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 .
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.
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.
Claims 1-18 are 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.
Claims 1, 6, 10, and 15 as well as their respective dependent claims due to their dependency recite particular values of the attenuation coefficient. However, they fail to provide specific units. The claimed value is therefore indefinite.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 1-4, 6-8 and 10-13, 15-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by JP-2004207536 (Honjiyou).
For claim 1, Honjiyou teaches a semiconductor structure for optoelectronic applications (fig. 1-2) comprising:
a first layer made of a crystalline semiconductor (fig. 1, 9; [0109]), the first layer being placed disposed on an intermediate layer (fig. 1, 3-10) including or adjacent to a direct-bonding interface (fig. 1, 10 may be considered a direct bonding interface), the intermediate layer being disposed on
- a second layer made of a crystalline semiconductor (fig. 1, 1 and 2),
wherein the intermediate layer is composed of a material different from those of the first and second layers (Si, [0089]-[0091]), and
the intermediate layer has an attenuation coefficient lower than 100 (the attenuation coefficient is an inherent property of the layer which includes Si [0089] which is the same material claimed later in claim 1 and will therefore have a corresponding attenuation coefficient), and a refractive index that differs by less than 0.3 from the refractive index:
- of at least one sub-layer of the first layer adjacent to the intermediate layer, and
- of at least one sub-layer of the second layer adjacent to the intermediate layer (Honjiyou uses that same materials including GaAs [0089] and [0109] in the sub-layers of the first and second layer and will therefore have similar refractive index differences), and
wherein the crystalline semiconductor of the first layer comprises gallium arsenide ([0109]), the crystalline semiconductor of the second layer comprises gallium arsenide ([0089]), and the material of the intermediate layer comprises silicon ([0089], [0081]).
For claim 10, Honjiyou teaches a semiconductor structure for optoelectronic applications (fig. 1) comprising:
a first layer comprising crystalline gallium arsenide (fig. 1, 9; [090] and [0109]);
a second layer comprising crystalline gallium arsenide (fig. 1, 1-2; [0089] and [0106]); and
an intermediate layer comprising silicon disposed directly between and in direct physical contact with each of the first layer and the second layer (fig. 1, 3-10), the intermediate layer having an attenuation coefficient lower than 100 (the attenuation coefficient is an inherent property of the layer which includes Si [0089] which is the same material claimed later in claim 1 and will therefore have a corresponding attenuation coefficient; further, the attenuation coefficient units may be arbitrarily chosen such that the attenuation coefficient is lower than 100), the intermediate layer having a refractive index that differs by less than 0.3 from a refractive index:
of at least a portion of the first layer directly adjacent to and in direct physical contact with the intermediate layer, and
of at least a portion of the second layer directly adjacent to and in direct physical contact with the intermediate layer (Honjiyou uses that same materials including GaAs [0089] and [0109] in the sub-layers of the first and second layer and will therefore have similar refractive index differences); and
wherein a direct bonding interface is disposed within the intermediate layer, at an interface between the intermediate layer and the first layer, or at an interface between the intermediate layer and the second layer (fig. 1 and 2, a direct bonding interface is at least within the intermediate layer between 6 and 3; [0111]-[0115]).
For claim 2 and 11, Honjiyou teaches the material of the intermediate layer is amorphous ([0089]).
For claim 3, 7, 12, and 16, Honjiyou teaches the crystalline material of the first layer comprises a single crystal of sufficiently high crystal quality to form a seed for epitaxy ([0109]).
For claim 4, 8, 13, and 17, Honjiyou teaches the first layer forms all or some of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (fig. 1, DBR 9 of VCSEL 1; title and description of fig. 1).
For claim 6 and 15, Honjiyou does not explicitly state the attenuation coefficient of the intermediate layer is lower than 1. However, the attenuation coefficient is an inherent property of the layer which includes Si [0089] which is the same material claimed in claim 1 and will therefore inherently have a corresponding attenuation coefficient. Further, the attenuation coefficient units may be arbitrarily chosen such that the attenuation coefficient is lower than 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.
Claims 5, 9, 14, and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious JP-2004207536 (Honjiyou).
For claims 5, 9, 14, and 18, Honjiyou teaches the second layer is a carrier substrate ([0088]). Honjiyou does not teach the second layer having an optical transparency higher than 30%. However, the examiner takes official notice that optical transparency was well-known results effective variable in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to determine suitable optical transparency of the second layer including higher than 30% in order to allow a beam to be output through the substrate, since it has been held that discovering an optimum value of a result effective variable involves only routine skill in the art. In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 205 USPQ 215 (CCPA 1980).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Michael W Carter whose telephone number is (571)270-1872. The examiner can normally be reached M-F, 9:00-5:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, MinSun Harvey can be reached at 571-272-1835. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Michael Carter/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
