DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to Application filed November 17, 2023.
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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 9 are objected to because of the following informalities:
On lines 3, 5 and 6 of claim 1, “plurality of” should be inserted before “point-like”.
On line 1 of claim 9, a typo of “o” instead of “of” on line 1 should be corrected.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
(1) Regarding claim 4, Applicants do not claim “a ratio”, “a total distribution area” and “an area” before claiming “the ratio of the total distribution area” and “the area of the epitaxial composite layer”, and therefore, the limitations “the ratio”, “the total distribution area” and “the area” of the epitaxial composite layer lack the antecedent bases.
(2) Regarding claim 5, Applicants do not claim “a thickness of the carbon-doped gallium arsenide epitaxial layer” before claiming “the thickness of the carbon-doped gallium arsenide epitaxial layer”, and therefore, the limitation “the thickness” lacks the antecedent basis.
(3) Regarding claim 6, Applicants do not claim “a carbon-doping concentration” before claiming “the carbon-doping concentration”, and therefore, the limitation “the carbon-doping concentration” lacks the antecedent basis.
(4) Further regarding claim 6, it is not clear what the unit of the claimed range recited on line 3 is, because it is not clear whether the claimed range of the carbon-doping concentration is in the unit of mm-3, cm-3, m-3, inches-3, etc.
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) 1-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hon (US 20080157109 A1) in view of Chen (US 20030164503 A1).
(5) Regarding claim 1, Hon discloses a light emitting diode (Fig. 8), comprising: a plurality of point-like conductive electrodes (element 126 and 128); a dielectric layer (element 130) disposed around each of the point-like conductive electrodes, because Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “around” as “near”, and therefore, the preposition “around” does not necessarily suggest any specific spatial or positional relationship between the dielectric layer and the point-like conductive electrodes, and an epitaxial composite layer (element 110) ([0007]) disposed both on the point-like conductive electrodes and the dielectric layer, wherein each of the point-like conductive electrodes includes an ohmic-contact metal layer and a gallium arsenide epitaxial layer (element 126 and 128) and the gallium arsenide epitaxial layer is disposed on the ohmic-contact metal layer and electrically connected to the epitaxial composite layer.
Hon does not disclose a carbon-doped gallium arsenide epitaxial layer.
Even though Hon discloses that the first conductivity type ohmic contact layer 126 is n-type in paragraph [0018], it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention that the first conductivity type ohmic contact layer 126 can be p-type and doped with carbon, because Hon discloses that the first conductivity type is n-type to a produce a "P-side up light-emitting diode structure", but an N-side up light-emitting diode structure has also been commonly manufactured in semiconductor industry in view of Fig. 6C of Chen, and carbon has been a commonly employed dopant to dope a GaAs layer p-type.
(6) Regarding claim 2, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 1, wherein the epitaxial composite layer includes a first semiconductor layer, a light-emitting layer, a second semiconductor layer and a third semiconductor layer (Fig. 8, elements 108, 106, 104 and 102), the third semiconductor layer is electrically connected to the carbon-doped gallium arsenide epitaxial layer, the second semiconductor layer is disposed on the third semiconductor, the light-emitting layer is disposed on the second semiconductor layer, and the first semiconductor layer is disposed on the light-emitting layer.
(7) Regarding claim 3, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 2, wherein the first semiconductor layer is an N-type aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) epitaxial layer (paragraph [0018], element 102), and the second semiconductor layer is a P-type aluminum gallium arsenide (AlGaAs) epitaxial layer (paragraph [0018], element 106), and the third semiconductor layer is a P-type aluminum indium phosphide (AlInP) epitaxial layer (paragraph [0018], element 108).
(8) Regarding claim 4, Hon in view of Chen differs from the claimed invention by not showing that the ratio of the total distribution area of the point-like conductive electrodes to the area of the epitaxial composite layer is about 2.8% to 5.2%.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve device performance by optimizing device parameters such as conductivity.
(9) Regarding claim 5, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 1, wherein the thickness of the carbon-doped gallium arsenide epitaxial layer in each of the point-like conductive electrodes is about 100~1000 angstroms (Å).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve device performance by optimizing the claimed range of gallium arsenide layer thickness such as contact resistance.
(10) Regarding claim 6, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 1, wherein the carbon-doping concentration of the carbon-doped gallium arsenide epitaxial layer in each of the point-like conduction electrodes is about 4.0*E19~1.5*E20.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to improve device performance by optimizing the carbon-doping concentration of the gallium arsenide layer such as conductivity and contact resistance.
(11) Regarding claim 7, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 1, further comprising a reflective layer (Fig. 8, element 132), wherein the dielectric layer and the point-like conductive electrodes are disposed on the reflective layer.
(12) Regarding claim 8, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 7, wherein the reflective layer includes a transparent conductive layer (Fig. 8, element 130) and a reflective metal layer (Fig. 8, element 132), and the transparent conductive layer is disposed on the reflective metal layer.
(13) Regarding claim 9, Hon discloses the light emitting diode o claim 8, wherein the transparent conductive layer is made of indium tin oxide, zinc aluminum oxide, zinc tin oxide, nickel oxide, cadmium tin oxide, antimony tin oxide or the combination thereof (paragraph [0021], element 130).
(14) Regarding claim 10, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 7, further comprising a substrate (Fig. 8, element 134), wherein the reflective layer is disposed on the substrate.
(15) Regarding claim 11, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 1, wherein the ohmic-contact metal layer is made of gold (Au), silver (Ag), aluminum (Al), beryllium gold (BeAu), germanium gold (GeAu), zinc gold (AuZn) or the combination thereof (paragraph [0021], element 128).
(16) Regarding claim 12, Hon discloses the light emitting diode of claim 1, further comprising an upper electrode (Fig. 8, element 120) disposed on the epitaxial composite layer without vertically overlapping with the point-like conductive electrodes.
Conclusion
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/JAY C KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815
/ANGELICA ROSE GALVAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2815
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