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 claims 1-13 in the reply filed on 6/1/2026 is acknowledged.
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 and 5-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang et al (U.S. Pub #2021/0096310), in view of Dong et al (U.S. Pub #2022/0155526).
With respect to claim 1, Chang teaches an opto-electronic assembly, comprising:
a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) (Fig. 2B, PD);
a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) (Fig. 2B, ED);
a substrate (Fig. 2B, 300), and
an interposer (Fig. 2B, 140 and/or 170),
wherein the RFIC is mounted on the PIC and is electrically connected to the PIC (Paragraph 29),
wherein the PIC is mounted and electrically connected (Fig. 2B, 160) to the substrate (Fig. 2B, 300) via the interposer (Fig. 2B, 140 and/or 170).
Chang does not teach that the ED is an RFIC.
Dong teaches that an EIC in a system with a PIC can operate at RF speeds (Paragraph 24).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to configure the ED of Chang as a RFIC as taught by Dong in order to allow high speed communication between the PD and ED (Paragraph 24).
With respect to claim 5, Chang teaches that the interposer (Fig. 2B, 140 and 170) has a surface oriented toward the PIC and the substrate, the surface overlaps partly with the PIC (Fig. 2B, PD) and partly with the substrate (Fig. 2B, 300).
With respect to claim 6, Chang teaches that the interposer comprises redistribution layers (RDLs) (Fig. 2B, 170) as horizontal interconnects between PIC connector pads (Fig. 2B, unlabeled pads in layers 152) and interposer connector pads (Fig. 2B, unlabeled pads on 170).
With respect to claim 7, Chang teaches that each of the horizontal interconnects connects a plurality of the PIC connector pads with a plurality of substrate pads (Fig. 2B, pads of 300 connected to 180).
With respect to claim 8, Chang teaches that the RDLs within the PIC (Fig. 2B, RDLs in layers 152) are used to connect the ED via the PIC connector pads to establish an electrical connection to the substrate.
With respect to claim 9, Chang teaches that at least some of the horizontal interconnects on the interposer are arranged geometrically in parallel example Fig. 4A, 430).
With respect to claim 10, Chang teaches that the interposer comprises at least one of the following: a single RDL comprising a plurality of electrically conductive lines; and a stack of multiple RDLs (Fig. 2B, 170), each RDL of the stack comprising a plurality of electrically conductive lines.
With respect to claim 11, Chang teaches that the interposer further comprises a single or multiple isolating layers, (Fig. 2B, isolating layers of 170 and 140; Fig. 1B, 172) wherein the RDL is arranged between these isolating layers.
With respect to claim 12, Chang teaches that the interposer further comprises a plurality of electrically conductive contact elements (Fig. 2B, 160), and each of the electrically conductive contact elements traverses the isolating layers.
With respect to claim 13, Chang teaches that each of the electrically conductive contact (Fig. 2B, 160) elements connects one of the electrically conductive lines to one of a node on the substrate and a node on the PIC (Paragraph 41-42).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-4 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BENJAMIN P SANDVIK whose telephone number is (571)272-8446. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 10-6.
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/BENJAMIN P SANDVIK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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