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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The prior art documents submitted by applicant in the Information Disclosure Statements filed on December 7, 2023 and February 7, 2025 have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copies of form PTO-1449).
Drawings
Eighteen (18) sheets of drawings were filed on December 7, 2023 and have been accepted by the examiner.
Specification
Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities:
“to expanding” in line 4 of claim 1 should be – to expand--;
“configure to” in line 5 of claim 1 should be – configured to--;
“to expanding” in line 12 of claim 9 should be – to expand--;
“configure to” in line 13 of claim 9 should be – configured to--;
“to expanding” in line 8 of claim 18 should be – to expand--; and
“configure to” in line 9 of claim 18 should be – configured to--.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 2, 6, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Johannessen et al. (US 2004/0008944 A1), hereafter Johannessen.
Regarding claims 1, 2, 6, and 7; Johannessen discloses an optical waveguide (see Figure 1), comprising:
a first portion (input straight waveguide section 12), comprising an input port configured to allow an input optical signal of a first propagation direction entering therefrom (light propagates along the axis A in waveguide section 12);
a second portion (the second portion includes taper section 14 and straight section 22), comprising a taper waveguide portion (16) configured to expand the input optical signal and a rectangular waveguide portion (22) configured to split the input optical signal, the rectangular waveguide portion (22) being connected to the taper waveguide portion (16; see Figure 1); and
a third portion (the third portion includes output waveguides 28 and 30), comprising at least one output port configured to allow an output optical signal of an output propagation direction exiting therefrom, the output propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction (see Figure 1; output waveguides 28 and 30 are curved such that the output propagation direction is different from the first propagation direction);
wherein the second portion (14, 22) is sandwiched between the first portion (12) and the third portion (28, 30);
wherein an angle between the first propagation direction and the output propagation direction is greater than zero degree and is less than or substantially equal to 180 degrees (see Figure 1);
wherein the output optical signal comprises a first output optical signal (output from output waveguide 28) and a second output optical signal (output from output waveguide 30), and the output propagation direction comprises a second propagation direction and a third propagation direction (due to the curvature of the output waveguides 28 and 30), wherein the at least one output port comprises: a first output port, configured to allow the first output optical signal exiting therefrom with the second propagation direction, the second propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction; and a second output port, configured to allow the second output optical signal exiting therefrom with the third propagation direction, the third propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction (see Figure 1, the output ends of waveguides 28 and 30 form output ports that emit light in the direction of the waveguide axis at that location which is determined by the curvature of the waveguides 28 and 30);
wherein an angle between the second propagation direction and the third propagation direction is less than or substantially equal to 360 degrees and is greater than zero degree (see Figure 1).
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.
Claims 3-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johannessen et al. (US 2004/0008944 A1), hereafter Johannessen.
Regarding claim 3-5; Johannessen discloses the optical waveguide of claim 1, wherein the taper waveguide portion (14) is disposed between and connected to the first portion (12) and the rectangular waveguide portion (22) along a first direction (along the direction of the axis A), and the rectangular waveguide portion (22) is disposed between and connected to the taper waveguide portion (14) and the third portion (28, 30) along the first direction (along the direction of axis A), wherein in the first direction, the taper waveguide (14) portion has a first length, the rectangular waveguide portion (22) has a second length, wherein the second portion(14, 22) has a length in the first direction and a width in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction (see Figures 1), wherein the length is a sum of the first length and the second length.
Johannessen does not disclose that a ratio of the first length to the second length is about 2:7 to about 8:9; and that a ratio of the length to the width is about 3:2 to about 5:2, or a ratio of the length to the width is about 3:2 to about 5:2, wherein the length is substantially equal to a 3/2 wavelength of the input optical signal.
