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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the claim 23 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s).
Applicant shows the recombination center in a aperture region (surrounding the aperture applicant does not show the recombination center at or in the aperture as cclaimed. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 23-28 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.
As to claim 23 recitation of wherein the aperture is filled with material of the semiconductor region, and wherein at least some of the recombination centers are arranged at the aperture is unclear and confusing since it implies that the aperture contains both the semiconductor material and the recombination material thus not being an aperture (figure 4A depicts a aperture and the recombination centers at the edge of the aperture but the recombination centers are not at/in the aperture. It appears applicant means that the aperture is a region (item 31 figure 4B) where all of item 6 is label as the aperture. Thus the examiner will interpret claim 23 as wherein the active region has an aperture region comprising an aperture, wherein the aperture is filled with material of the semiconductor region, and wherein at least some of the recombination centers are arranged at the aperture region.
As to claim 24 it is unclear what the n-doped and p-doped region are related to applicant does not set forth the device comprise a n-doped and p-doped region thus it is unclear if they are to be pard of the device or external to the device.
As to claim 26, it is unclear if the recombination centers are at the aperture or “around the aperture.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
Claim(s) 23-24, and 26-28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by Ishizawa (cited on ids “038”).
a. As to claim 23Ishizawa teaches A radiation-emitting semiconductor chip comprising: an active region of recombination centers designed for radiative recombination of charge carrier pairs (figure 1 items 34); and a semiconductor region surrounding the active region in a vertical direction (top part of item 40),wherein the active region has an aperture region comprising an aperture in the active region (region including a portion of item 34 and the 40 between two of the pillars 30a),wherein the aperture is filled with material of the semiconductor region (item 40), and wherein at least some of the recombination centers are arranged at the aperture region (the aperture region can be define to include 34a).
b. As to claim 24, Ishizawa teaches the device comprises an n-doped regions (item 32 paragraph 40) and a p-doped region (item 36 paragraph 44) wherein the semiconductor region is undoped ((aragraph 57) and adjoins the n-doped region and the p-doped region (figure 1 40 adjoins the regions)
c. As to claim 26, Ishizawa wherein the aperture is arranged at a center of the radiation-emitting semiconductor chip (there is a large aperture at the center figure 1), and wherein the recombination centers are arranged around the aperture in a lateral direction ( 34a and 34b are around the aperture around is broad).
d. As to claim 27 Ishizawa teaches wherein the recombination centers are or comprise quantum dots. Though Ishizawa does not explicitly state they are quantum dots the fact that the structure are pillars and figure 2-7 and figure 1 indicate the shape provides 3 dimensional confinement, two due to the pillar shape and one due to the quantum well nature, thus it is inherently a quantum dot.
f. As to claim 28, applicant provides no structure definition of a micro-LED and merely changing the name thus since it merely represent a label change Ishizawa teaches a micro LED; paragraph 4 indicates the columns are on the micron scale so it acts as a micro LED.
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) 25 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ishizawa.
a. As to claim 25, Ishizawa teaches wherein the active region comprises indium (paragraph 42), but does not teach wherein an indium concentration of the active region is greater than 50% at least in places.
However, In0.5Ga0.5N was known for Nitride device photodevices at the time of filing.
Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill at the time of filing to provide the 34a with at least In0.5Ga0.5N ,or higher indium concentrations for the desired band gap directly corresponding to emission wavelength.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-22 are allowed.
AS to claim 15 prior art fails to teach and or suggest and structuring into the semiconductor chips such that at least some of the recombination centers are arranged at a distance from edges of the semiconductor chips, wherein mesa structures and/or steps are generated in a semiconductor layer and/or a growth substrate to define the positions, wherein the positions are located at edges and/or corners of the mesa structures and/or at edges and/or the corners of the steps, and wherein a material for forming the recombination centers has a larger lattice constant than a material in which the mesa structures and/or steps are formed in conjunction with the other elements of claim 15
As to claim 21, prior art for fails to teach or suggest in conjunction the other elements:
structuring of mesa structures in the undoped semiconductor layer thereby defining positions for recombination centers, which are designed for radiative recombination of charge carrier pairs; growing an active layer with the recombination centers at edges and/or corners of the mesa structures thereby producing the recombination centers at the positions in the active layer.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Noda teaches the light emitting region directly adjacent to apertures (item 34 figure 1).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW L REAMES whose telephone number is (571)272-2408. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 6:00 am-4:00 pm EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William F. Kraig can be reached at 571-272-8660. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW L. REAMES/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2896
/MATTHEW L REAMES/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
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