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 2, Figure 8, claims 1-20 in the reply filed on 04/24/2026 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
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 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 1-4, 6, 9, 11, 15-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chang et al. US 6066862.
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Regarding claim 1, fig. 2 of Chang disclose a light-emitting device, comprising:
an epitaxial structure having a first surface (bottom surface) and a second surface opposite (top surface) to said first surface, and including
a first type semiconductor layered 203 unit that includes a first type window layer (high resistivity layer) and a first type ohmic contact layer (P-AlGaInP ohmic contact layer) disposed at one side of said first type window layer;
an active layer 202; and
a second type semiconductor layered unit 201;
wherein
said first type semiconductor layered unit, said active layer, said second type semiconductor layered unit are disposed in such order along a direction from said first surface to said second surface,
said first type window layer (high resistivity layer) is disposed between said first type ohmic contact layer (P-AlGaInP ohmic contact layer) and said active layer 202,
said first type ohmic contact layer contains a material represented by Al.sub.x1Ga.sub.y1InP, where 0≤x1≤1, 0≤y1≤1,
said first type window layer contains a material represented by Al.sub.x2Ga.sub.y2InP, where 0<x2≤1, 0≤y2≤1, and
said first type ohmic contact layer has an Al content (see summary of the invention - to facilitate the formation of ohmic contact, the upper layer is a high bandgap and high carrier concentration region which can be formed by the growth of the (Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x).sub.y In.sub.1-y P compound semiconductor material with aluminum content close to 0) lower than an Al content of said first type window layer (see summary of the invention - the middle layer is a very thin and high resistivity layer which can be formed for example by the growth of an (Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x).sub.y In.sub.1-y P compound semiconductor material with aluminum content x close to 1).
Regarding claim 2, Chang necessary discloses wherein in the Al.sub.x1Ga.sub.y1InP and Al.sub.x2Ga.sub.y2InP, X.sub.2−X.sub.1≥0.2.
Regarding claims 3-4, col. 3, ln 1-35 of Chang discloses wherein in the Al.sub.x1Ga.sub.y1InP and Al.sub.x2Ga.sub.y2InP, X.sub.2 ranges from 0.2 to 1 and X.sub.1 ranges from 0 to 0.8; wherein in the Al.sub.x1Ga.sub.y1InP and Al.sub.x2Ga.sub.y2InP, X.sub.2 ranges from 0.5 to 1 and X.sub.1 ranges from 0.2 to 0.5.
Regarding claim 6, col. 3, ln 5-10 of Chang discloses wherein said first type window layer has a thickness smaller than 5 μm.
Regarding claims 9 and 11, Chang necessary discloses , wherein said first type window layer includes a first sub-window layer, a second sub-window layer and a third sub-window layer disposed in such order along the direction (as the layer can be divided into many sub-layers).
Regarding claims 15-16, Chang discloses wherein a number of a combination of said first sub-window layer and said second sub-window layer is at least 1 (only one window layer as a whole).
Regarding claim 18, Chang discloses wherein said epitaxial structure radiates red light.
Regarding claim 19, Chang discloses wherein said light-emitting device is a vertical type light-emitting device.
Regarding claim 20, Chang disclose a light-emitting apparatus, comprising a light-emitting device according to claim 1.
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.
Claims 5 and 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chang.
Regarding claim 5, Chang discloses claim 1. Chang does not disclose wherein said first type ohmic contact layer has a thickness larger than 300 Å and smaller than a thickness of said first type window layer.
However, it would have been obvious to form a device of Chang wherein said first type ohmic contact layer has a thickness larger than 300 Å and smaller than a thickness of said first type window layer in order to meet the applicant specification because the motivation to do so would have been to use routine experimentation to discover optimum or workable ranges of the thickness, since it has been held that the discovery of optimum or workable ranges is prima facie obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art.
Regarding claim 7, Chang discloses wherein said first type ohmic contact layer is P-type doped and said first type window layer is P-type doped, a doping concentration of said first type window layer being lower than a doping concentration of said first type ohmic contact layer.
Chang does not discloses wherein said first type ohmic contact layer is N-type doped and said first type window layer is N-type doped, a doping concentration of said first type window layer being lower than a doping concentration of said first type ohmic contact layer.
However, it would have been obvious to form a device comprising wherein said first type ohmic contact layer is N-type doped and said first type window layer is N-type doped, a doping concentration of said first type window layer being lower than a doping concentration of said first type ohmic contact layer since the conductivity type can be N or P type and the same principle of operation applies to both N and P type.
Regarding claim 8, it would have been obvious to form a device wherein the doping concentration of said first type ohmic contact layer is higher than 4E+18/cm.sup.3 and the doping concentration of said first type window layer ranges from 4E+17/cm.sup.3 to 4E+18/cm.sup.3 because ohmic contact meaning lower resistivity which means high doping concentration.
Response to Amendment
Claims 10,12-14 and 17 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
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VONGSAVANH SENGDARA whose telephone number is (571)270-5770. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM-6PM EST.
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/VONGSAVANH SENGDARA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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