Appeal No. 1997-4033
Application No. 08/589,584
decreased bandgap [energy]. It would have been obvious[6]
to a skilled artisan to apply the masking techniques for
affecting bandgap as taught in Sasaki given that Rolland
already teaches the claimed structure.
We agree with appellant that the examiner has confused the
2 Fm and 4 Fm widths of the MQW structures in Rolland's active
and passive regions, respectively, with the thicknesses of the
MQW structures in those regions, which Rolland does not
disclose as being different. While Sasaki discloses using
different mask widths to produce different MQW thicknesses and
different band gap wavelengths in devices having active and
passive regions with different bandgap energies, the examiner
has not explained why the artisan would have been motivated by
Sasaki to modify Rolland's modulator, which apparently has a
uniform MQW thickness and bandgap wavelength, by forming the
MQW structures in its active and passive portions with
different thicknesses and thus different bandgap wavelengths,
as required by claim 22. The § 103 rejection of claim 22 is
therefore reversed, as is the rejection of dependent claims
6As noted supra, this statement may refer to the 58.9
and 58.8 meV values given in Figure 4; as is apparent from
that figure, this statement is incorrect if "bandgap energy"
is understood to mean band gap wavelength.
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