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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
Information disclosure statement filed 2/08/2024 has been considered.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8, 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CN215416013U (hereinafter “CN’013”) in view of US Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0291782 A1 to Carpenter et al. (hereinafter “Carpenter”) and US Patent Application Publication No. US 2022/0179159 A1 to Wu et al. (hereinafter “Wu”).
CN’013 discloses a silicon photonic package comprising a printed circuit board (PCB) base (201 in Fig. 2-3), a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chip (205 in Fig. 2-3), a fiber array unit (FAU) (206, 209 in Fig. 3), and laser (203 in Fig. 3), wherein the PIC chip is mounted on the PCB base (Fig. 3- mounted with the shell 202); and the laser is provided on the PCB base and located outside the PIC chip (203 in Fig. 3); a transmitting-terminal fiber (i.e. the fiber connected to 207), and a receiving-terminal fiber (i.e. the fiber connected to 208); the PIC chip is integrated with a photodiode (PD) and (2055 in Fig. 3); a first optical waveguide is connected between the laser and the fiber array unit in which the transmitting-terminal fiber is arranged (2051 in Fig. 3); and a second optical waveguide is connected between the PD and the fiber array unit in which the receiving-terminal fiber is arranged (2054 in Fig. 3); the laser is electrically connected to the PCB base (Fig. 2-3).
However, CN’013 does not explicitly disclose that the laser is a distributed feedback (DFB) laser. On the other hand, the use of a DFB laser is well known and common in the art. DFB lasers offer well-known advantages such as high stability, reduced phase and intensity noise, lower power conversion efficiency as well as wavelength tunability over other types of laser components. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of CN’013 to have a DFB laser.
In addition, CN’013 does not explicitly disclose that the FAU comprises a fixed plate, a plurality of parallel V-shaped grooves being formed at a lower side of the fixed plate; and the transmitting-terminal fiber and the receiving-terminal fiber are respectively arranged in the V-shaped grooves, such that a plurality of V-shaped guide grooves formed in the PIC chip are opposite to the V-shaped grooves, in the manner claimed in the present application. On the other hand, such a coupling arrangement is known in the art. For example, Carpenter explicitly discloses an optical waveguide coupling arrangement comprising a fiber array unit having affixed plate with V-grooves (120 in Fig. 1) having transmission fibers disposed therein (110 in Fig. 1), such that the guide grooves of the PIC chip are aligned so that the transmission fibers are coupled with receiving waveguides of the PIC chip (Fig. 5A- Fig. 5B). One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize such coupling arrangement as advantageous and desirable since the fiber array unit comprising the above-recited features would ensure accurate and precise optical alignment and low insertion loss for the fiber coupling elements of the photonic package. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of CN’013 to have the FAU comprising a fixed plate, plurality of V-grooves formed on the lower side of the fixed plate, such that the plurality of V-grooves are aligned and opposite to the V-shaped guide grooves of the PIC chip, in the manner claimed in the present application.
In addition to above, CN’031 does not explicitly disclose the PCB base being provided with a through hole outside the PIC chip; a heat sink substrate being provided in the through hole in the manner claimed in the present application. On the other hand, such a heatsink arrangement is known in the art. For example, Wu discloses a photonic package, wherein the electronic circuit substrate is provided with a through hole (238 in Fig. 2A) such that a heatsink element is provided in the through hole for conducting heat away from a laser device (paragraph [0200]). One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize such use of a heatsink as advantageous and desirable since it would allow for more reliable and robust operating parameters for the laser element, thereby resulting in an enhanced silicon photonic package. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of CN’013 to have the PCB base being provided with a through hole outside the PIC chip; a heat sink substrate being provided in the through hole in the manner claimed in the present application.
Lastly, CN’013 does not explicitly disclose the use of a monitor photo detector (MPD) provided on the first optical waveguide as claimed. On the other hand, the use of a MPD in optical transmission device is well known and common in the art MPDs are advantageously used in the art to ensure that the emitted optical signals are within the designed operating specification of the device. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of CN’103 to have the MPD provided on the first optical waveguide in the manner claimed in the present application.