Before the effective filing date of the present invention, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to adjust the dimensions of the taper waveguide portion (14) and the rectangular waveguide portion (22) for the purpose of obtaining a desired optical coupling results, including providing a ratio of the first length to the second length that is about 2:7 to about 8:9, a ratio of the length to the width is about 3:2 to about 5:2, or a ratio of the length to the width is about 3:2 to about 5:2, wherein the length is substantially equal to a 3/2 wavelength of the input optical signal to obtain desired optical coupling results for an intended use, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in the prior art, discovering the optimum or workable ranges involves only routine skill in the art (In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233), since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art (In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980)), and since such a modification would have involved a mere change in the size of a component and it has been held that a change in size is generally recognized in as being within the level of ordinary skill in the art (In re Rose, 105 USPQ 237 (CCPA 1955)) and that, where the only difference between the prior art and the claims is a recitation of relative dimensions of the claimed device and a device having the claimed relative dimensions would not perform differently than the prior art device, the claimed device is not patentably distinct from the prior art device (In re Gardner v. TEC Systems, Inc., 725 F.2d 1338, 220 USPQ 777 (Fed. Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 225 USPQ 232 (1984)).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Johannessen et al. (US 2004/0008944 A1), hereafter Johannessen, in view of Zheng et al. (US 2005/0069258 A1), hereafter Zheng.
Regarding claim 8; Johannessen discloses an optical waveguide (Y-branch coupler 10; see Figure 1) according to claim 1 (see the rejection of claim 1 above), but does not disclose a plurality of optical waveguides of claim 1, wherein the plurality of optical waveguides of claim 1 are chained to form an optical network, and any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides are coupled to each other by connecting the first portion of one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides to third portion of other one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides.
Zheng teaches that a plurality of Y-branch waveguides may be changed to form an optical network, wherein any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides are coupled to each other by connecting the first portion of one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides to third portion of other one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides (see Figures 6 and 7). Thus, before the effective filing date of the present invention, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to further provide a plurality of the y-branch waveguides of Johannessen, the y-branch waveguides chained to form an optical network, wherein any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides are coupled to each other by connecting the first portion of one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides to third portion of other one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides, for the purpose of coupling optical signals as desired, since this was a known alternative arrangement of y-branch waveguides in the prior art and one of ordinary skill could have combined the elements by known coupling methods with no change in their respective functions to yield predictable results. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Claims 9-16 and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et al. (US 2021/0096311 A1), hereafter Yu, in view of Johannessen et al. (US 2004/0008944 A1), hereafter Johannessen.
Regarding claims 9-16; Yu discloses a semiconductor device (see the title and Figure 14), comprising:
a photonic integrated component, comprising:
a first semiconductor substrate (BOX substrate 102; see Figure 2), comprising
a plurality of first devices (first computing sites 101, 201 with components 142, 140 or 242, 240; see Figures 13 and 14; see Figure 16);
a first interconnect (interconnect structure 110, conductive features 114, contacts 113, and vias 112 form a first interconnect), disposed on the first semiconductor substrate (102; see Figure 7) and electrically coupled to the plurality of first devices (142, 140; see Figure 8); and
a photonic layer (photonic routing structure 110), embedded in the first interconnect (see Figure 14), and comprising:
at least one optical waveguide (see paragraph 18; the silicon regions for the optical network 104 may include one or more waveguides);
wherein the photonic layer (110) further comprises:
an optical coupler (optical coupler 107), optical coupled to the at least one optical waveguide (optical waveguide of optical network 104); and
a photonic component (photonic components 106A, 106B), optical coupled to the at least one optical waveguide (waveguides of 104) and electrically coupled to the plurality of first devices (140, 142) through the first interconnect (see Figure 14);
further comprising:
a plurality of conductive terminals (248; see Figure 16), connected to and electrically coupled to the first interconnect, wherein the first interconnect is disposed between the first semiconductor substrate (102) and the plurality of conductive terminals (248);
further comprising: an electrical integrated component (142, 140, 160, 242, 240, 250, 252, 260) electrically coupled to the photonic integrated component (110), comprising: a second semiconductor substrate (substrates of devices 142, 140, 242, 240; substrates 160, 260, substrates of components 250, 252), comprising a plurality of second devices (142, 140, 242, 240, 250, 252); and a second interconnect (interconnect associated with second computing site 101, 201), disposed on the second semiconductor substrate (102) and electrically coupled to the plurality of second devices (140, 142, 242, 240, 250, 252).
