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
Claims 6-12 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected process and species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 1/20/2026.
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-5 in the reply filed on 1/20/2026 is acknowledged.
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 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Sun et al. (US 2023/0036698) (“Sun”).
With regard to claim 1, fig. 3 of Sun discloses a semiconductor device, comprising: a nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4) including a first layer 4, and a second layer 5 located on the first layer 4, the second layer 5 having a wider bandgap (AlGaN) than the first layer (GaN); a source electrode 10 located on the nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4), the source electrode 10 contacting the nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4); a drain electrode 9 located on the nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4), the drain electrode 9 being positioned distant to the source electrode 10 in a first direction (left to right, fig. 3), the drain electrode 9 contacting the nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4); a gate electrode 11 positioned between the source electrode 10 and the drain electrode 9, the gate electrode 11 not contacting (7 in between 11 and 5) the nitride semiconductor layer 9; an insulating film 6 located on the nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4) between the source electrode 10 and the drain electrode 9; and a conductor layer 8 positioned between the gate electrode 11 and the drain electrode 9, the conductor layer 8 contacting the nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4), the conductor layer 8 being electrically connected with the drain electrode 9, the drain electrode 9 including a first part (vertical portion of 9) contacting the nitride semiconductor layer (5, 4), and a second part (horizontal extending portion of 9) positioned further toward the conductor layer 8 side than the first part (vertical portion of 9) in the first direction (left to right in fig. 3), the insulating film 6 including a portion (portion of 6 between 8 and 9) positioned between the conductor layer 8 and the drain electrode 9, the second part (extending horizontal portion of 9) being located on the portion (portion of 6 between 8 and 9) of the insulating film 6.
With regard to claim 3, fig. 3 of Sun discloses that the second part (extending horizontal portion of 9) of the drain electrode 9 contacts the conductor layer 8.
With regard to claim 4, fig. 3 of Sn discloses a distance between the conductor layer 8 and the first part of the drain electrode 9 in the first direction (left to right) is less than a distance between the gate electrode 11 and the conductor layer 8 in the first direction (left to right).
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 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sun et al. (US 2023/0036698) (“Sun”) in view of Mirua et al. (US 9,306,051) (“Mirua”).
With regard to claim 5, fig. 3 of Sun disclose that the insulating film 6 includes: a first film located at a surface of the nitride semiconductor layer (4, 5).
Sun does not disclose a second film located on the first film, the second film is thicker than the first film, the gate electrode is located on the first film, and the second film covers the gate electrode.
However, fig. 5 of Mirua discloses a second film IL1 located on the first film G1, the second film IL1 is thicker than the first film G1, the gate electrode GE is located on the first film G1, and the second film IL1 covers the gate electrode GE.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to form the transistor of Sun with the interlayer insulating film as taught in Mirua in order to provide a protective film over the transistor. See col. 20 ll. 5-6 of Mirua.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 2 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Fig. 1 of Huang et al. (US 11201234) discloses an insulating film 116 between the conductor layer 142 and drain electrode 148.
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/BENJAMIN TZU-HUNG LIU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893