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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Election/ Restrictions
Applicant's election of group II without traverse: claims 1-11, in the “Response to Election / Restriction Filed - 07/07/2026”, withdrawal of non-elected claim(s) 12-20 is/are acknowledged. This office action considers claims 1-20, in “Claims - 07/07/2026”, pending for prosecution, of which claim(s) 12-20 is/are withdrawn.
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.
Claims 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 pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
Claim 1 recites “a pseudo-substrate heterostructure on the template” and further recites “a first porosified layer comprising a metal nitride alloy on a template”. It is unclear if “the template” and “a template” are the same layer.
Claim 1 recites “optionally, ……” which renders the claim indefinite. It us unclear if the term “optionally” refers to only “one or more additional structures on the first coalescence layer, wherein each of the one or more additional structures comprises an additional porosified layer comprising a metal nitride alloy; and an additional coalescence layer comprising a metal nitride alloy on the additional porosified layer” or it also includes “an upper, non-porosified, at-least-partially strain-relaxed layer comprising a metal nitride alloy on the first coalescence layer or on a terminal additional coalescence layer”. Applicant is requested to recite these claim limitations so as to make is clear to what limitation(s) the “optionally” term applies.
Claims 2-9 depend from claim 1.
Claim 10 has the same issues. Applicant is requested to recite these claim limitations so as to make is clear to what limitation(s) the “optionally” term applies.
Claim 11 depends from claim 10.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) that forms the basis for the rejection set forth in this Office action:
(a) NOVELTY; PRIOR ART.—A person shall be entitled to a patent unless—
(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;
Notes: when present, semicolon separated fields within the parenthesis (; ;) represent, for example, as (30A; Fig 2B; [0128]) = (element 30A; Figure No. 2B; Paragraph No. [0128]). For brevity, the texts “Element”, “Figure No.” and “Paragraph No.” shall be excluded, though; additional clarification notes may be added within each field. The number of fields may be fewer or more than three indicated above. These conventions are used throughout this document.
Claims 1, 10-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ali et al. (US 20230053213 A1 – hereinafter Ali).
Regarding Claim 1, Ali teaches a pseudo-substrate (see the entire document; Fig. 5; specifically, ([0155] - [0159]), and as cited below), comprising:
a template (10 - Fig. 5 – [0151]);
a pseudo-substrate heterostructure on the template (10), the pseudo-substrate heterostructure comprising:
a first porosified layer (40 – [0155] – “only the highly doped layer 40 is porosified, while the undoped layer 50 remains nonporous”) comprising a metal nitride alloy (InGaN – [0154]) on a template (10 or 20);
a first coalescence layer (50 – [0155]) comprising a metal nitride alloy (InGaN – [0155]) on the first porosified layer (40);
optionally, one or more additional structures on the first coalescence layer, wherein each of the one or more additional structures comprises an additional porosified layer comprising a metal nitride alloy; and an additional coalescence layer comprising a metal nitride alloy on the additional porosified layer (these limitations are not required as they are optional); and
an upper, non-porosified, at-least-partially strain-relaxed layer comprising a metal nitride alloy (100 – [0159] – “Further non-porous layers of InGaN (the second III-nitride material) 100, for example In.sub.0.11Ga.sub.0.89N, may be overgrown directly onto the top surface of the In.sub.0.11Ga.sub.0.89N layers. Thanks to the strain reduction in the porous layers, the overgrown non-porous material will then be “relaxed” as it is less strained than it would have been if it were grown directly onto GaN. In this way, a strain-relaxed layer of InGaN 100 may be formed on the relatively-thick GaN platform, despite the lattice mismatch between the GaN and InGaN lattices”) on the first coalescence layer (50) or on a terminal additional coalescence layer.
Regarding Claim 10, Ali teaches an electronic or optoelectronic device comprising one or more epitaxial active layers on a pseudo-substrate, the pseudo-substrate (see the entire document; Fig. 5; specifically, ([0155] - [0159]), and as cited below), comprising:
a template (10 - Fig. 5 – [0151]);
a pseudo-substrate heterostructure on the template (10), the pseudo-substrate heterostructure comprising:
a first porosified layer (40 – [0155] – “only the highly doped layer 40 is porosified, while the undoped layer 50 remains nonporous”) comprising a metal nitride alloy (InGaN – [0154]) comprising a metal nitride alloy (InGaN – [0154]) on a template (10 or 20);
a first coalescence layer (50 – [0155]) comprising a metal nitride alloy (InGaN – [0155]) on the first porosified layer (40);
optionally, one or more additional structures on the first coalescence layer, wherein each of the one or more additional structures comprises an additional porosified layer comprising a metal nitride alloy; and an additional coalescence layer comprising a metal nitride alloy on the additional porosified layer (these limitations are not required as they are optional); and
an upper, non-porosified, at-least-partially strain-relaxed layer comprising a metal nitride alloy (100 – [0159] – “Further non-porous layers of InGaN (the second III-nitride material) 100, for example In.sub.0.11Ga.sub.0.89N, may be overgrown directly onto the top surface of the In.sub.0.11Ga.sub.0.89N layers. Thanks to the strain reduction in the porous layers, the overgrown non-porous material will then be “relaxed” as it is less strained than it would have been if it were grown directly onto GaN. In this way, a strain-relaxed layer of InGaN 100 may be formed on the relatively-thick GaN platform, despite the lattice mismatch between the GaN and InGaN lattices”) on the first coalescence layer (50) or on a terminal additional coalescence layer.
Regarding Claim 11, Ali teaches the electronic or optoelectronic device of claim 10, wherein the electronic or optoelectronic device is a high electron mobility transistor, a light-emitting diode, or a laser diode (LED – [0106]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-9 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 the Examiner’s Reasons for Allowance:
The prior art fails to disclose and would not have rendered obvious:
Regarding claim 2: The pseudo-substrate of claim 1, wherein the metal nitride alloy of the first porosified layer, the metal nitride alloy of the one or more additional porosified layers, if present, and the metal nitride alloy of the upper, non-porosified, at least-partially strain relaxed layer are (Al,In)GaN alloys.
Claims 3-4 depend from claim 2.
Regarding claim 5: The pseudo-substrate of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first porosified layer, the one or more additional porosified layers, if present, and the upper, non-porosified, at least-partially strain relaxed layer is a superlattice.
Regarding claim 6: The pseudo-substrate of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first porosified layer, the one or more additional porosified layers, if present, and the upper, non-porosified, at least-partially strain relaxed layer consists of a single layer of metal nitride alloy.
Regarding claim 7: The pseudo-substrate of claim 1, comprising at least one of the additional structures on the first coalescence layer.
Claims 8-9 depend from claim 7.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD A. RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571) 270-0168 and email is mohammad.rahman5@uspto.gov. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8:00-5:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julio J. Maldonado can be reached on (571) 272-1864. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see https://ppair-my.uspto.gov/pair/PrivatePair. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/MOHAMMAD A RAHMAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
Prosecution Insights