DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 05/27/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Objections
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities: “the at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures” lacks antecedent basis. Claim 10 is presumed to be a dependent claim of claim 3 or claim 4 for the purpose of this Office action. 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 9 is 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 9 recites “at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures”. Claim 9 depends on claim 1, which recites “at two ring resonant structures”. It is unclear whether “at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures” of claim 9 are two additional resonant structures (not apparently supported by the drawings), OR the same resonant structures as claim 1, OR racetrack-shaped structures in claims 3 or 4. Claim 9 is presumed to be a dependent claim of claim 1, and the limitation is treated as the at least two ring resonant structures, for the purpose of this Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 16-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. PGPub 2024/0272364 A1 by Okawachi et al.
Regarding claim 16, Okawachi teaches an optical transmission structure (Fig. 15A), comprising: a first waveguide (1802) and a second waveguide (1804) extending along a first direction (horizontal as illustrated); and at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures (1806) arranged along a second direction (stacked vertically as illustrated) different from the first direction and disposed between the first and second waveguides, wherein the at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures are configured to optically couple the first waveguide to the second waveguide in the second direction (along a serpentine path 1810a shown in Fig. 15A).
Regarding claim 17, Okawachi further teaches the first waveguide, the second waveguide, and the at least two racetrack- shaped resonant structures are physically separated from each other in the second direction (as illustrated in Fig. 15A).
Regarding claims 18, 19, Okawachi further teaches the first waveguide, the second waveguide, and the at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures have the same material of silicon or silicon nitride (the planar/bus waveguides, i.e., first and second waveguides and the resonant waveguides a nonlinear optical material, such as silicon, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, lithium niobate, germanium, diamond, silicon carbide, silicon dioxide, glass, amorphous silicon, silicon-on-sapphire, or a combination thereof, ¶[0033]).
Regarding claim 20, Okawachi further teaches the first waveguide, the second waveguide, and the at least two racetrack- shaped resonant structures are at the same level, so that an optical signal is transmitted horizontally on the same plane (all waveguides extend on a same plane, as stated in Claims 21, 25, 28 of Okawachi).
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, 2-9, 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. PGPub 2024/0061194 A1 by Elsherbini et al. in view of U.S. PGPub 2024/0272364 A1 by Okawachi et al.
Regarding claim 1, Elsherbini teaches a package structure (Fig. 8A), comprising: an electronic die (EIC 114); and a photonic die (¶[0124], PIC base substrate 162 in a first layer 102-1 that include optical elements of a PIC as described with reference to Fig. 1B, i.e., PIC 104 in Fig. 1B) bonding (via an interconnect 106) to the electronic die (114), wherein the photonic die comprises: a substrate (162); an interconnect structure (106) disposed over the substrate; a semiconductor layer (now with reference to Fig. 1B, an active surface 105, which includes optical elements an electromagnetic radiation source 166, an electro-optical device 168, and a waveguide 160, which further comprise a silicon photonic waveguide based on silicon-on-isolator (SOI) platform, ¶[0090]-[0092]) disposed between the substrate and the interconnect structure (106). Elsherbini further teaches that the PIC base substrate may include optical elements of the PIC such as a resonator (820), which further include micro-ring resonators (MRRs) that function as an optical add/drop filter that adds or removes certain wavelengths (¶[0124]). Elsherbini does not specify the structure of the micro-ring resonators Okawachi teaches an optical transmission structure (Fig. 15A), comprising: a first waveguide (1802) and a second waveguide (1804) extending along a first direction (horizontal as illustrated); and at least two ring resonant structures (1806) arranged along a second direction (stacked vertically as illustrated) different from the first direction and disposed between the first and second waveguides, wherein the at least two ring resonant structures (1806) are configured to optically couple the first waveguide to the second waveguide in the second direction (along a serpentine path 1810a shown in Fig. 15A). Okawachi also uses the ring resonators for optical filters, in architectures that are versatile and scalable, enable integrated devices capable of efficiently providing multiple modulated optical signals across frequency bands commonly used in conventional optical communication systems. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the two-ring resonant structure described as the optical filter in Elsherbini’s invention, as suggested by Okawachi, for the same reason and advantage.
Regarding claims 2-7, 11, Okawachi further suggests that the first direction is substantially orthogonal to the second direction (Fig. 15A), wherein the at least two ring resonant structures are racetrack-shaped in a top view of the semiconductor layer (Fig. 15A), and an overlapping length of facing sidewalls of the at least two ring resonant structures in the first direction is at least greater than zero (the two racetrack shapes are entirely overlapped, Fig. 15A), wherein the at least two ring resonant structures are racetrack-shaped in a top view of the semiconductor layer, and the at least two ring resonant structures are completely aligned and overlapped with each other in the second direction (Fig. 15A), wherein the at least two ring resonant structures, the first waveguide, and the second waveguide are physically separated from each other in the second direction (Fig. 15A), wherein the at least two ring resonant structures have the same racetrack shape in a top view of the semiconductor layer (Fig. 15A), wherein the semiconductor layer is a silicon layer (¶[0033]), wherein a material of the dielectric layer is silicon nitride (¶[0033]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use the two-ring resonant structure described as the optical filter in Elsherbini’s invention, as suggested by Okawachi, for architectures that are versatile and scalable, enable integrated devices capable of efficiently providing multiple modulated optical signals across frequency bands commonly used in conventional optical communication systems.
Regarding claim 8, Elsherbini further teaches a coupler (coupler chiplet 183, which may be a fiber array block that couples to the PIC 104) optically connected to the first waveguide; a first photodetector optically connected to the first waveguide; and a second photodetector optically connected to the second waveguide (each waveguide 160 in the active surface 105 is coupled to a EO device 168 such as a photodetector).
Regarding claim 9, Okawachi further suggests a dielectric layer embedded in the substrate, wherein the dielectric layer comprises at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures (all the waveguides extend in the same plane as stated above in rejection to Claim 20, and the waveguides, including the ring resonant structures, are disposed in a core layer 116, surrounded by dielectric cladding layers 118a, 118b as illustrated in Fig. 2 of Okawachi), for architectures that are versatile and scalable, enable integrated devices capable of efficiently providing multiple modulated optical signals across frequency bands commonly used in conventional optical communication systems.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 10 is 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. Okawachi is the closest identified prior art regarding the structure of the at least two racetrack-shaped resonant structures, in which the two racetrack-shaped resonant structures, along with the planar bus waveguides, are formed by a semiconductor layer in a horizontal manner, and it is the examiner’s position that any modification that result in the racetrack-shaped resonant structure being optically coupled to the semiconductor layer as well as being coupled in a vertical manner would not have been obvious or reasonable to a person of ordinary skill in the art, when considered in view of the rest of the limitations of the claimed invention.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. WO 2007073763 A1 discloses multiple ring resonators aligned in a different direction from bus waveguides (Fig. 2).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHARLIE PENG whose telephone number is (571)272-2177. The examiner can normally be reached 9AM - 6PM.
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/CHARLIE Y PENG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2874
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