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 Statement filed on March 6, 2024 have all been considered and made of record (note the attached copy of form PTO-1449).
Drawings
Eleven (11) sheets of drawings were filed on March 6, 2024 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.
Inventorship
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Higa et al. (US 2019/0363516 A1).
Regarding claim 1; Higa discloses a structure (see Figures 2 and 3A) comprising:
a waveguide core (active core layer 11a of optical waveguide 11; see Figures 2 and 3A) having opposing sidewalls; and
tapered sidewall liners (12c; see Figure 3A) positioned laterally adjacent to the opposing sidewalls of the waveguide core (11a),
wherein the tapered sidewall liners (12c) have different heights than the waveguide core (11a).
Claims 1-7, 9-10, 17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Menard (CA 3119371 A1).
Regarding claims 1-7 and 9-10; Menard discloses a structure (see Figure 32) comprising:
a waveguide core (core; see annotated Figure 32 below, the core is formed of Silicon Nitride 3210) having opposing sidewalls; and
tapered sidewall liners (Silicon Dioxide CB, C forms the tapered sidewall liners; see annotated Figure 32 below) positioned laterally adjacent to the opposing sidewalls of the waveguide core (core),
wherein the tapered sidewall liners have different heights than the waveguide core (see Figure 32);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners (tapered sidewall liners; see annotated Figure 32 below) and the waveguide core (core; see annotated Figure 32 below) have co-planar bottom surfaces, and wherein the tapered sidewall liners are shorter in height than the waveguide core.
further comprising:
a protective layer (protective layer; see annotated Figure 32 below) immediately adjacent to a top surface of the waveguide core; and
a dielectric layer (dielectric layer; see annotated Figure 32 below) on the tapered sidewall liners and the protective layer;
further comprising:
an insulator layer (insulator layer; see Figure 32 annotated below);
a lower dielectric layer (lower dielectric layer; see 32 annotated below) on the insulator layer,
wherein the waveguide core (core) is above and immediately adjacent to the lower dielectric layer (see Figure 32); and
an upper dielectric layer (dielectric layer; see Figure 32 annotated below) on the waveguide core (core),
wherein the tapered sidewall liners (tapered sidewall liners) are above and immediately adjacent to the insulator layer and further positioned laterally immediately adjacent to at least the lower dielectric layer and the waveguide core (see Figure 32);
wherein a top surface of the waveguide core is above a level of top ends of the tapered sidewall liners (see the finished device at 3200F in Figure 32);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners are greater in height than the waveguide core (see the intermediate device at 3200C in Figure 32);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners are further positioned laterally immediately adjacent to the upper dielectric layer (see Figure 32);
wherein the lower dielectric layer and the upper dielectric layer include silicon and nitrogen-containing compounds with smaller refractive indices than the waveguide core (see Figure 32);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners each have a first side adjacent to the waveguide core and a second side opposite the first side and having a linear shape (see Figure 32).
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Regarding claims 17, 19, and 20; Menard discloses a structure (see Figure 32 annotated above) comprising:
a waveguide core (core) having opposing sidewalls (opposing sidewalls); and
a tapered sidewall liner (tapered sidewall liners) and a dielectric layer (dielectric layer) positioned laterally immediately adjacent (i.e. laterally nearby) to the opposing sidewalls, respectively, wherein the dielectric layer further extends over the tapered sidewall liner (see Figure 32);
wherein the tapered sidewall liner has a first side adjacent to the waveguide core and a second side opposite the first side and having a linear shape (see Figure 32);
further comprising a protective layer (protective layer) on a top surface of the waveguide core (core), wherein the dielectric layer (dielectric layer) is above and immediately adjacent to the protective layer (see Figure 32).
Claims 1-4, 6-7, and 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Bruce et al. (US 6,157,765).
