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Applicant's election with traverse of figs. 11A and 12A (claims 1-3 readable thereon, claims 4-11 withdrawn) in the reply filed on 3/3/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the other embodiments are not distinct species. This is not found persuasive because the band diagrams show they are distinct species. Applicant failed to state on the record that the species are obvious variants, therefore this argument is not persuasive.
In their election, Applicant created new groupings which were not set forth by Examiner. Specifically, Examiner set in the restriction that there were 25 separate species shown in each of the figures 7A-16B. Examiner did not group together figs. 11A and 12A as one embodiment. Therefore, in a phone call with Nicholas Blanton, Applicant elected fig. 11A for consideration upon which claims 1-3 reads.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
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.
Claim(s) 1-3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Han et al. (US PGPub 2013/0020553; hereinafter “Han”).
Re claim 1: Han teaches (e.g. figs. 1, 10, and 11) a light-emitting device (100) comprising: an n-type semiconductor layer (first conductivity type layer 102 can be provided with n-type impurities; e.g. paragraphs 39 and 40) disposed on a substrate (101); an active region (MQW active layer 103; e.g. paragraph 39) disposed on the n-type semiconductor layer (102), the active region (103) comprising: a plurality of concatenated quantum wells (quantum well layers 103a; e.g. paragraph 39), each concatenated quantum well (103a) having an energy band structure comprising: a strictly increasing bandgap (in regions 1 and 2 of the band structure of fig. 10 shows increasing bandgap) extending from a minimum value (minimum is at the border between regions 2 and 3; hereinafter “min”) to a maximum value (maximum is at the border between region 1 and 103b; hereinafter “max”) wherein the magnitude of the bandgap slope decreases monotonically (slope of bandgap magnitude decreases from region 2 to 103b) with increasing bandgap; no more than one bandgap discontinuity per concatenated quantum well (103a); and a p-type semiconductor layer (second conductivity type layer 104 can be provided with p-type impurities; e.g. paragraphs 39 and 40) disposed on the active region (103).
Re claim 2: Han teaches the light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein each concatenated quantum well (103a) of said plurality of concatenated quantum wells comprises a period varying between about 5 nm and about 20 nm (a region within the quantum well is 1-20Å, therefore the total thickness of 103a is approximately 10nm; e.g. paragraph 49), and wherein at least one concatenated quantum well (103a) has a non-uniform period (103a has a non-uniform period insomuch that elected fig. 11A has a non-uniform period) with respect to at least one other period.
Re claim 3: Han teaches the light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein each concatenated quantum well (103a) of said plurality of concatenated quantum wells (103a) comprises a bandgap range varying between about 0.1 eV and about 3.5 eV (103a is made of InGaN with In content being variable; e.g. paragraph 39; InGaN has a bandgap range from 2-3.5eV depending on indium content), and wherein at least one concatenated quantum well (103a) has a non-uniform bandgap range (range which is part of region 2 and region 1) with respect to at least one other bandgap range (the remaining region of region 1).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSE Y MIYOSHI whose telephone number is (571)270-1629. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 8:30AM-5:00PM.
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/JESSE Y MIYOSHI/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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