Appeal No. 1998-2934
Application No. 08/290,275
diode because Brown uses carriers in the conduction and valence bands of the
confinement barriers which recombine in the quantum well and emit light photons while a
resonant tunneling diode has carriers of a single type which tunnel through the tunneling
barriers and resonant with energy levels in the quantum well, the examiner explains that the
tunneling phenomenon depends on the thickness of the tunneling barrier layer and the
resonant phenomenon depends on the thickness of the quantum well and the barrier height
[answer-page 7]. Therefore, if we understand the examiner correctly, the examiner is
contending that whether there is tunneling, as in the instant invention, or confinement, as
disclosed by Brown, is dependent on the thickness of both the tunneling barrier layer and
the quantum well, both within the skill of the artisan to alter.
Even assuming, arguendo, that the examiner is correct in that assessment, the
examiner still has presented no convincing line of reasoning as to why, from the evidence
presented by APA and Brown, the skilled artisan would have been led to employ the
materials disclosed by Brown in a resonant tunneling diode when Brown is completely
silent as to any tunneling. As far as we can tell, from the evidence before us, the only
suggestion for using materials taken from the groups of III-V semi-
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