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 .
Status of the Claims
Group I and Species #3 are elected.
Amendment filed July 24, 2026 is acknowledged. Claims 1 and 8 have been amended.
Claims 1-20 are pending. Non-Elected Invention and/or Species, Claims 2-9 and 11-20 have been withdrawn from consideration.
Action on merits of the Elected Invention and Species, claims 1 and 10 follows.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
There does not appear to be a written description of the claim limitation “a buried layer in the substrate and comprising a highly doped N-type N+ buried layer, and a plurality of discrete lightly doped N-regions in and along a length of the N+ buried layer to form a non-uniformly doped layer being proximate and defining a first substrate region …” (amended claim 1) (emphasis added) in the application as filed.
The “buried layer” 522 is lightly doped and the “discrete” layers 524 are highly doped.
There is no support for “a plurality of discrete lightly doped N-regions in and along a length of the N+ buried layer to form a non-uniformly doped layer being proximate and defining a first substrate region …”.
Applicant must cancel the un-support new matters in response to the Office Action.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Amended claim 1 recites: “a buried layer in the substrate and comprising a highly doped N-type N+ buried layer, and a plurality of discrete lightly doped N-regions in and along a length of the N+ buried layer to form a non-uniformly doped layer being proximate and defining a first substrate region …”.
However, according to the specification, the buried layer 522 is a lightly doped layer and the discrete layer 524, heavily doped N+, and the discrete heavily doped layer 524, N+, are formed in and along the length of the lightly doped layer 522. (See FIG. 5).
Thus, claim 1 contravenes the disclosure.
Therefore, claims 1 and 10 are indefinite.
Since claims 1 and 10 contain new matter and indefinite, an examination on merits of the claims are impossible, thus, excluded.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to amended claim 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ANH D MAI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
