DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of claims 1-12 in the reply filed on September 9, 2026, is acknowledged.
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.
Claims 1-2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Won, (US 2012/0153256 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Won shows a nitride semiconductor light emitting element (LED 100 in FIG. 1 and [0028]) comprising: an n-side semiconductor layer ( semiconductor layer 117 and [0036]); a p-side semiconductor layer ( semiconductor layer 123 and [0041]); an active layer (active layer 119) positioned between the n-side semiconductor layer and the p-side semiconductor layer (layer 123/117); and an electron blocking layer (clad layer 121) positioned between the p-side semiconductor layer (layer 123) and the active layer (layer 119); wherein the active layer comprises, successively from the n-side semiconductor layer (layer 117) side: a first barrier layer ( B1 layer/ layer 133) containing Al ([0037]), a first well layer (W1/W2/131) that contains Al and emits ultraviolet light ([0037]), a second barrier layer (B1/layer 133) containing Al, and a second well layer that is in contact with the electron blocking layer (clad layer 121), contains Al ([0037]), and emits ultraviolet light; an Al composition ratio of the second well layer is higher than an Al composition ratio of the first well layer ([0054]); and a thickness of the second well layer is less than a thickness of the first well layer ([0059]).
Regarding claim 2, Won shows a nitride semiconductor light emitting element (LED 100 in FIG. 1 and [0028]) comprising, wherein the thickness of the second well layer is in a range of 30% to 60% of the thickness of the first well layer ([0061]).
Regarding claim 12, Won shows a nitride semiconductor light emitting element (LED 100 in FIG. 1 and [0028]) comprising, wherein: an Al composition ratio of the first barrier layer and an Al composition ratio of the n-side semiconductor layer are substantially the same ([0037]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-11 are 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ELIAS M ULLAH whose telephone number is (571)272-1415. The examiner can normally be reached M-F at 8AM-5PM EST.
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/ELIAS ULLAH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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