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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 7/30/2025 has been entered.
Claim Objections
Claim 23 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 23, the limitation “a first vacuum pump is couple” should be amended to read “a first vacuum pump is coupled”.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 23 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
In claim 23, the limitation “a slit opening of a chamber wall” is indefinite because it is unclear whether this limitation is intended to refer to the “first chamber wall”, “second chamber wall” or another chamber wall not previously recited. This rejection may be overcome by amending the claim to recite “the first chamber wall” instead.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 4, 8, 10-15, 18, 20-21, and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (WO 2018113904 A1) in view of McLeod (US 6290821 B1), Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), Hollars (US 6488824 B1), Kim (US 20110315980 A1), Ku (US 20200411697 A1), and Dewey (US 20200098753 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Park (WO 2018113904 A1) teaches sputtering used in the generation of thin film transistors (para 0025), wherein the sputtering may be performed in an apparatus comprising a vacuum chamber 402 and additional vacuum chambers 411 (para 0066; Fig. 5), wherein a first vacuum chamber may include an array of electrodes including first pairs of electrodes (114, 115) supplied with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage (para 0034-0035; Fig. 1), and wherein the substrate is coated with a metal oxide layer (para 0081). Park also teaches more than two pairs of electrodes (at least one second pair of electrodes) may be provided (para 0029) and the substrate may be coated with more than one oxide layer (para 0081). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to deposit a second metal oxide material different than the first oxide material using the second pair of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, similarly to the first pair of electrodes.
Park teaches rollers 408 may be provided to transport a substrate into the vacuum chamber 402 and from the vacuum chamber 402 to another chamber (411, 414) connected by valve units with associated (slit) openings where the chambers share a chamber wall between them (para 0066, 0068; Fig. 5) but fails to explicitly teach that the substrate is moved from a first vacuum chamber to a second vacuum chamber without a vacuum break, wherein moving the substrate from the first vacuum chamber to the second vacuum chamber comprises continuously moving the substrate from the first vacuum chamber to the second vacuum chamber through a slit opening of a chamber wall separating the first vacuum chamber and the second vacuum chamber from each other, during depositing the first layer and the second layer.
However, McLeod (US 6290821 B1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches interconnected process chambers each dedicated for deposition of a particular layer, wherein substrate motion between adjoining process chambers is continuous and sputter deposition of each selected target material occurs onto moving substrates as the substrates pass by the particular target assembly (continuously moving the substrate from a first chamber to second chamber during depositing the first layer and second layer), wherein each chamber is divided by baffle or shared shield walls 9 having (slit) openings allowing the substrate to be transferred between chambers without breaking vacuum (col 1 line 45-67, col 2 line 1-10, col 6 line 46-67, col 7 line 1-18, col 8 line 1-8; Fig. 2). Additionally, Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches maintaining vacuum conditions during the coating process (without a vacuum break) by transferring substrates through the uninterrupted connection of individual port openings 43 (slit openings) in the walls between adjacent sputtering chambers 3 (para 0070-0072; Fig. 1, 8). Park also teaches that multiple layers may be deposited on the substrate in a dynamic/continuous fashion (para 0024, 0081). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a second deposition/sputtering chamber, as described by McLeod and Kleideter, in the apparatus of Park adjacent to the first deposition chamber for depositing a second oxide film using the second pair of electrodes connected to a bipolar pulsed DC voltage in order to deposit the multiple layers described by Park.
Additionally, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the dynamic/continuous transport method of Park with the continuous substrate transport method described by McLeod and Kleideter including continuous transport through slit openings/passages between adjacent sputtering chambers while sputtering onto the substrates and maintaining vacuum conditions because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
The previous combination of Park, McLeod, and Kleideter fails to explicitly teach a first vacuum pump coupled to the first vacuum chamber and a second vacuum pump coupled to the second vacuum chamber. However, Hollars (US 6488824 B1), in the analogous art of thin film deposition teaches deposition chambers 82 adjacent to each other with two magnetrons and associated vacuum valves and pumps 62 coupled to each chamber where the film is deposited as the substrate moves between chambers where each deposition chamber has a shared wall/panel 90 and contamination is limited by shields 91 as well as the vacuum pumps (col 19 line 31-56, col 22 line 1-55; Fig. 12-13). Additionally, Kleideter teaches vacuum pumps in each sputtering chamber/segment (para 0060; Fig. 5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a separate pump associated with each deposition chamber of Park in view of McLeod and Kleideter (first and second vacuum pump) in order to reduce contamination between chambers and allow a vacuum to be established in each chamber.
The combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, and Hollars fails to explicitly teach that the first layer forms a front channel of the thin film transistor and the second layer forms a back channel of the thin film transistor. However, Kim (US 20110315980 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches that an active layer of a thin film transistor can comprise a front channel region having high mobility, such as IGZO, and a back channel region having preventing charge transfer (i.e., lower mobility), such as GZO wherein each layer may comprise an oxide layer, wherein the oxide layers may be deposited by sputtering, and wherein the thin film transistor may have high speed and stability (para 0034-0035, 0039, 0060). Park teaches its method may be used in forming thin film transistors and the layers used in them, such as IGZO, and IZO layers (para 0002, 0025, 0081). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the method of Park to deposit the thin film transistor layers of Kim, including a front channel layer and a back channel layer, in order to produce a thin film transistor with high speed and stability.
The combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, and Kim fails to explicitly teach the first material or the second material comprises a carrier mobility of at least 50 cm2/Vs. However, Ku (US 20200411697 A1), in the analogous art of thin film transistors, teaches a channel layer may include a first channel material, such as IGZO, with a first mobility in the range of 50 to 500 cm2/Vs (para 0036, 0039). Additionally, Dewey (US 20200098753 A1), in the analogous art of transistors, teaches that IGZO may have an electron mobility of 10-200 cm2/Vs depending on deposition conditions (para 0012-0013). Kim teaches the front channel may be made of IGZO and is designed to have high charge/carrier mobility (para 0034-0035) but is silent to the exact carrier mobility of the front channel. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the IGZO front channel of Kim with the IGZO front channel of Ku having a mobility of 50 to 500 cm2/Vs (at least 50 cm2/Vs) because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches the first metal oxide may be IGZO, which comprises indium, gallium, and zinc, and the second metal oxide may be GZO, which comprises gallium and zinc (Kim para 0035). Therefore, the first metal oxide contains a different metal (indium) from the second metal oxide that does not contain indium.
Regarding claim 8, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches that the first and second materials are different (Park para 0081; Kim para 0035) and therefore would inherently have different carrier concentration with respect to each other.
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches the first metal oxide is IGZO (Kim para 0035).
Regarding claim 11, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches the substrate may be continuously moved during coating of each layer (Park para 0024, McLeod col 2 line 6-10).
Regarding claim 12, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches that the first channel layer is deposited on a gate insulation layer (Kim para 0034).
Regarding claim 13, the previous combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey fails to explicitly teach the method comprises moving the substrate from the second vacuum chamber to the third vacuum chamber without a vacuum break and depositing a third layer on the second layer. However, Kim teaches that sputtering may be used for depositing source and drain electrodes (140a, 140b) (third layer) atop the second back channel layer 130b (para 0038, 0060; Fig. 1). Additionally, Park teaches more than two pairs of electrodes may be provided (para 0029) and the substrate may be coated with more than one oxide layer (para 0081). Furthermore, McLeod teaches that the deposition system may include more than two interconnected chambers, wherein each chamber is dedicated to the deposition of a particular layer (col 6 line 50-63). Kleideter also teaches maintaining vacuum conditions during the coating process (without a vacuum break) by transferring substrates through the uninterrupted connection of individual port openings 43 (slit openings) in the walls between adjacent sputtering chambers 3 (para 0070-0072; Fig. 1, 8). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a third chamber having a third pair of electrodes adjacent to the second chamber, wherein the chambers are separated by slit openings between chambers and maintain a vacuum as the substrate is transferred between chambers (without a vacuum break) to deposit a third material layer after the first two layers, as described by Kim.
Regarding claim 14, Park (WO 2018113904 A1) teaches a sputtering used in the generation of thin film transistors (para 0025), wherein the sputtering may be performed in an apparatus comprising a (first) vacuum chamber 402 and additional (second) vacuum chambers 411 (para 0066; Fig. 5), wherein a first vacuum chamber may include an array of electrodes including first pairs of electrodes (114, 115) comprising (first) sputtering targets supplied with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage from a power supply arrangement 120 arranged in a first vacuum chamber (para 0033-0035; Fig. 1), and wherein the substrate is coated with a metal oxide layer using a metal oxide target material (para 0055, 0081, claim 5). Park also teaches more than two pairs of electrodes (at least one second pair of electrodes) may be provided (para 0029) and the substrate may be coated with more than one oxide layer (para 0081). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to deposit a second metal oxide material different than the first oxide material using the second pair of electrodes having second targets with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, similarly to the first pair of electrodes.