Regarding claim 2-3, CN’013 in view of Carpenter and Wu renders the claimed limitations of claim 1 obvious as discussed above. Although Carpenter discloses the side of the fixed plate corresponding to the end of a fiber being provided with an oblique end surface (see Fig. 1), it does not explicitly disclose that the oblique end surface formed between 5 to 15 degrees to a vertical surface as claimed in claim 2, or 8 degrees to a vertical surface as claimed in claim 3 of the present application. On the other hand, the end surface oblique angle between 5 to 15 degrees, or 8 degrees is well known and common in fiber array units. Such angles allow for effective prevention of back reflection for transmitted signals, and would improve the operating efficiency of the photonics package. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of CN’013 in view of Carpenter and Wu to have the oblique end surface of the fixed plate formed between 5 to 15 degrees to a vertical surface as claimed in claim 2, or 8 degrees to a vertical surface as claimed in claim 3 of the present application.
Regarding claim 8, CN’013 in view of Carpenter and Wu renders the claimed limitations of claim 1 obvious as discussed above. In addition, CN’013 discloses a focusing leans being further provided between a tail end of the first optical waveguide and the laser (204 in Fig. 3).
Regarding claim 10, CN’013 in view of Carpenter and Wu renders the claimed limitations of claim 1 obvious as discussed above. However, CN’013 does not explicitly disclose that the PIC chip is further provided with a wire pad; the wire pad is electrically connected to the PCB base; and an integrated circuit (IC), a gold finger, a resistor, and a capacitor are further mounted on the PCB base as claimed. On the other hand, each of the wire pad, IC, gold finger, resistor, and capacitor is a well-known and common component in the electronic circuit art. One of the ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the advantage of using such electrical component in order to implement electrical signal processing capabilities of a silicon photonic package in a given use-case scenario. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the present application to modify the device of CN’013 to have the PIC chip being further provided with a wire pad; the wire pad is electrically connected to the PCB base; and an integrated circuit (IC), a gold finger, a resistor, and a capacitor further mounted on the PCB base as claimed in the present application.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: as discussed above, a silicon photonic package with a self aligned fiber, comprising a PCB base, a PIC chip, a FAU, and a DFB laser wherein the PIC chip is mounted on the PCB base, and the DFB laser is provided on the PCB base outside the PIC chip is known in the art. However, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such a silicon photonic package, wherein the lower side of the fixed plate is provided with a first stepped surface and a second stepped surface; the first stepped surface is lower than the second stepped surface and is arranged in parallel with the second stepped surface; the plurality of V-shaped grooves are formed in the first stepped surface; and the second stepped surface is configured to crimp a fiber covering layer, in the manner claimed and recited in the present application.
Claim 7 is 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: as discussed above, a silicon photonic package with a self aligned fiber, comprising a PCB base, a PIC chip, a FAU, and a DFB laser wherein the PIC chip is mounted on the PCB base, and the DFB laser is provided on the PCB base outside the PIC chip is known in the art. However, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such a silicon photonic package, wherein the first optical waveguide is sequentially provided with a 50%-50% beam splitter, a Mach-Zehnder (MZN) modulator, and a 5%-95% beam splitter along a light emitting direction; the two first optical waveguides are connected to one 50%-50% beam splitter; and the MPD is provided on a branch of the 5%-95% beam splitter, in the manner claimed in the present application.
Claim 9 is 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 following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: as discussed above, a silicon photonic package with a self aligned fiber, comprising a PCB base, a PIC chip, a FAU, and a DFB laser wherein the PIC chip is mounted on the PCB base, and the DFB laser is provided on the PCB base outside the PIC chip is known in the art. However, none of the prior art fairly teaches or suggests such a silicon photonic package, wherein the heat conductive substrate is a tungsten-copper heat conductive substrate, and comprises a bottom plate and a middle boss that are integrated; the middle boss is provided in a middle of an upper side of the bottom plate; an upper surface of the bottom plate is attached to a lower surface of the PCB base; and an upper surface of the middle boss is flush with an upper surface of the PCB base, as claimed in the present application.
Conclusion
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/SUNG H PAK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874