Regarding claims 1-4, 6-7, and 10-11; Bruce et al. discloses a structure (see Figures 1 and 4) comprising:
a waveguide core (18; labeled in Figure 1, core in annotated Figure 4 below) having opposing sidewalls (26); and
tapered sidewall liners (formed by layer 20 in Figure 1; formed by layer 64 in Figure 4) positioned laterally adjacent to the opposing sidewalls of the waveguide core,
wherein the tapered sidewall liners have different heights than the waveguide core (see Figures 1 and 4);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners and the waveguide core have co-planar bottom surfaces (see Figures 1 and 4), and wherein the tapered sidewall liners are shorter in height than the waveguide core (see Figure 4 annotated below, the second height of the tapered sidewall liners is shorter than the height of the waveguide core as annotated);
a protective layer immediately adjacent a top surface of the waveguide core (the examiner notes that the portion of the sidewall liner layer, 20 or 64, above the top of the waveguide core forms a protective layer, as well as the portions of the additional layers thereof, wherein each layer above the top, 64, 66, and/or 68, forms a protective layer); and
a dielectric layer (22) on the tapered sidewall liners and the protective layer;
further comprising:
an insulator layer (14);
a lower dielectric layer (16) on the insulator layer,
wherein the waveguide core is above and immediately adjacent to the lower dielectric layer; and
an upper dielectric layer (66, 68, and/or 22) on the waveguide core,
wherein the tapered sidewall liners (formed by layer 64) are above and immediately adjacent to (i.e. immediately nearby to) the insulator layer and further positioned laterally immediately adjacent to (i.e. nearby a side of) at least the lower dielectric layer and the waveguide core (see Figure 4);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners are greater in height than the waveguide core (see Figures 1 and 4; the first height of the tapered sidewall liner layer 64 is higher than the height of the waveguide core as labeled in annotated Figure 4 below);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners are further positioned laterally immediately adjacent (i.e. nearby a side of) to the upper dielectric layer (22; see Figures 1 and 4);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners (see Figures 1 and 4) each have a first side adjacent to the waveguide core and a second side opposite the first side and having a linear shape (see Figures 1 and 4);
further comprising:
a stack of cladding material layers (66, 68; see Figure 4) over the tapered sidewall liners (64) and the waveguide core (core; see Figure 4 annotated below), wherein the cladding material layers (66, 68) in the stack have progressively decreasing refractive indices between a first cladding material layer in the stack proximal to the waveguide core and a last cladding material layer in the stack distal to the waveguide core (see column 4, lines 22-39); and
a dielectric layer (22) on the stack, wherein a refractive index of the dielectric layer is smaller than the refractive indices of all the cladding material layers in the stack (see column 4, lines 22-39).
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Claims 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Deki et al. (JP 2006-208548 A).
Regarding claims 17-19; Deki et al. discloses a structure (see Figure 1) comprising:
a waveguide core (14) having opposing sidewalls; and
a tapered sidewall liner (15) and a dielectric layer (12a) positioned laterally immediately adjacent (i.e. laterally nearby) to the opposing sidewalls, respectively, wherein the dielectric layer (12b) further extends over the tapered sidewall liner (15);
wherein the tapered sidewall liner (15) and the waveguide core (14) have equal heights (see Figure 1(b));
wherein the tapered sidewall liner (15) has a first side adjacent to the waveguide core (14) and a second side opposite the first side and having a linear shape (see Figure 1(b)).
Claims 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ishikawa et al. (US 7,272,279 B2).
Regarding claims 12-15; Ishikawa et al. discloses a structure (see Figure 2) comprising:
a waveguide core (core 42 of waveguide 25) having opposing sidewalls (sidewalls of core 42 forming inclined surfaces 44); and
tapered sidewall liners (cladding material 43 forms tapered sidewall liners adjacent to inclined surfaces 44) on the opposing sidewalls (44),
wherein the tapered sidewall liners are asymmetric (the tapered sidewalls of the cladding (43) adjacent the sidewalls (44) are asymmetric because the cladding is shorter on the side of waveguide 25 nearest waveguide 26);
wherein the tapered sidewall liners have different heights (see Figure 2);
wherein a top surface of the waveguide core is at a same level as a top end of only one of the tapered sidewall liners (a top surface of the waveguide core 42 is at a same height as the cladding material that is disposed laterally to the sidewalls (44));
wherein the tapered sidewall liners each have a first side adjacent to the waveguide core (42) and a second side opposite the first side and having a linear shape (the cladding material forming the sidewall lining portion has linear surfaces).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 16 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The prior art of record, which is the most relevant prior art known, does not disclose or render obvious:
the structure defined by claim 8, wherein top ends of the tapered sidewall liners are at a same level as a top surface of the upper dielectric layer in combination with all of the limitations of base claim 1, intervening claim 4, and intervening claim 7; or
the structure defined by claim 16, further comprising: a protective layer on the waveguide core; and a dielectric layer on the tapered sidewall liners and the protective layer in combination with all of the limitations of base claim 12.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Bazylenko (US 2003/0026571; see sidewall liners 16, 18), and Hu et al. (US 2011/0311180 A1; see Figures 2D).
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Uyen-Chau Le can be reached at 571-272-2397. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHELLE R CONNELLY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874