Park also teaches rollers 408 may be provided to transport a substrate into the vacuum chamber 402 and from the vacuum chamber 402 to another chamber (411, 414) connected by valve units where the chambers share a chamber wall (para 0066, 0068; Fig. 5). Park fails to explicitly teach that the substrate is transferrable from the first vacuum chamber to the second vacuum chamber without a vacuum break through a slit opening provided in a chamber wall separating the first vacuum chamber and the second vacuum chamber from each other by continuously moving the substrate from the first vacuum chamber to the second vacuum chamber through the slit opening during depositing a first layer on the substrate using the at least one first pair of electrodes and during depositing a second layer on the substrate using the at least one second pair of electrodes, wherein the second vacuum chamber contains the at least one second pair of electrodes.
However, McLeod (US 6290821 B1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches interconnected process chambers each dedicated for deposition of a particular layer, wherein substrate motion between adjoining process chambers is continuous and sputter deposition of each selected target material occurs onto moving substrates as the substrates pass by the particular target assembly (continuously moving the substrate from a first chamber to second chamber during depositing the first layer and second layer), wherein each chamber is divided by baffle or shared shield walls 9 having (slit) openings allowing the substrate to be transferred between chambers without breaking vacuum (col 1 line 45-67, col 2 line 1-10, col 6 line 46-67, col 7 line 1-18, col 8 line 1-8; Fig. 2). Additionally, Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches maintaining vacuum conditions during the coating process (without a vacuum break) by transferring substrates through the uninterrupted connection of individual port openings 43 (slit openings) in the walls between adjacent sputtering chambers 3 (para 0070-0072; Fig. 1, 8). Park also teaches that multiple layers may be deposited on the substrate in a dynamic/continuous fashion (para 0024, 0081). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a second deposition/sputtering chamber, as described by McLeod and Kleideter, in the apparatus of Park adjacent to the first deposition chamber for depositing a second oxide film using the second pair of electrodes connected to a bipolar pulsed DC voltage in order to deposit the multiple layers described by Park.
Additionally, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the dynamic/continuous transport method of Park with the continuous substrate transport method described by McLeod and Kleideter including continuous transport through slit openings/passages between adjacent sputtering chambers while sputtering onto the substrates and maintaining vacuum conditions because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
The previous combination of Park, McLeod, and Kleideter fails to explicitly teach a first vacuum pump coupled to the first vacuum chamber and a second vacuum pump coupled to the second vacuum chamber. However, Hollars (US 6488824 B1), in the analogous art of thin film deposition teaches deposition chambers 82 adjacent to each other with two magnetrons and associated vacuum valves and pumps 62 coupled to each chamber where the film is deposited as the substrate moves between chambers where each deposition chamber has a shared wall/panel 90 and contamination is limited by shields 91 as well as the vacuum pumps (col 19 line 31-56, col 22 line 1-55; Fig. 12-13). Additionally, Kleideter teaches vacuum pumps in each sputtering chamber/segment (para 0060; Fig. 5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a separate pump associated with each deposition chamber of Park in view of McLeod and Kleideter (first and second vacuum pump) in order to reduce contamination between chambers and allow a vacuum to be established in each chamber.
The combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, and Hollars fails to explicitly teach that the first layer forms a front channel of the thin film transistor and the second layer forms a back channel of the thin film transistor. However, Kim (US 20110315980 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches that an active layer of a thin film transistor can comprise a front channel region having high mobility, such as IGZO, and a back channel region having preventing charge transfer (i.e., lower mobility), such as GZO wherein each layer may comprise an oxide layer, wherein the oxide layers may be deposited by sputtering, and wherein the thin film transistor may have high speed and stability (para 0034-0035, 0039, 0060). Park teaches its method may be used in forming thin film transistors and the layers used in them, such as IGZO, and IZO layers (para 0002, 0025, 0081). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the apparatus/method of Park to deposit the thin film transistor layers of Kim, including a front channel layer and a back channel layer, in order to produce a thin film transistor with high speed and stability.
The combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, and Kim fails to explicitly teach the first material or the second material comprises a carrier mobility of at least 50 cm2/Vs. However, Ku (US 20200411697 A1), in the analogous art of thin film transistors, teaches a channel layer may include a first channel material, such as IGZO, with a first mobility in the range of 50 to 500 cm2/Vs (para 0036, 0039). Additionally, Dewey (US 20200098753 A1), in the analogous art of transistors, teaches that IGZO may have an electron mobility of 10-200 cm2/Vs depending on deposition conditions (para 0012-0013). Kim teaches the front channel may be made of IGZO and is designed to have high charge/carrier mobility (para 0034-0035) but is silent to the exact carrier mobility of the front channel. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the IGZO front channel of Kim with the IGZO front channel of Ku having a mobility of 50 to 500 cm2/Vs (at least 50 cm2/Vs) because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches that the pairs of electrodes and targets (first and second targets) may be rotary electrodes and targets (Park para 0022, 0064; Fig. 5).
Regarding claim 18, the previous combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey fails to explicitly teach the method comprises moving the substrate from the second vacuum chamber to a third vacuum chamber without a vacuum break and depositing a third layer on the second layer. However, Kim teaches that sputtering may be used for depositing source and drain electrodes (140a, 140b) (third layer) atop the second back channel layer 130b (para 0038, 0060; Fig. 1). Additionally, Park teaches more than two pairs of electrodes may be provided (para 0029) and the substrate may be coated with more than one oxide layer (para 0081). Furthermore, McLeod teaches that the deposition system may include more than two interconnected chambers, wherein each chamber is dedicated to the deposition of a particular layer (col 6 line 50-63). Kleideter also teaches maintaining vacuum conditions during the coating process (without a vacuum break) by transferring substrates through the uninterrupted connection of individual port openings 43 (slit openings) in the walls between adjacent sputtering chambers 3 (para 0070-0072; Fig. 1, 8). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a third chamber having a third pair of electrodes adjacent to the second chamber, wherein the chambers are separated by slit openings between chambers and maintain a vacuum as the substrate is transferred between chambers (without a vacuum break) to deposit a third material layer after the first two layers, as described by Kim.
Regarding claim 20, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches more than two pairs of electrodes may be provided (Park para 0029), wherein a third pair of electrodes is used to deposit the third layer.
Regarding claim 21, the previous combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey teaches a back channel material having a lower carrier mobility than the front channel material (Kim para 0034-0035). Additionally, Ku teaches that a channel material having a mobility of 1 to 30 cm2/Vs may be obtained by including additional elements in the channel material (para 0036). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the back channel material of Kim with the channel material of Ku having a mobility of 1 to 30 cm2/Vs because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
The aforementioned combination fails to explicitly teach the first material or second material comprises a carrier mobility of less than 7 cm2/Vs. However, one would have expected the use of any value within the Ku range to have yielded similar results. Absent any showing of criticality, it would be obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have used any values from 1 to 30 cm2/Vs as the mobility of the lower mobility layer (second material), including values within the claimed range, with a reasonable expectation of success and with predictable results. Please see MPEP 2144.05 (I) for further details.
Regarding claim 23, Park (WO 2018113904 A1) teaches sputtering used in the generation of thin film transistors (para 0025), wherein the sputtering may be performed in an apparatus comprising a vacuum chamber 402 and additional vacuum chambers 411 (para 0066; Fig. 5), wherein a first vacuum chamber may include an array of electrodes including first pairs of electrodes (114, 115) supplied with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage (para 0034-0035; Fig. 1), and wherein the substrate is coated with a metal oxide layer (para 0081). Park also teaches more than two pairs of electrodes (at least one second pair of electrodes) may be provided (para 0029) and the substrate may be coated with more than one oxide layer (para 0081). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to deposit a second metal oxide material different than the first oxide material using the second pair of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, similarly to the first pair of electrodes.
Park teaches rollers 408 may be provided to transport a substrate into the vacuum chamber 402 and from the vacuum chamber 402 to another chamber (411, 414) connected by valve units with associated (slit) openings and shared walls between adjacent chambers (para 0066, 0068; Fig. 5) but fails to explicitly teach that the substrate is moved from a first vacuum chamber to a second vacuum chamber without a vacuum break, wherein moving the substrate from the first vacuum chamber to the second vacuum chamber comprises continuously moving the substrate from the first vacuum chamber to the second vacuum chamber through a slit opening of a chamber wall separating the first vacuum chamber and the second vacuum chamber from each other, during depositing the first layer and the second layer, and moving the substrate from the second vacuum chamber to a third vacuum chamber without a second vacuum break and depositing a third layer on the second layer by supplying at least one third pair of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage.
