DETAILED ACTION
This Office action responds to the patent application no. 18/524,628 filed on November 30, 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.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because FIGs 11A and 11B don’t have enough contrast to reveal the details, especially the top rectangle. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a) because they fail to show “the contact is represented by an arrow on figure 5” and epitaxed layer formed in step e) as described in the specification. Any structural detail that is essential for a proper understanding of the disclosed invention should be shown in the drawing. MPEP § 608.02(d). Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they do not include the following reference sign(s) mentioned in the description: “the counter-electrode 500”. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “a counter-electrode to a voltage or current generator”, “immersing … in an electrolytic solution”, and “applying a voltage or current between the structure and the counter-electrode” must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the Claim 1. No new matter should be entered. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
A substitute specification in proper idiomatic English and in compliance with 37 CFR 1.52(a) and (b) is required. The substitute specification filed must be accompanied by a statement that it contains no new matter.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: Shouldn’t this phrase, “The mesas 120 are formed in the fourth layer …” be written as “The mesa 120 consists of the fourth layer …” on Page 16 twice?
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.
The claims are generally narrative and indefinite, failing to conform with current U.S. practice. They appear to be a literal translation into English from a foreign document and are replete with grammatical and idiomatic errors.
Claims 1, 5, and 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.
Claim 1 recites the limitations "the following steps" in line 1 and “the mesas” in line 14. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 5 recites the limitation "the doping level" in lines 1 and 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for these limitations in the claim.
Claim 6 recites the limitation "the doping level" in line 1. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
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 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Han et al. (Han hereinafter) (US 2017/0237234).
Regarding Claim 8:
Han (see FIGs. 5A, 5F) teaches a structure comprising a base substrate covered with porosified (AI,In,Ga)N/(AI,In,Ga)N mesas, the base substrate comprising: a support layer 505, a first layer 510/520 of non-doped GaN, disposed on the support layer, an additional layer 535/550 of heavily doped GaN, disposed on the first layer of non-doped GaN, a second layer 530 of doped GaN, disposed on the additional layer of heavily doped GaN, the (AI,In,Ga)N/(AI,In,Ga)N mesas comprising: a third layer 535/550 of porosified heavily doped GaN, and a fourth layer 530/560 of non-doped or lightly doped (AI,In,Ga)N, a part of the second layer of doped GaN being extended in the mesas or a part of the third layer of heavily doped (AI,In,Ga)N being extended in the base substrate.
Han (see ¶ [0052], [0054], [0056]) teaches “multilayer stack may include a buffer layer 510 formed on the substrate … may comprise gallium nitride … may be undoped”, “moderately-doped gallium-nitride layer may have a doping density between approximately 1x1017 cm-3 and approximately 2x1019 cm-3”… the doping density of the heavily-doped gallium-nitride layers may be between approximately 4x1019 cm-3 and approximately 2x1020 cm-3”, and “an n-type gallium-nitride layer 560”.
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 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han et al. (Han hereinafter) (US 2017/0237234) as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of McLaurin et al. (McLaurin hereinafter) (US 2020/0366064).
Regarding Claim 9:
Han does not explicitly teach the support layer is a wafer at least 200 mm in diameter. However, McLaurin (see ¶ [46]) teaches “very low defect-density, free-standing GaN substrates … 2” diameter is the most common laser-quality bulk GaN c-plane substrate size today with recent progress enabling 4” diameter LED quality … the 6” and greater diameters that are commercially available for mature substrate technologies”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the teaching of Han to further include the teaching of McLaurin to select appropriate size of the wafer to support the device to be formed subsequently.
Claims 1 and 3-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han et al. (Han hereinafter) (US 2017/0237234) in view of Han et al. (Han2 hereinafter) (US 2016/0197151).
