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 information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/13/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 8 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 8 states “the tip of the lead-out electrode is linear”. It should read “the tip of the lead-out electrode is a rectangular shape”.
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.
Claim 1-11 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 and 3-6 recites the limitation "the electrode pad" in page 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 1, 3, 5, 8-9 recites the limitation "the electrode-out electrode" in page 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claims 2, and 10-11 are rejected due to their dependency of claim 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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 5, 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Sano (Foreign Patent JP-3254053-B2).
Regarding claim 1, Sano teaches a semiconductor optical device (Fig. 3a-b is a modulation unit 14) comprising:
a semiconductor substrate (Fig. 1 substrate 1);
a laser diode provided on the semiconductor substrate (Fig. 1 shows laser LD 13 on substrate 1; see also Fig. 5);
a modulator (Fig. 3 modulation unit 14) provided on the semiconductor substrate (Fig. 3 modulation unit 14 is on substrate 1), having a modulator electrode (Fig. 3 electrode 6-2 & 6-3), and modulating laser light emitted from the laser diode (Fig. 5 shows modulator 14 modulates the light of LD 13);
a plurality of lead-out electrodes led out from the modulator electrode (Fig. 3 lead out electrodes lead out from 6-2/6-3 respectively, see annotated figure below); and
a plurality of electrode pads (Fig. 3 electrodes 6-1) respectively facing the plurality of lead-out electrode (Fig. 3 electrodes 6-1 respectively facing the plurality of “lead out electrodes”); and
wherein a gap (Fig. 8 separation groove 8) is provided between the lead-out electrode and the electrode pad facing each other (Fig. 8 separation groove 8 is between “lead-out electrodes” and 6-1 facing each other).
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Sano fails to teach a tip of the lead-out electrode enters a cutout of the electrode pad.
However, Sono in a different embodiment teaches a tip of the lead-out electrode enters a cutout of the electrode pad (Fig. 4 tip electrode 6-2 enters a cut out of electrode 6-1).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Sono’s device with a tip of the lead-out electrode enters a cutout of the electrode pad (e.g. having electrodes 6-1 in Fig. 3a surrounding the tip of “lead out electrodes” coming out of 6-2 & 6-3 ) as further taught by Sono because it would reduce crosstalk due to leakage current and electromagnetic interaction (from Sono page 4 paragraph 6 from the translated document).
Regarding claim 2, Sano’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1, wherein a width of the gap (Fig. 3 separation groove) is 3 um or more and 10 um or less (from Sono Fig. 3 separation groove 8 is 10um, see page 3 paragraph 8).
Regarding claim 5, Sano’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1, wherein widths of portions facing each other of the lead-out electrode and the electrode pad are the same (annotated figure 3a below shows widths of portions facing each other of the lead-out electrode and electrode 6-1 are the same).
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Regarding claim 8, Sano’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1, wherein the tip of the lead-out electrode is linear (Fig. 3 tip of the “lead out electrode” is linear, see annotated figure in claim 1).
Regarding claim 9, Sano’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1, wherein the tip of the lead-out electrode is T-shaped (from Sano annotated Fig. 3a in claim 1 shows the tip of the “lead out electrode” being in a T-shaped).
Regarding claim 11, Sano’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of electrode pads are located on both sides of the modulator electrode (from Sano Fig. 3a electrodes 6-1 are located on both sides of electrodes 6-1 & 6-3).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable by Sano (Foreign Patent JP-3254053-B2), as per claim 1, in further view of Kosugi (Foreign Patent JP-2014145973-A), hereinafter Kasugi.
Regarding claim 6, Sano’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1.
Sano’s modified device fails to teach wherein the electrode pad is a partially cut circle.
However, Kasugi teaches an electrode pad is a partially cut circle (Fig. 2 electrode 12 is a partial cut circle).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Sono’s device in the view of Sano’s further embodiment in Fig. 4 with an electrode pad is a partially cut circle (e.g. modified electrode 6-1 in the view of Fig. 4 being partially cut circle) as taught by Kasugi because it would prevent removal and cracks of an of an electrode to which an electric signal for driving a semiconductor optical modulator is applied (from Nakajima abstract).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3-4 and 10 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action and to include all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Regarding claim 3, Sono’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1.
Sono’s modified device fails to teach a wire bonded to one of the plurality of electrode pads, wherein the wire is bonded to the lead-out electrode and the electrode pad facing each other across the gap.
Inoue (Foreign Patent JP-2007266575-A) teaches a wire (Fig. 2 bond wire 23) bonded to one of the plurality of electrode pads (Fig. 2 bond wire 23 bonded to few electrodes 22b); however, it would not be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to modified Sono’s device with a wire as taught by Inoue because Sono intends to keep the gap between lead-out electrode and electrode 6-1 without any wire to connect the gap.
Regarding claim 10, Sono’s modified device teaches the semiconductor optical device according to claim 1 comprises plurality of electrode pad (from Sono Fig. 3a electrodes 6-1).
Sono’s modified device fails to teach wherein the plurality of electrode pads are located only on one side of the modulator electrode.
Nakayima (Foreign Patent JP-H10229245-A cited in the IDS) does not overcome the deficiencies of Sono’s modified device.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Yamada (Foreign Patent JP-2012208413-A) and Taguchi (US Patent US-20150349490-A1) teach modulators with electrodes/pads with a gap.
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/FERNANDA ADRIANA CAMACHO ALANIS/Examiner, Art Unit 2828 /MINSUN O HARVEY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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