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 .
Remarks
The 06/02/2026 amendment of claim 7 is noted and entered.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I and Species I-1 in the reply filed on 06/02/2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 8-10, 12 and 14-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention and Species, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 06/02/2026.
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.
Rejection Note: Italicized claim limitations indicate limitations that are not explicitly disclosed in the primary reference, but disclosed in the secondary reference(s).
Claims 1-3, 6-7 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng, CN 218568857 U (Cheng) in view of Amano et al, JP 2019195036 A (Amano).
Regarding claim 1; Cheng teaches a composite substrate, comprising:
single-crystal AlN (Cheng: Fig (1): 104, see Page: 6 Lines: 36-37 of the translated copy of Cheng attached to this OA: “The material of the buffer layer 104 is a group III nitride. In an optional example, the material of the buffer layer 104 comprises AlN, GaN or AlGaN.”;
a support substrate (101) disposed below a bottom of the single-crystal AlN (104); and
a transition layer (103) disposed between the single-crystal AlN (104) and the support substrate (101),
wherein the transition layer (103) comprises an oxygen element (see Page: 6 Lines: 20-21 of the translated copy of Cheng attached to this OA: “The material of the growth substrate 103 is at least one of Si, SiC, Al2O3, AlN, or GaN, so as to satisfy in a variety of using requirements.”.
Cheng does not explicitly teach that the AlN layer is a single crystal. Thus, Cheng fails to teach a single-crystal AlN.
Amano teaches a single-crystal AlN (Amano: Fig (1): 3, see Page: 2 Lines: 31-32 of the translated copy of Amano attached to this OA: “In the present invention, the semiconductor crystal layer 3 may be selected from various semiconductor materials including Si, GaN, GaN .sub.2 , SiC, InP, and single crystal AlN”).
Cheng and Amano are considered analogous art. Thus, it would have been obvious, prior to the effective filing date of this application, to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify Cheng by making the AlN layer a single-crystal as disclosed in Amano to improve the properties of the AlN layer and its resistance to cracking due to any mismatches in the crystal structure.
Regarding claim 2; Cheng in view of Amano teaches all the limitations of the composite substrate according to claim 1.
Further, Cheng teaches wherein a material of the transition layer (Cheng: Fig (1): 103) is an oxide material, and the material of the transition layer comprises Al2O3 or ZrO2 (see Page: 6 Lines: 20-21 of the translated copy of Cheng attached to this OA: “The material of the growth substrate 103 is at least one of Si, SiC, Al2O3, AlN, or GaN, so as to satisfy in a variety of using requirements.”).
Regarding claim 3; Cheng in view of Amano teaches all the limitations of the composite substrate according to claim 1.
Further, Cheng teaches wherein a material of the transition layer (Cheng: Fig (1): 103) is a nitride material (see Page: 6 Lines: 20-21 of the translated copy of Cheng attached to this OA: “The material of the growth substrate 103 is at least one of Si, SiC, Al2O3, AlN, or GaN, so as to satisfy in a variety of using requirements.”).
Regarding claim 6; Cheng in view of Amano teaches all the limitations of the composite substrate according to claim 1.
Cheng teaches wherein the support substrate (Cheng: Fig (1): 101) is a polycrystalline material, and a material of the support substrate is any one of an aluminum nitride ceramic substrate, an aluminum oxide ceramic substrate, a silicon carbide ceramic substrate, a boron nitride ceramic substrate, a zirconia ceramic substrate, a magnesium oxide ceramic substrate, a silicon nitride ceramic substrate, and a beryllium oxide ceramic substrate (see Page: 5 Lines: 43-46 of the specification of the translation of Cheng: “The material of the substrate 101 can be multi-crystal, also can be single crystal, to satisfy use requirements. For example, the material of the substrate 101 may be polycrystalline Si (silicon), Al2O3 (sapphire), AlN (aluminum nitride), diamond (diamond) or SiC (silicon carbide), and may also be Si, Al2O3, AlN, Diamond or SiC in the form of a single crystal.”).
Regarding claim 7; Cheng in view of Amano teaches all the limitations of the composite substrate according to claim 1.
Further, Cheng teaches wherein a surface(Cheng: Fig (1): top surface of 104), away from the support substrate (101), of the single-crystal AIN is a planar surface.
Cheng does not teach that the AlN layer is a single crystal. Thus, Cheng fails to teach a single-crystal AlN.