Regarding Claims 1 and 3-7:
Han (see FIGs. 5A, 5F) teaches a method for porosifying (AI,In,Ga)N/(AI,In,Ga)N mesas comprising the following steps: a) providing a structure comprising a base substrate covered with (AI,In,Ga)N/(AI,In,Ga)N mesas, the base substrate comprising: a support layer 505, a first layer 510/520 of non-doped GaN, disposed on the support layer, an additional layer 535/550 of heavily doped GaN, disposed on the first layer of non-doped GaN, a second layer 530 of doped GaN, disposed on the additional layer of heavily doped GaN, the (AI,In,Ga)N/(AI,In,Ga)N mesas comprising: a third layer 535/550 of heavily doped (AI,In,Ga)N, and a fourth layer 530/560 of non-doped or lightly doped (AI,In,Ga)N, a part of the second layer of doped GaN being extended in the mesas or a part of the third layer of heavily doped (AI,In,Ga)N being extended in the base substrate.
Han (see ¶ [0048], [0052], [0054], [0065] and FIG. 3) teaches “improved results were found when highly concentrated nitric acid was used as the electrolyte or etchant … the doping and applied bias strongly influenced pore morphology”, “substrate may comprise sapphire, gallium nitride … multilayer stack may include a buffer layer 510 formed on the substrate … may comprise gallium nitride … may be undoped”, “moderately-doped gallium-nitride layer may have a doping density between approximately 1x1017 cm-3 and approximately 2x1019 cm-3”… the doping density of the heavily-doped gallium-nitride layers may be between approximately 4x1019 cm-3 and approximately 2x1020 cm-3”, and “an n-type gallium-nitride layer 560”.
However, Han does not explicitly teach b) electrically connecting the structure and a counter-electrode to a voltage or current generator, c) immersing the structure and the counter-electrode in an electrolytic solution, d) applying a voltage or a current between the structure and the counter-electrode so as to porosify the third layer of heavily doped ln,Ga)N of the mesas.
Han2 (see ¶ [0043]) teaches “Apparatus for electrochemical etching may comprise an electrolyte bath, into which one or more wafers may be placed, electrodes for contacting the electrolyte and the one or more wafers, and an electrical power supply for applying a voltage across the electrodes … EC etching may be carried out with a bias on the electrodes between 1 volt and 10 volts … current supplied to the electrolyte may be controlled to maintain an approximately constant voltage between the electrolyte and the sample being etched … EC etching may proceed laterally from exposed side-walls of the n+-layer 215 into the layer and continue until the layer 215 is porosified”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the teaching of Han to further include the teaching of Han2 to follow the manufacturing steps of a well-known semiconductor process of making the Group III-nitride layer porous to cause the heavily doped GaN layers porous and to select desired doping concentrations of the adjacent moderately doped gallium-nitride layer and the heavily-doped gallium-nitride layers and the range of applied bias voltages to create a desired porosity percentage for the heavily-doped gallium-nitride layers to meet the design requirements.
Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Han et al. (Han hereinafter) (US 2017/0237234) in view of Han et al. (Han2 hereinafter) (US 2016/0197151) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of McLaurin et al. (McLaurin hereinafter) (US 2020/0366064).
Regarding Claim 2:
Han in the method of Han2 does not explicitly teach the support layer is a wafer at least 200 mm in diameter. However, McLaurin (see ¶ [46]) teaches “very low defect-density, free-standing GaN substrates … 2” diameter is the most common laser-quality bulk GaN c-plane substrate size today with recent progress enabling 4” diameter LED quality … the 6” and greater diameters that are commercially available for mature substrate technologies”.
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinarily skilled in the art before the effective filing date of the instant invention to modify the combined teaching of Han in the method of Han2 to further include the teaching of McLaurin to select appropriate size of the wafer to support the device to be formed subsequently.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALICE W TANG whose telephone number is (571)272-7227. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday: 8:30 am to 5 pm..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Wael Fahmy can be reached at (571)272-1705. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALICE W TANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2814
/WAEL M FAHMY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2814