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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on December 13, 2023 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 8, 9, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Xie et al (CN 107768462).
In re claim 1, Xie et al discloses a planar InP-based single photon avalanche diode (i.e. see at least Figure 1), comprising an n-type InP substrate (i.e. 1), wherein an upper surface of the n-type InP substrate is provided with a main body region, wherein the main body region comprises an InP buffer layer (i.e. 2), an InGaAs absorption layer (i.e. 3), an InGaAsP transition layer (i.e. 4), an InP charge layer (i.e. 5), an InP multiplication layer (i.e. 6), and a p-type InP diffusion layer (i.e. 7) that are stacked in sequence, and an isolation ring (i.e. silicon dioxide passivation layer: see paragraph 0024) is provided around the periphery of the main body region (i.e. see at least Figure 1; paragraphs 0010-0016).
In re claim 8, Xie et al discloses wherein a mass percentage of In in the InGaAs absorption layer is 0.53, and a mass percentage of Ga in the InGaAs absorption layer is 0.47 (i.e. see at least paragraph 0012).
In re claim 9, Xie et al discloses wherein the InGaAs absorption layer is a direct bandgap material with a bandgap of 0.75 eV and an operating wavelength ranging from 0.9 µm to 1.7 µm (i.e. see at least paragraphs 0006, 0012: it is well known in the art that since the InGaAs absorption layer in Sheng et al is being used as an absorption layer as in the claimed invention, then it is inherent that the InGaAs absorption layer of Sheng et al is a direct bandgap material with a bandgap of 0.75 eV and have an operating wavelength ranging from 0.9 µm to 1.7 µm).
In re claim 13, Xie et al discloses the planar InP-based single photon avalanche diode can be used in at least the fields of aerospace communication (i.e. see at least paragraph 0004).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-7 and 10-12 are 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
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/ANTHONY HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2817