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 .
This is a Non-Final office action based on application 17/760,060 filed August 3, 2022. Claims 1-16 are currently pending and have been considered below.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 9-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Moriwaki (Pre-Grant Publication 2020/0303446).
Regarding claim 1, Moriwaki discloses an imaging element comprising:
a photoelectric conversion unit that is configured of a first electrode (Fig. 1, 21) and a photoelectric conversion layer (23a) including an organic material (Paragraph [0266]) and a second electrode (22) being laminated,
wherein an inorganic oxide semiconductor material layer (23b) is formed between the first electrode and the photoelectric conversion layer, and an inorganic oxide semiconductor material configuring the inorganic oxide semiconductor material layer contains gallium atoms, tin atoms, zinc atoms, and oxygen atoms (Paragraph [0266]).
Regarding claim 9, Moriwaki further discloses:
wherein carrier mobility of the inorganic oxide semiconductor material layer is equal to or greater than 10 cm2/V-s (Paragraph [0115]).
Regarding claim 10, Moriwaki further discloses:
wherein the photoelectric conversion unit further includes an insulating layer (82) and a charge accumulation electrode (24) that is disposed to be separated from the first electrode and is disposed to face the inorganic oxide semiconductor material layer via the insulating layer.
Regarding claim 11 & 12, Moriwaki further discloses:
charge generated in the photoelectric conversion layer is transferred to the first electrode via the inorganic oxide semiconductor material layer and the charge is electrons (Paragraph [0289 & 0291]).
Regarding claim 13, Moriwaki further discloses:
at least one imaging element according to claim 1 (Claim 11).
Regarding claim 14, Moriwaki further discloses:
a plurality of imaging elements according to claim 1 (Claim 12).
Regarding claim 15, Moriwaki further discloses:
a plurality of stacked imaging elements according to claim 13 (Claim 13).
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Masumo (Pre-Grant Publication 2020/0287051).
Regarding claim 16, Masumo disclose a semiconductor device comprising:
an inorganic oxide semiconductor material having a composition represented as GaaSnbZncOd (where a + b + c = 1.00, and a> 0, b > 0, and c> 0), values of a, b, and c satisfy Expression (1) below, or satisfy Expression (2) below, or satisfy Expression (3) below, or satisfy Expressions (1) and (2) below, or satisfy Expressions (1) and (3) below, or satisfy Expressions (2) and (3) below, or satisfy Expressions (1), (2), and (3) below,
0.45(b-0.62) ≤ 0.55a ≤ 0.45b
a ≤ -3.0(b-0.63)
b ≥ 0.23
wherein the tin atoms can range from 16-28% (Paragraph [0074]) and therefore can satisfy an expression above.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-8 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: Claim 2 is allowable because none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses an optical gap of the inorganic oxide semiconductor material is equal to or greater than 2.7 eV and equal to or less than 3.2 eV. Claim 3 is also allowable based on its dependency from claim 2.
Claim 4 is allowable because none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses wherein oxygen deficiency generation energy of the inorganic oxide semiconductor material is equal to or greater than 2.6 eV. Claim 5 is also allowable base don its dependency form claim 4.
Claim 6 is allowable because none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses wherein a carrier mobility of the inorganic oxide semiconductor material layer is equal to or greater than 10 cm2/V-s, and when a composition of the inorganic oxide semiconductor material is represented as GaaSnbZncOd (where a + b + c = 1.00, and a > 0, b > 0, and c > 0), b> 0.23 ... (3) is satisfied.
Claim 7 is allowable because none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses wherein when a composition of the inorganic oxide semiconductor material is represented as GaaSnbZncOd (where a + b + c = 1.00, and a > 0, b > 0, and c > 0), values of a, b, and c satisfy Expression (1) below, or satisfy Expression (2) below, or satisfy Expression (3) below, or satisfy Expressions (1) and (2) below, or satisfy Expressions (1) and (3) below, or satisfy Expressions (2) and (3) below, or satisfy Expressions (1), (2), and (3) below, here, 0.45(b-0.62) ≤ 0.55a ≤ 0.45b, a ≤ -3.0(b-0.63), b ≥ 0.23.
Claim 8 is allowable because none of the prior art either alone or in combination discloses wherein wherein when a composition of the inorganic oxide semiconductor material is represented as GaaSnbZncOd (where a + b + c = 1.00, and a > 0, b > 0, and c > 0), values of a, b, and c satisfy all of Expressions (1), (2), and (3) below: 0.45(b-0.62) ≤ 0.55a ≤ 0.45b, a ≤ -3.0(b-0.63), b ≥ 0.23.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRANDON C FOX whose telephone number is (571)270-5016. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-6:00PM.
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/BRANDON C FOX/ Examiner, Art Unit 2818
/DAVID VU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818