However, McLeod (US 6290821 B1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches interconnected process chambers each dedicated for deposition of a particular layer, wherein substrate motion between adjoining process chambers is continuous and sputter deposition of each selected target material occurs onto moving substrates as the substrates pass by the particular target assembly (continuously moving the substrate from a first chamber to second chamber during depositing the first layer and second layer), wherein each chamber is divided by baffle or shared shield walls 9 having (slit) openings allowing the substrate to be transferred between chambers without breaking vacuum (col 1 line 45-67, col 2 line 1-10, col 6 line 46-67, col 7 line 1-18, col 8 line 1-8; Fig. 2). Additionally, Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches maintaining vacuum conditions during the coating process (without a vacuum break) by transferring substrates through the uninterrupted connection of individual port openings 43 (slit openings) in the walls between adjacent sputtering chambers 3 (para 0070-0072; Fig. 1, 8). Park also teaches that multiple oxide layers may be deposited on the substrate in a dynamic/continuous fashion and more than two pairs of electrodes may be included (para 0024, 0029, 0034, 0081). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a second deposition/sputtering chamber adjacent to and sharing a wall with the first chamber and a third sputtering chamber adjacent to and sharing a wall with the second chamber, as described by McLeod and Kleideter, in the apparatus of Park for depositing a second oxide film and third oxide film using the second pair of electrodes and third pair of electrodes connected to a bipolar pulsed DC voltage in order to deposit the multiple layers described by Park.
Additionally, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the dynamic/continuous transport method of Park with the continuous substrate transport method described by McLeod and Kleideter including continuous transport through slit openings/passages between adjacent sputtering chambers (moving the substrate from the first vacuum chamber to the second vacuum chamber and from the second vacuum chamber to the third vacuum chamber) while sputtering onto the substrates and maintaining vacuum conditions because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
The previous combination of Park, McLeod, and Kleideter fails to explicitly teach a first vacuum pump coupled to the first vacuum chamber, a second vacuum pump coupled to the second vacuum chamber, and a third vacuum pump coupled to the third vacuum chamber, where the first and second chambers share a first chamber wall and the second and third chambers share a second chamber wall. However, Hollars (US 6488824 B1), in the analogous art of thin film deposition teaches deposition chambers 82 adjacent to each other with two magnetrons and associated vacuum valves and pumps 62 coupled to each chamber where the film is deposited as the substrate moves between chambers where each deposition chamber has a shared wall/panel 90 and contamination is limited by shields 91 as well as the vacuum pumps (col 19 line 31-56, col 22 line 1-55; Fig. 12-13). Additionally, Kleideter teaches vacuum pumps in each sputtering chamber/segment (para 0060; Fig. 5). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to include a separate pump associated with each deposition chamber of Park in view of McLeod and Kleideter (first, second, and third vacuum pump) in order to reduce contamination between chambers and allow a vacuum to be established in each chamber.
The combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, and Hollars fails to explicitly teach that the first layer forms a front channel of the thin film transistor, the second layer forms an intermediate channel layer of the thin film transistor, and a third layer is deposited on the second layer by supplying at least one third pair of electrodes with a bipolar pulsed DC voltage, wherein a third material of the third layer comprises a third metal oxide different from the second material, and wherein the first material has a different carrier mobility with respect to the second material, and wherein the third material has a different carrier mobility with respect to the second material. However, Kim (US 20110315980 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering, teaches that an active layer of a thin film transistor can comprise a front channel region 130a (first layer), a bulk channel region 130c (second layer) atop the front channel, and a back channel region 130b (third layer) atop the bulk channel, wherein the front channel may be ZnO doped with In and Ga (IGZO) (first metal oxide), the bulk channel may be undoped ZnO (second metal oxide different from the first material), and the back channel may be ZnO doped with Ga (GZO) (third metal oxide different from the second material) (para 0048-0050; Fig. 5). Kim also teaches the front channel IGZO region has a high mobility and the back channel GZO region prevents charge transfer (i.e., lower mobility), wherein the doping affects the mobility (the second material has a different carrier mobility than the first and third materials), wherein the oxide layers may be deposited by sputtering, and wherein the thin film transistor may have high speed and stability (para 0034-0037, 0039, 0060). Alternatively, or in addition, the three layers are each made of different materials and thus would inherently have different carrier mobilities than each other. Park teaches its method may be used in forming thin film transistors and the layers used in them, such as IGZO and IZO layers (para 0002, 0025, 0081). It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the method of Park to deposit the thin film transistor layers of Kim, including a front channel layer, bulk channel layer, and a back channel layer, in order to produce a thin film transistor with high speed and stability.
The combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, and Kim fails to explicitly teach the first material or the third material comprises a carrier mobility of at least 50 cm2/Vs. However, Ku (US 20200411697 A1), in the analogous art of thin film transistors, teaches a channel layer may include a first channel material, such as IGZO, with a first mobility in the range of 50 to 500 cm2/Vs (para 0036, 0039). Additionally, Dewey (US 20200098753 A1), in the analogous art of transistors, teaches that IGZO may have an electron mobility of 10-200 cm2/Vs depending on deposition conditions (para 0012-0013). Kim teaches the front channel may be made of IGZO (first material) and is designed to have high charge/carrier mobility (para 0034-0035) but is silent to the exact carrier mobility of the front channel. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the IGZO front channel of Kim with the IGZO front channel of Ku having a mobility of 50 to 500 cm2/Vs (at least 50 cm2/Vs) because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
Claim(s) 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (WO 2018113904 A1) in view of McLeod (US 6290821 B1), Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), Hollars (US 6488824 B1), Kim (US 20110315980 A1), Ku (US 20200411697 A1), and Dewey (US 20200098753 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yamazaki (US 20140145183 A1) and Hanika (WO 2018145751 A1).
Regarding claim 5, the previous combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey fails to explicitly teach the first metal oxide comprises elements in a first stoichiometry and the second metal oxide comprises the elements in a second stoichiometry, the second stoichiometry being different from the first stoichiometry. However, Yamazaki (US 20140145183 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering thin film transistors, teaches that a first and second oxide semiconductor layer may each contain indium, gallium, and zinc (elements), wherein each layer has a different composition (stoichiometry), wherein the oxide semiconductor films can be used in a channel region of a transistor (para 0022, 0093, claim 4). Hanika (WO 2018145751 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering thin film transistors, similarly teaches a IGZO channel of a thin film transistor, wherein the first oxide layer is treated by implantation to change one of the properties of the first material layer, which can include the elemental composition (para 0015-0016, 0022, 0085, 0088). Park teaches multiple oxide layers may be formed (para 0081) for use in thin film transistors (para 0025). Additionally, Kim teaches channel layers with a front and back channel layer, wherein each layer has different properties (Kim para 0034-0035, 0039).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the front and back channel layers of Park in view of Kim with the first and second (front and back) channel layers of Yamazaki and Hanika comprising two IGZO layers with different compositions because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, Dewey, Yamazaki, and Hanika teaches the elements present in each of the oxide films include indium, gallium, and zinc (Yamazaki para 0022).
Claim(s) 9, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (WO 2018113904 A1) in view of McLeod (US 6290821 B1), Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), Hollars (US 6488824 B1), Kim (US 20110315980 A1), Ku (US 20200411697 A1), and Dewey (US 20200098753 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Lee (US 20160049517 A1).
