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 of Species A (claims 1-8, 11-12, 19, and 20) in the reply filed on 2-9-2026 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)).
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.
Claim(s) 1-5, 7, 12, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Endo (US 2012/0056191).
[claim 1] A semiconductor power device (fig. 1), comprising: a substrate (1, fig. 1); a channel layer (2, fig. 1), located on the substrate; a barrier layer (8, fig. 1), located on the channel layer, wherein the barrier layer comprises a first region (5, fig. 1) and a second region (3/4, fig. 1) outside the first region, there is a first compound ( 5 is made of n-AlGaN, fig. 1,[0030] [0072]) in the first region and a second compound ( 3 is made of n-AlGaN, fig. 1, [0030][0072]) in the second region, the first compound and the second compound each have an aluminum atom of a different ratio [0076][0030], the ratio consists of a plurality of different atoms in the first compound and the second compound [0030], and an aluminum composition ratio of the first compound is less than an aluminum composition ratio of the second compound (5 has a lower Al content than 3 in fig. 1, [0030]); a source (10, fig. 1) and a drain (11, fig. 1), wherein the source and the drain are respectively located on the second region (fig. 1); and a gate (12, fig. 1), located between the source and the drain and on the first region, wherein the gate, the source, and the drain each comprise Au, Al, Ti, Sn, Ge, In, Ni, Co, Pt, W, Mo, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ti/Al, Ti/Au, Ti/Pt, Al/Au, Ni/Au, or Au/Ni [0068][0049].
[claim 2] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, wherein the first compound further comprises a gallium atom, which replaces a part of the aluminum atom in the first compound [0030], and the second compound further comprises another gallium atom, which replaces a part of the aluminum atom in the second compound [0030].
[claim 3] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, wherein the aluminum composition ratio of the second compound is less than 0.8 [0076].
[claim 4] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, wherein the channel layer comprises GaN, InGaN, or Ga203 (2, fig. 1, [0040]).
[claim 5] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, wherein the first compound comprises AlXGa(i-x)N [0030], and the second compound comprises AlyGa(1-y>N [0030], wherein x represents a first ratio and y represents a second ratio, and y>x>0 [0030].
[claim 7] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, (e.g. if 5 and 3 are flipped between the first and second compound, fig. 1) wherein the first compound comprises (AlxGai-x)203 [0030], and the second compound comprises (AlyGai-y)203, wherein x represents a first ratio and y represents a second ratio, and y>x>0 [0030].
[claim 12] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises SiC [0027], Si, GaN, sapphire, Ga203, or polycrystalline aluminum nitride (poly-AlN).
[claim 19] A semiconductor power device (fig. 1), wherein the semiconductor power device has at least one original physical property before being doped with an aluminum ion (see Product-by-Process note below), the aluminum ion improves the original physical property after the semiconductor power device is doped with the aluminum ion (inclusion of Aluminum is critical to creating a barrier to confine the 2DEG at the GaN/AlGaN interface) , and the semiconductor power device being doped with the aluminum ion comprises: a substrate (1, fig. 1), represented by a first chemical formula [0027], wherein the first chemical formula comprises an element semiconductor or a compound semiconductor (SiC, [0027]); a channel layer (2, fig. 1), located on the substrate, and represented by a second chemical formula (GaN, [0027]), wherein the second chemical formula comprises another compound semiconductor (GaN, [0027]); a barrier layer (8, fig. 1), located on the channel layer, wherein the barrier layer comprises at least one compound [0028], the compound located in at least one region of the barrier layer is represented by a third chemical formula (fig. 1), and the compound comprises an aluminum atom consisting of a ratio [0028][0030]; a source (10, fig. 1) and a drain (11, fig. 1), wherein the source and the drain are compositions having a metal material [0068][0049], wherein the source and the drain are each independently located on the region (fig. 1); and a gate (12, fig. 1), wherein the gate is a metal composition [0068][0049], and the gate is located between the source and the drain and outside the region (fig. 1).
Please Note: Claim(s) 19 contain(s) process limitations toward doping the GaN layer with Al to get an AlGaN layer. These limitations invoke the Product-by-Process doctrine. Product-by-process limitations are not limited by the manipulations of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps (MPEP 2113). Specifically doping a GaN layer with Al to get an AlGaN layer does not appear to structurally distinguish the invention over the resulting structure produced by the prior art (an AlGaN layer). The burden to show that the claimed method necessarily distinguishes over the prior art is on the applicant.
[claim 20] The semiconductor power device according to claim 19, wherein the barrier layer comprises a first region (3, fig. 1) and a second region (5, fig. 1) outside the first region, the compound comprises a first compound ([0030][0076], 3, fig. 1) located in the first region and a second compound ([0030][0076], 5, fig. 1) located in the second region, the first compound comprises an aluminum atom consisting of a first ratio [0030], the second compound comprises another aluminum atom consisting of a second ratio [0030], and the first ratio and the second ratio are different [0030].
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(s) 6, 8, and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Endo (US 2012/0056191) in view of Sheppard (US 2005/0170574).
Endo discloses the semiconductor power device of claim 1 but does expressly disclose that the first and second compounds of the barrier layer can be InGaN and AlInGaN (AlGaN for both compounds is disclosed in Endo) or that a buffer layer is present between the channel layer and the substrate.
Sheppard discloses a semiconductor power device wherein the barrier layer can be AlGaN, GaN, InGaN, and/or AlInGaN [0020] and a buffer layer is present between the channel layer and the substrate [0040].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to have made the first and second compounds of the barrier layer InGaN and AlInGaN since it has been held that simple substitution of one known element (InGaN/AlInGaN, compound barrier layer) for another (AlGaN/AlGaN compound barrier layer) to obtain predictable results (barrier layer). KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007).
Additionally It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to have placed a buffer layer between the channel layer and the substrate in order to provide proper crystal structure transition from the SiC substrate and the rest of the device (see [0040] of Sheppard)
With this modification Endo discloses:
[claim 6] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, wherein the first compound comprises InXGa(i-x)N, and the second compound comprises AlyInXGa(i-Xy)N, wherein x represents a first ratio and y represents a second ratio, and y>0 and (x+y)<1 (inherent in order for the ratios of Al, In, Ga, N to be present).
[claim 8] The semiconductor power device of claim 1, wherein the barrier layer comprises indium, and an indium composition ratio of the first region is greater than an indium composition ratio of the second region (inherent upon modification because [0030] requires Endp’s barrier layer to have different ratios for the metal).
[claim 11] The semiconductor power device according to claim 1, further comprising a buffer layer located between the substrate and the channel layer (upon modification).
Conclusion
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/AMAR MOVVA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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