph 54);
applying an undoped AlGaN layer (18) to the undoped GaN layer using epitaxy, thereby forming an AlGaN/GaN structure with a surface that has the depression; and
applying a first gate structure (28a) onto the first slanting sidewall and applying a second gate structure (28b) onto the second slanting sidewall.
Conclusion
Prior art made of record and not relied upon, considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure are listed in PTO – 892 Form.
Contact Information
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/IGWE U ANYA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2891
April 4, 2026
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