Amano teaches a single-crystal AlN (Amano: Fig (1): 3, see Page: 2 Lines: 31-32 of the translated copy of Amano attached to this OA: “In the present invention, the semiconductor crystal layer 3 may be selected from various semiconductor materials including Si, GaN, GaN .sub.2 , SiC, InP, and single crystal AlN”).
Cheng and Amano are considered analogous art. Thus, it would have been obvious, prior to the effective filing date of this application, to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify Cheng by making the AlN layer is single-crystal as disclosed in Amano to improve the properties of the AlN layer and its resistance to cracking due to any mismatches in the crystal structure.
Regarding claim 13; Cheng in view of Amano teaches the limitations of a semiconductor structure, comprising: a composite substrate according to claim 1.
Further Cheng teaches an epitaxial structure (Cheng: Fig (10): 201+202+203+204) disposed on the composite substrate (101), wherein the semiconductor structure (201+202+203+204) is any one of a high-electron-mobility transistor device, a vertical power device, a radio frequency device, and a light-emitting diode device (see Page: 3 Lines: 13-14 of the specification of the translated copy of Cheng attached to this OA: “The utility model further claims a semiconductor device structure, comprising a composite substrate and a LED unit”).
Claims 4-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng, CN 218568857 U (Cheng) in view of Amano et al, JP 2019195036 A (Amano) in further view of Ding et al, CN 113571614 B (Ding).
Regarding claim 4; Cheng in view of Amano teaches all the limitations of the composite substrate according to claim 3.
Cheng in view of Amano does not teach wherein the material of the transition layer comprises AlON.
Ding teaches wherein the material of the transition layer (Ding: Fig (11): 20) comprises AlON (see Page: 2 Lines: 4-5 of the specification of the translated copy of Ding attached to this OA: “The AlN reflecting layer is of a periodic structure and comprises AlN film layers and AlON film layers which are alternately stacked,…”).
Cheng in view of Amano and Ding are considered analogous art. Thus, it would have been obvious, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application, to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify Cheng in view of Amano by using AlON in the transition layer as disclosed in Ding to improve its ability to absorb stress and thus make the device more reliable.
Regarding claim 5; Cheng in view of Amano teaches all the limitations of the composite substrate according to claim 1.
Cheng in view of Amano does not teach wherein the transition layer is a periodic structure, and a minimum repeating unit of the periodic structure is an AlON/AlN stacked structure.
Ding teaches wherein the transition layer (Ding: Fig (11): 20) is a periodic structure, and a minimum repeating unit of the periodic structure is an AlON/AlN stacked structure (see Page: 2 Lines: 4-5 of the specification of the translated copy of Ding attached to this OA: “The AlN reflecting layer is of a periodic structure and comprises AlN film layers and AlON film layers which are alternately stacked,…”).
Cheng in view of Amano and Ding are considered analogous art. Thus, it would have been obvious, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application, to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify Cheng in view of Amano by using a periodic structure of AlON/AlN in the transition layer as disclosed in Ding to improve its ability to absorb stress and dissipate heat and thus make the device more reliable.
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cheng, CN 218568857 U (Cheng) in view of Amano et al, JP 2019195036 A (Amano) in further view of Zhang Z. Molecular beam homoepitaxy of N-polar AlN: Enabling role of aluminum-assisted surface cleaning. Sci Adv. 2022 Sep 9;8(36):eabo6408. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo6408. Epub 2022 Sep 9. PMID: 36083903; PMCID: PMC9462693.
Regarding claim 11; Cheng in view of Amano teaches all the limitations of The composite substrate according to claim 1.
Cheng in view of Amano does not teach wherein a surface, away from the support substrate, of the single-crystal AlN is an N-polar surface, or a surface, close to the support substrate, of the single-crystal AlN is the N-polar surface.
Zhang teaches wherein a surface (Zhang: Fig (1B): top surface of MBE growth layer), away from the support substrate (Sapphire), of the single-crystal AlN is an N-polar surface (see the Abstract and Results sections of Zhang), or a surface, close to the support substrate, of the single-crystal AlN is the N-polar surface.
Cheng in view of Amano and Zhang are considered analogous art. Thus, it would have been obvious, prior to the effective filing date of the instant application, to a person having ordinary skill in the art, to modify Cheng in view of Amano by constructing the AlN layer as an N-polar layer as disclosed in Zhang to improve electrical conductivity of the device and thus lead to a more efficient and reliable device.
Conclusion
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/M.K./Examiner, Art Unit 2817
/Kretelia Graham/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2817
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