Contract analysis

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY At the request of Marcus Whitfield, General Counsel, and Sandra Koh, IP Manager and In-House Patent Counsel, of Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. ("OWS" or the "Company"), Calderwood & Harkness LLP ("C&H") has conducted a comprehensive freedom-to-operate ("FTO") analysis evaluating whether OWS's current and planned commercial silicon-photonic Mach-Zehnder modulator products designed for 800G and 1.6T

II. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS A. Scope of Analysis Products Analyzed. This FTO analysis evaluates OWS's multi-channel silicon-photonic Mach-Zehnder modulator products designed for 800G and 1.6T data-center optical transceiver applications. The analysis encompasses both (i) OWS's currently shipping product lines, including the OWS-800G-MZM Series (comprising the OWS-800G-MZM-4 four-channel modulator and the OWS-800G-MZM-8

III. BACKGROUND A. Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. — Company Overview Optiwave Semiconductor Corp. ("OWS" or the "Company") is a Delaware corporation, Delaware Secretary of State File No. 7284931, incorporated on April 12, 2017. The Company is registered to do business in the State of California, California Secretary of State Entity No. C4195872, and holds Employer Identification Number 83-2947105. OWS is headquartered

IV. PATENTS UNDER ANALYSIS A. U.S. Patent No. 10,823,417

1. Bibliographic Data Title: Silicon-Photonic Mach-Zehnder Modulator with Segmented Traveling-Wave Electrode Architecture and Impedance-Matched Multi-Channel Configuration Patent Number: 10,823,417 Issue Date: November 3, 2020 Filing Date: March 22, 2018 (non-provisional); claims priority to Provisional Application No. 62/475,218, filed March 23, 2017 Assignee: Pinnacle Optics, Inc. Named Inventors: Dr. Raymond K. Is

2. Summary of Disclosed Technology The '417 patent discloses a silicon-photonic Mach-Zehnder modulator employing a segmented traveling-wave electrode architecture designed for high-speed optical modulation in data-center optical transceiver applications. The specification describes the modulator as fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic platform, with the Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure formed in t

3. Independent Claim Analysis The '417 patent includes three independent claims: Claims 1, 12, and 19. Each is reproduced below with key elements identified. Claim 1 (apparatus claim directed to the modulator structure): A silicon-photonic Mach-Zehnder modulator comprising: (a) a silicon-on-insulator substrate comprising a silicon device layer, a buried oxide layer, and a silicon handle layer; (b) a Mach-Zehnder inte

4. Dependent Claim Analysis The nineteen dependent claims of the '417 patent (Claims 2-11, 13-18, and 20-22) further narrow the independent claims by specifying additional structural, dimensional, material, fabrication, and performance limitations. Key dependent claims include: • Claim 2 (dependent on Claim 1): Specifies that the plurality of electrode segments comprises between 6 and 24 segments. • Claim 3 (dependen

1. Bibliographic Data Title: Method and Apparatus for Fabricating Segmented Traveling-Wave Electrodes on Silicon-Photonic Substrates for High-Bandwidth Optical Modulation Patent Number: 11,105,662 Issue Date: August 31, 2021 Filing Date: September 14, 2020 (non-provisional); claims priority as a continuation of U.S. Application No. 15/933,147 (now U.S. Patent No. 10,823,417) and to Provisional Application No. 62/475,

2. Summary of Disclosed Technology The '662 patent is a continuation of the '417 patent and shares the same specification disclosure. However, the claims of the '662 patent are directed to a different aspect of the technology: specifically, the method of fabricating segmented traveling-wave electrodes on silicon-photonic substrates and the resulting electrode structure as defined by specific fabrication process param

3. Independent Claim Analysis Claim 1 (method claim directed to fabrication process): A method of fabricating a segmented traveling-wave electrode on a silicon-photonic substrate, the method comprising: (a) providing a silicon-on-insulator wafer having a Mach-Zehnder interferometer structure formed in a silicon device layer thereof; (b) depositing a first metal layer on the silicon-on-insulator wafer by a physical va

4. Dependent Claim Analysis The sixteen dependent claims of the '662 patent (Claims 2-9 and 11-18) further narrow the independent claims by specifying additional fabrication process details, including: • Claim 3 (dependent on Claim 1): Specifies that the physical vapor deposition process is electron-beam evaporation or sputtering. • Claim 5 (dependent on Claim 1): Specifies that the first metal layer comprises alumin

V. CLAIM CONSTRUCTION A. Methodology The claim constructions set forth in this section were developed in accordance with the framework established by the Federal Circuit in Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc). Under Phillips, claim terms are generally given their ordinary and customary meaning as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention, in view of t

VI. INFRINGEMENT ANALYSIS — CURRENT OWS PRODUCTS A. Claim Mapping Methodology This section presents the element-by-element infringement analysis comparing OWS's current commercial modulator products against each independent claim of the '417 and '662 patents. For each independent claim, we map every claim element to the corresponding feature (or absence thereof) in OWS's products and provide our assessment of whether

1. Claim 1 of the '417 Patent Element (a): "A silicon-on-insulator substrate comprising a silicon device layer, a buried oxide layer, and a silicon handle layer." OWS's modulator products are fabricated on a standard silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic platform comprising a silicon device layer (approximately 220 nm thick), a buried oxide (Box) layer (approximately 2 micrometers thick), and a silicon handle wafer. Th