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 Group I claims 1-14 and newly added claims 21-26 in the reply filed on January 30, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 15-20 in Group II were canceled. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on January 30, 2026.
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 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Allman et al (U.S. Patent No. 6,324,313).
Regarding claim 1, Allman teaches a method of manufacturing an optical device, the method comprising:
forming a first waveguide (Fig. 1, 25a and Col 4 Ln 21-42) in a first insulating layer (Fig. 1, 26a, 26b, 26c; Col 4 Ln 33-35) over a substrate (Fig. 1, 24), wherein the first waveguide comprises a first major portion (Fig. 1, horizontal portion of 30 and 40) and a first bent portion (Fig. 1, bent portion of 30 and 36) extending upwardly from the first major portion away from the substrate; and
forming a second waveguide (Fig. 1, 25b) over the first waveguide, wherein the second waveguide comprises a second major portion (Fig. 1, horizontal portion of 30 and 40b) over the first insulating layer and a second bent portion (Fig. 1, bent portion of 30 and 38) extending downwardly from the second major portion and into the first insulating layer.
Regarding claim 2, Allman teaches that the first bent portion (Fig. 1, 36) of the first waveguide overlaps the second bent portion (Fig. 1, 38) of the second waveguide in a vertical direction.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7 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.
Claims 8-14 and 21-26 are allowed. The best prior art of record fails to specifically teach the enumerated steps within these method claims, for example the second waveguide and process steps in independent claim 8 and the implant process of independent claim 21 “after forming the first recess, performing a first implant process to implant a first implant species in the first end portion of the first waveguide, wherein the first implant process bends the first end portion to form a first bent portion of the first waveguide.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: USPGPUB 2016/0047979 to Yoshida et al. which teaches a method for processing a silicon-based wire optical waveguide.
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/LISA M CAPUTO/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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