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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohmi et al. (US PG Pub 2007/0131960 A1, 04/15/24 IDS) in view of JP2004335763A (hereafter JP’763, machine translation is attached) and Nakagawa et al. (US PG Pub 2010/0008391 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ohmi discloses a semiconductor laser (10, FIG. 17) comprising:
a compound semiconductor substrate (11, FIG. 17, [0043]);
a compound semiconductor multilayer film (20, FIG. 17, [0043]) formed on the compound semiconductor substrate and including a ridged stripe (12, FIG. 17, [0044]) and a resonator end face (13, FIG. 17, [0044]) which corresponds to a cleavage plane perpendicular to a long-side direction of the stripe;
a first Pd electrode (16, FIG. 17, [0044]) formed on the stripe in a region of up to the resonator end face (FIG. 17);
a second Au electrode (19, FIG. 17, [0073]) formed on the first Au electrode in a region excluding a region adjacent to the resonator end face (FIG. 17); and
a metal layer (a further metal layer disposed on 16, “another metal such as Au or Mo may further be laid thereon,” [0098]) formed on the first Au electrode in the region adjacent to the resonator end face and made of metal harder than Au (Mo is harder than Au, [0098]).
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Ohmi does not disclose the first electrode being made of Au.
JP’763 discloses a first Au electrode (20, FIG. 1, [0025]) formed on the stripe in a region of up to the resonator end face (FIG. 1); a second Au electrode (30, FIG. 1, [0025]) formed on the first Au electrode in a region excluding a region adjacent to the resonator end face (FIG. 1).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the first Pd electrode of Ohmi with the first Au electrode as taught by JP’763 in order to obtain excellent electrical conductivity.
Ohmi also does not disclose a coating film formed on the resonator end face.
Nakagawa discloses a coating film (50, FIG. 23, [0232]) formed on the resonator end face (FIG. 23).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the semiconductor laser of Ohmi with the coating film formed on the resonator end face as taught by Nakagawa in order to reduce the degradation of the laser characteristic ([0233] of Nakagawa).
Regarding claim 2, the combination has disclosed the metal layer outlined in the rejection to claim 1 above except the metal layer is made of Ti, Ni, or Cr. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to replace the Mo metal layer with a material of Ti, NI, or Cr in order to obtain desired oxidation protection at the resonator end face, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In re Leshin, 125 USPQ 416.
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohmi et al. in view of JP’763 and KAWAKAMI et al. (US PG Pub 2019/0221999 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Ohmi discloses a semiconductor laser (10, FIG. 17) comprising:
a compound semiconductor substrate (11, FIG. 17, [0043]);
a compound semiconductor multilayer film (20, FIG. 17, [0043]) formed on the compound semiconductor substrate and including a ridged stripe (12, FIG. 17, [0044]) and a resonator end face (13, FIG. 17, [0044]) which corresponds to a cleavage plane perpendicular to a long-side direction of the stripe;
a first Pd electrode (16, FIG. 17, [0044]) formed on the stripe in a region of up to the resonator end face (FIG. 17); and
a second Au electrode (19, FIG. 17, [0073]) formed on the first Au electrode in a region excluding a region adjacent to the resonator end face (FIG. 17); and
an insulating film (18, FIG. 17, [0044]) formed on the first Pd electrode in the region adjacent to the resonator end face.
Ohmi does not disclose the first electrode being made of Au.
JP’763 discloses a first Au electrode (20, FIG. 1, [0025]) formed on the stripe in a region of up to the resonator end face (FIG. 1); a second Au electrode (30, FIG. 1, [0025]) formed on the first Au electrode in a region excluding a region adjacent to the resonator end face (FIG. 1).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the first Pd electrode of Ohmi with the first Au electrode as taught by JP’763 in order to obtain excellent electrical conductivity.
Ohmi also does not disclose a coating film formed on the resonator end face and formed of a material different from that of the insulating film.
KAWAKAMI discloses a coating film (11, FIG. 1B, [0064]) formed on the resonator end face and formed of a material different from that of the insulating film (11 may be formed of a material different from that of a dielectric film 8, [0065]).
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It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the semiconductor laser of Ohmi with the coating film of a different material than the insulating film formed on the resonator end face as taught by KAWAKAMI in order to reduce the degradation of the laser characteristic.
Claims 4 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohmi et al., JP’763, and Nakagawa et al. as applied to claims 1 and 2 above, and further in view of Mihashi et al. (US PG Pub 2004/0218646 A1).
Regarding claims 4 and 5, the combination has disclosed the semiconductor laser outlined in the rejection to claims 1 and 2 above except a length from the resonator end face to the second Au electrode in a long-side direction of the stripe is 10 μm to 100 μm. Mihashi discloses a non-injection region at a resonator end face may be set to 20 μm or less (R1 at 20 μm or less, FIG. 1, [0049]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the semiconductor laser of the combination with a length from the resonator end face to the second Au electrode in a long-side direction of the stripe being 10 μm to 100 μm as taught by Mihashi in order to reduce current density at the resonator end face ([0049] of Mihashi).
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Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ohmi et al., JP’763, and KAWAKAMI et al. as applied to claim 3 above, and further in view of Mihashi et al.
Regarding claim 6, the combination has disclosed the semiconductor laser outlined in the rejection to claim 3 above except a length from the resonator end face to the second Au electrode in a long-side direction of the stripe is 10 μm to 100 μm. Mihashi discloses a non-injection region at a resonator end face may be set to 20 μm or less (R1 at 20 μm or less, FIG. 1, [0049]). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the semiconductor laser of the combination with a length from the resonator end face to the second Au electrode in a long-side direction of the stripe being 10 μm to 100 μm as taught by Mihashi in order to reduce current density at the resonator end face ([0049] of Mihashi).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Takeuchi et al. (US PG Pub 2004/0252739 A1) discloses a first p-side electrode consisting Cr/Au and a second p-side electrode consisting Pd/Au similar to the claimed invention (FIG. 9, [0106]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YUANDA ZHANG whose telephone number is (571)270-1439. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:30 AM - 6:30 PM.
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/YUANDA ZHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2828
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