Regarding claim 9, the previous combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey fails to explicitly teach one of the first and second material further comprises a further metal oxide or wherein the first material and the second material have different contents of a further metal oxide, and wherein the further metal oxide comprises at least one of tin oxide, aluminum oxide, and a transparent conductive oxide. However, Lee (US 20160049517 A1), in the analogous art of thin film transistors, teaches a channel layer, which may include a front and back channel layer, may comprise a mixture of metal oxides, wherein one of the oxides may be indium zinc oxide (IZO) or indium tin oxide (ITO), which are both transparent conductive oxides (para 0029, 0035). Park teaches multiple oxide layers may be formed (para 0081) for use in thin film transistors (para 0025). Additionally, Kim teaches channel layers with a front and back channel layer, wherein each layer has different properties (Kim para 0034-0035, 0039). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute at least one of the front and back channel layers of Park in view of Kim with a channel layer comprising a mixture of oxides including IZO or ITO (further metal oxide comprises a transparent conductive oxide) because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
Regarding claim 17, previous combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey fails to explicitly teach one of the first and second material further comprises a further metal oxide or wherein the first material and the second material have different contents of a further metal oxide, and wherein the further metal oxide comprises at least one of tin oxide, aluminum oxide, ITO, IZO, or AZO. However, Lee (US 20160049517 A1), in the analogous art of thin film transistors, teaches a channel layer, which may include a front and back channel layer, may comprise a mixture of metal oxides, wherein one of the oxides may be indium zinc oxide (IZO) or indium tin oxide (ITO), which are both transparent conductive oxides (para 0029, 0035). Park teaches multiple oxide layers may be formed (para 0081) for use in thin film transistors (para 0025). Additionally, Kim teaches channel layers with a front and back channel layer, wherein each layer has different properties (Kim para 0034-0035, 0039). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute at least one of the front and back channel layers of Park in view of Kim with a channel layer comprising a mixture of oxides including IZO or ITO (further metal oxide comprises IZO or ITO) because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
Regarding claim 19, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey, and Lee teaches the transparent conductive oxide is IZO or ITO (Lee para 0029).
Claim(s) 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (WO 2018113904 A1) in view of McLeod (US 6290821 B1), Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), Hollars (US 6488824 B1), Kim (US 20110315980 A1), Ku (US 20200411697 A1), and Dewey (US 20200098753 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Ye (US 20100001272 A1).
Regarding claim 21, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey fails to explicitly teach the first material or the second material comprises a carrier mobility less than 7 cm2/Vs. However, Ye (US 20100001272 A1), in the analogous art of thin film transistors, teaches that the mobility of each layer, including multiple channel layers, may be controlled by varying the composition of the layer and that the mobility of the layers, among other properties, affects the properties of the thin film transistor (para 0009, 0042), thus recognizing the mobility of the layer as a result effective variable affecting the functioning of the thin film transistor. Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to determine the optimum or workable ranges of carrier mobility by routine optimization, which can include a layer with a mobility of less than 7 cm2/Vs. See MPEP 2144.05(II).
Claim(s) 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Park (WO 2018113904 A1) in view of McLeod (US 6290821 B1), Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1), Hollars (US 6488824 B1), Kim (US 20110315980 A1), Ku (US 20200411697 A1), and Dewey (US 20200098753 A1), as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Yamazaki (US 20140145183 A1).
Regarding claim 22, the combination of Park, McLeod, Kleideter, Hollars, Kim, Ku, and Dewey fails to explicitly teach the first metal oxide includes an element in a first oxidation state and the second metal oxide includes the element in a second oxidation state, the second oxidation state being different from the first oxidation state. However, Yamazaki (US 20140145183 A1), in the analogous art of sputtering thin film transistors, teaches that a first and second oxide semiconductor layer may each contain indium, gallium, and zinc (elements), wherein each layer has a different composition/stoichiometry, wherein the oxide semiconductor films can be used in a channel region of a transistor, and wherein the InGaZn oxide is formed by mixing indium, gallium, and zinc oxide powders in different proportions, wherein the ratio of oxygen to metal (i.e., oxidation state) in each powder may be varied (para 0022, 0093, 0098-0102, claim 4). Park teaches multiple oxide layers may be formed (para 0081) for use in thin film transistors (para 0025). Additionally, Kim teaches channel layers with a front and back channel layer, wherein each layer has different properties (Kim para 0034-0035, 0039).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to substitute the front and back channel layers of Park in view of Kim with first and second (front and back) channel layers of Yamazaki comprising two IGZO layers with different compositions and metal to oxygen ratios and thus having elements with different oxidation states because this is a substitution of known elements yielding predictable results. See MPEP 2143(I)(B).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 9-10, filed 7/30/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 14, and 23 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Hollars (US 6488824 B1) and a new interpretation of Park (WO 2018113904 A1), McLeod (US 6290821 B1), and Kleideter (US 20170213708 A1).
Hollars teaches including vacuum pumps in each deposition chamber. Kleideter also teaches including vacuum pumps in deposition chambers.
Park, McLeod, and Kleideter are interpreted to include a shared wall with an opening/slit for the substrate to pass through. Hollars also displays shared walls. It should also be noted that if sidewalls of two chambers are joined together in the apparatus, the combination of the two linked sidewalls is considered a “shared” wall.
Conclusion
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/PATRICK S OTT/Examiner, Art Unit 1794