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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/4/26 has been entered.
Applicant's amendment/arguments filed on 2/4/26 as being acknowledged and entered. By this amendment claims 11-12 have been added and 1-12 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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(s) 1-4, 7-9 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kalisman (US PGPub 2020/0048545), as applied to claims 4 and 1 above, and further in view of Erchak et al. (US PGPub 2008/0128727).
Claim 1: Kalisman teaches (Fig. 7,8) a semiconductor device, comprising: a light-emitting structure (703) for emitting light of a first color, the light-emitting structure comprising: an active layer comprising one or more quantum well structures; and a light-conversion device bonded to the light-emitting structure, the light-conversion device comprising: one or more nanoporous structures bonded (via 713) to the light emitting structure [0030-0032]; and a plurality of quantum dots (401,403) (Fig. 4) placed in the nanoporous structures, wherein the plurality of quantum dots has an emission wavelength corresponding to light of a second color [0033]. Kalisman does not teach the light-emitting structure comprising: a plurality of epitaxial layers of a group III-V material. Erchak teaches the light-emitting structure comprising: a plurality of epitaxial layers of a group III-V material [0075]. The use of epitaxial layers of a group III-V material are commonplace in the art. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the device taught by Kalisman to have specified that he LED included group III-V materials because they are commonly known and used in the art.
Claim 2: Erchak teaches (Fig. 9) [0049] a first ohmic contact and a second ohmic contact, wherein the second ohmic contact and the nanoporous structure are disposed on opposite sides of the light-emitting structure.
Claim 3: Erchak teaches (Fig. 9) [0049] the first ohmic contact and the porous structure are formed on the same side of the light-emitting structure.
Claim 4: Erchak teaches (Fig. 9) [0059] the nanoporous structure is not in direct contact with the light-emitting structure.
Claim 7: Erchak teaches (Fig. 9) [0102] a sidewall of the nanoporous structure is coated with a reflective material.
Claim 8: Erchak teaches (Fig. 9) [0074-0075] the nanoporous structure comprises at least one of a semiconductor material, glass, plastic, metal, or polymer.
9: Erchak teaches (Fig. 9) [0080] the group III-V material comprises gallium nitride.
Claim 12: Kalisman [0030-0032] and Erchak teach [0077-0079] the plurality of epitaxial layers of the group III-V material comprises an n-doped layer (135) of the group III-V material and a p-doped layer (133) of the group III-V material, wherein the one or more nanoporous structures are bonded to the n-doped layer of the group III-V material (Fig. 7), and wherein the first ohmic contact (136) is disposed on the n-doped layer of the group III-V material. Erchak teaches the order of the n and p doped layers is interchangeable.
Claim(s) 5-6 and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kalisman (US PGPub 2020/0048545) in view of Erchak et al. (US PGPub 2008/0128727), as applied to claims 4 and 1 above, and further in view of Tsutsumi (US PGPub 2015/0340565).
Regarding claim 5, as described above, Kalisman and Erchak substantially read on the invention as claimed, except Kalisman and Erchak do not teach the semiconductor device further comprises a support layer positioned between the light-emitting structure and the nanoporous structure, wherein the support layer comprises A12O3. Tsutsumi teaches the semiconductor device further comprises a support layer positioned between the light-emitting structure (12) and the nanoporous structure (16), wherein the support layer (14) comprises A12O3 [0035, 0058] to provide appropriate light manipulation within the device [0049-0050]. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have modified the device taught by Kalisman and Erchak to have included a support layer positioned between the light-emitting structure and the nanoporous structure, wherein the support layer comprises A12O3 to provide appropriate light manipulation within the device [0049-0050] as taught by Tsutsumi.
Claim 6: Tsutsumi teaches (Fig. 1) the nanoporous structure and the light-emitting structure are separated by a space (14). The claim does not preclude the space to be filled with a material.
Claim 10: Tsutsumi teaches (Fig. 1) the light-conversion device is attached to the light-emitting structure using glue (26).
Claim 11: Kalisman teaches (Fig. 7,8) wherein the one or more nanoporous structure are bonded to a substrate of the light emitting structure.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-12 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH KATE SALERNO whose telephone number is (571)270-1266. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 6:30am-2:30pm.
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/SARAH K SALERNO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814
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