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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 3, 17, and 20 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.
The listed dependent claims recite that a barrier layer is formed instead of the previously claimed insulating layer; this recitation improperly broadens the scope of the claim and makes unclear what structure as a whole is being claimed.
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 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kitamura (USPGPub 2020/0012164).
Regarding claim 1, Kitamura teaches an optical device comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 7, 11), having an optical waveguide (Fig. 7, 17a-17c; Paragraph 44) formed on a substrate surface;
a buffer layer (Fig. 7, 17d) that is laminated on the optical waveguide;
an electrode (Fig. 7, 79 and Paragraph 106; and/or Fig. 7, 65) that is formed on the buffer layer;
an insulating layer (Fig. 7, 68, see Fig. 6A) that covers the electrode; and
an adhesion layer (Fig. 7, 67; layer 67 is adhered to 68 and 65; furthermore, layer 63 is considered an adhesion layer to electrode 79) that is formed between the electrode and the insulating layer.
With respect to claim 14, Kitamura teaches that the electrode includes Au as its material (Paragraph 101), and the insulating layer is formed by SiO2 (Paragraph 91, inorganic insulating material such as silicon oxide)
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.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kitamura (USPGPub 2020/0012164), in view of Hayakawa (USPGPub 2012/0243820).
Regarding claim 6, Kitamura teaches that the electrode includes Au as its material (Paragraph 87), but does not teach that adhesion layer 63 includes any one of Pt and Ru.
Hayakawa teaches that a seed layer (similar to layer 63 of Kitamura) can include Pt (Paragraph 53).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include Pt in layer 63 of Kitamura as taught by Hayakawa in order to achieve the predictable result of providing a seed layer (Paragraph 53).
Claims 15 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kitamura (USPGPub 2020/0012164), in view of Sugiyama (USPGPub 2021/0356836).
Regarding claim 15, Kitamura teaches an optical device comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 7, 11), having an optical waveguide (Fig. 7, 17a-17c; Paragraph 44) formed on a substrate surface;
a buffer layer (Fig. 7, 17d) that is laminated on the optical waveguide;
an electrode (Fig. 7, 79 and Paragraph 106) that is formed on the buffer layer;
an insulating layer (Fig. 7, 67 and Paragraph 102) that covers the electrode; and
an adhesion layer (Fig. 7, 77; layer 77 is adhered to both 79 and 67) that is formed between the electrode and the insulating layer.
Kitamura does not teach an optical transceiving device comprising: an optical transmitter; and an optical receiver, wherein the optical transmitter comprises the optical device of Kitamura.
Sugiyama teaches an optical transceiving device comprising: an optical transmitter (Fig. 11, 2); and an optical receiver (Fig. 11, 3), wherein the optical transmitter comprises the optical device of Kitamura (Fig. 11, optical modulator 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the optical device of Kitamura in an optical transceiving device as taught by Sugiyama in order to send/receive communications by optical fiber (Paragraph 81).
Regarding claim 18, Kitamura teaches an optical device comprising:
a substrate (Fig. 7, 11), having an optical waveguide (Fig. 7, 17a-17c; Paragraph 44) formed on a substrate surface;
a buffer layer (Fig. 7, 17d) that is laminated on the optical waveguide;
an electrode (Fig. 7, 79 and Paragraph 106) that is formed on the buffer layer;
an insulating layer (Fig. 7, 67 and Paragraph 102) that covers the electrode; and
an adhesion layer (Fig. 7, 77; layer 77 is adhered to both 79 and 67) that is formed between the electrode and the insulating layer.
Kitamura does not teach optical transceiver comprising: an optical transmitter; an optical receiver; and a processor that performs signal processing of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver, wherein the optical transmitter includes a substrate having the optical device.
Sugiyama teaches an optical transceiving device comprising: an optical transmitter (Fig. 11, 2); and an optical receiver (Fig. 11, 3), a processor (Fig. 11, DSP 5) that performs signal processing of the optical transmitter and the optical receiver, wherein the optical transmitter comprises the optical device of Kitamura (Fig. 11, optical modulator 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include the optical device of Kitamura in an optical transceiving device as taught by Sugiyama in order to send/receive communications by optical fiber (Paragraph 81).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 4, 5, 7-14, 16, and 19 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. The best prior art of record fails to specifically teach the use of a water-vapor barrier layer specifically between the adhesion layer and the insulating layer.
Conclusion
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/LISA M CAPUTO/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2874