further comprising:
a plurality of conductive terminals (116, 248), connected to and electrically coupled to the first interconnect and the second interconnect (see Figures 7, 14 and 16-18), wherein the first interconnect is disposed between the first semiconductor substrate (substrate 102 corresponding to first computing site 101, 201) and the plurality of conductive terminals, and the second interconnect is disposed between the second semiconductor substrate (substrate 102 corresponding to second computing site 101, 201) and the plurality of conductive terminals;
wherein the first semiconductor substrate and the second semiconductor substrate are an integral piece (substrate 102), the first interconnect and the second interconnect are an integral-piece (see Figures 1-18).
Yu does not disclose that the optical waveguide comprises:
a first portion, comprising an input port configured to allow an input optical signal of a first propagation direction entering therefrom;
a second portion, comprising a taper waveguide portion configured to expanding the input optical signal and a rectangular waveguide portion configure to split the input optical signal, the rectangular waveguide portion being connected to the taper waveguide portion; and
a third portion, comprising at least one output port configured to allow an output optical signal of an output propagation direction exiting therefrom, the output propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction;
wherein the second portion is sandwiched between the first portion and the third portion;
wherein an angle between the first propagation direction and the output propagation direction is greater than zero degree and is less than or substantially equal to 180 degrees;
wherein the output optical signal comprises a first output optical signal and a second output optical signal, and the output propagation direction comprises a second propagation direction and a third propagation direction, wherein the at least one output port comprises: a first output port, configured to allow the first output optical signal exiting therefrom with the second propagation direction, the second propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction; and a second output port, configured to allow the second output optical signal exiting therefrom with the third propagation direction, the third propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction.
Johannessen discloses an optical waveguide (see Figure 1) for routing optical signals, the optical waveguide comprising:
a first portion (input straight waveguide section 12), comprising an input port configured to allow an input optical signal of a first propagation direction entering therefrom (light propagates along the axis A in waveguide section 12);
a second portion (the second portion includes taper section 14 and straight section 22), comprising a taper waveguide portion (16) configured to expand the input optical signal and a rectangular waveguide portion (22) configured to split the input optical signal, the rectangular waveguide portion (22) being connected to the taper waveguide portion (16; see Figure 1); and
a third portion (the third portion includes output waveguides 28 and 30), comprising at least one output port configured to allow an output optical signal of an output propagation direction exiting therefrom, the output propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction (see Figure 1; output waveguides 28 and 30 are curved such that the output propagation direction is different from the first propagation direction);
wherein the second portion (14, 22) is sandwiched between the first portion (12) and the third portion (28, 30);
wherein an angle between the first propagation direction and the output propagation direction is greater than zero degree and is less than or substantially equal to 180 degrees (see Figure 1);
wherein the output optical signal comprises a first output optical signal (output from output waveguide 28) and a second output optical signal (output from output waveguide 30), and the output propagation direction comprises a second propagation direction and a third propagation direction (due to the curvature of the output waveguides 28 and 30), wherein the at least one output port comprises: a first output port, configured to allow the first output optical signal exiting therefrom with the second propagation direction, the second propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction; and a second output port, configured to allow the second output optical signal exiting therefrom with the third propagation direction, the third propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction (see Figure 1, the output ends of waveguides 28 and 30 form output ports that emit light in the direction of the waveguide axis at that location which is determined by the curvature of the waveguides 28 and 30).
Before the effective filing date of the present invention, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to include an optical waveguide as taught by Johannessen in the optical waveguide network (104) in the semiconductor device of Yu, thereby resulting in an optical waveguide having the claimed structure, for the purpose of routing signals in a desired manner, since this is a known configuration of waveguides for routing optical signals in the prior art and one of ordinary skill could have combined the elements by known coupling methods with no change in their respective functions to yield predictable results. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Regarding claims 18-20; Yu in view of Johannessen teaches and/or suggests a method of manufacturing an optical waveguide, comprising:
providing a base layer (102C; see Figure 2 of Yu);
forming a first dielectric layer (102B) over the base layer (102C);
forming a waveguide material layer (102A) over the first dielectric layer (102B);
patterning the waveguide material layer (102A) to form an optical waveguide (104; see paragraph 18 and Figure 3 of Yu; see the waveguide configuration in Figure 1 of Johannessen and the rejections of claims 1 and 9 above) comprising
a first portion (12 in Figure 1 of Johannessen) comprising an input port configured to allow an input optical signal of a first propagation direction entering therefrom,
a second portion (14, 22) comprising a taper waveguide portion (14) configured to expand the input optical signal and a rectangular waveguide portion (22) configured to split the input optical signal, and
a third portion (28, 30) comprising at least one output port configured to allow an output optical signal of an output propagation direction exiting therefrom, the rectangular waveguide portion (22) being connected to the taper waveguide portion (14), and the output propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction (see Figure 1 of Johannessen),
wherein the second portion (14, 22) is sandwiched between the first portion (12) and the third portion (28, 30); and
forming a second dielectric layer (108; see Figure 4 of Yu) over the optical waveguide (104);
wherein the optical waveguide is formed to have an angle between the first propagation direction and the output propagation direction is greater than zero degree and is less than or substantially equal to 180 degrees (see Figure 1 of Johannessen);
wherein the optical waveguide is formed to have the at least one output port comprising a first output port and a second output port (output ends of waveguides 28 and 30 form output ports in the waveguide configuration of Johannessen; see Figure 1), wherein the output optical signal comprises a first output optical signal and a second output optical signal, and the output propagation direction comprises a second propagation direction and a third propagation direction, wherein the first output port is configured to allow the first output optical signal exiting therefrom with the second propagation direction, the second propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction, and the second output port is configured to allow the second output optical signal exiting therefrom with the third propagation direction, the third propagation direction being different from the first propagation direction (see Figure 1 of Johannessen).
Claim 17 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et al. (US 2021/0096311 A1), hereafter Yu, in view of Johannessen et al. (US 2004/0008944 A1), hereafter Johannessen, and further in view of Zheng et al. (US 2005/0069258 A1), hereafter Zheng.
Regarding claim 17; Yu and Johannessen teach and/or suggest the semiconductor device of claim 9 as applied above, but fail to disclose wherein the at least one optical waveguide comprises a plurality of optical waveguides, wherein the plurality of optical waveguides are chained to form an optical network, and any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides are coupled to each other by connecting the first portion of one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides to third portion of other one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides.
Yu does teach that the optical network layer (104) may comprise multiple waveguides (see paragraph 12).
Zheng teaches that a plurality of Y-branch waveguides may be changed to form an optical network, wherein any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides are coupled to each other by connecting the first portion of one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides to third portion of other one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides (see Figures 6 and 7). Thus, before the effective filing date of the present invention, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to further provide a plurality of the y-branch waveguides of Johannessen, the y-branch waveguides chained to form an optical network, wherein any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides are coupled to each other by connecting the first portion of one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides to third portion of other one of the any two immediately adjacent optical waveguides, for the purpose of coupling optical signals as desired, since this was a known alternative arrangement of y-branch waveguides in the prior art and one of ordinary skill could have combined the elements by known coupling methods with no change in their respective functions to yield predictable results. KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 82 USPQ2d 1385 (2007).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Sakuma et al. (US 2003/0021536 A1), see the entire document.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHELLE R CONNELLY whose telephone number is (571)272-2345. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM.
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/MICHELLE R CONNELLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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