DETAILED ACTION
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.
Claims 1-6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niwa WO 2019/087471 A1 (see attached English Translation) in view of Sano et al. JP 2013/187360 A (see Applicant submitted translation).
Regarding claims 1-6, Niwa discloses:
A solid-state imaging element (Figs. 1-8) comprising:
a first substrate (Fig. 2; 201 light receiving chip) provided with a photodiode (Fig. 3; 221 photodiodes) that photoelectrically converts incident light to generate a photocurrent; and
a second substrate (Fig. 2; 202 detection chip) provided with a luminance change detection circuit (Figs. 6 and 8; 340 quantizer which includes a 341 comparator) that detects a change in luminance of the incident light on a basis of a voltage signal converted by a conversion circuit (Fig. 6; 310 current-voltage conversion circuit) that converts the photocurrent into the voltage signal, the second substrate bonded to the first substrate,
Niwa does not disclose:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate or the second substrate and shields light between an active element provided in the second substrate and the photodiode.
Sano discloses a publication from a similar field of endeavor in which:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit (40) that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate (41) or the second substrate (55) and shields light between an active element provided in the second substrate and the photodiode (PD) (Figs. 3 and 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the light shielding layer of Sano within the similar solid state imaging element of Niwa to improve image quality by suppressing incidence of hot carrier light as noise detrimentally affecting the underlying circuitry.
(claim 2) a first wiring layer (Sano: Fig. 4; 40A and 40B).
(claim 3) Sano: Fig 3.
(claim 4) Sano: Fig 3; light shielding layer near wiring layer 55.
(claim 5) Sano: Fig. 3; light shielding layer between 32 having PD and 55.
(claim 6) Sano: Figs. 3 in view of 4.
Regarding claim 11, Niwa discloses:
An imaging system (Figs. 1-8 and 17) comprising:
a solid-state imaging element (Figs. 2-8) comprising:
a lens (Fig. 1; 110);
a first substrate (Fig. 2; 201 light receiving chip) provided with a photodiode (Fig. 3; 221 photodiodes) that photoelectrically converts incident light to generate a photocurrent; and
a second substrate (Fig. 2; 202 detection chip) provided with a luminance change detection circuit (Figs. 6 and 8; 340 quantizer which includes a 341 comparator) that detects a change in luminance of the incident light on a basis of a voltage signal converted by a conversion circuit (Fig. 6; 310 current-voltage conversion circuit) that converts the photocurrent into the voltage signal, the second substrate bonded to the first substrate, and
a signal processing chip (Fig. 17; 203 signal processing chip) that performs signal processing on an output from the solid-stating imaging element.
Niwa does not disclose:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate or the second substrate and shields light between an active element provided in the second substrate and the photodiode.
Sano discloses a publication from a similar field of endeavor in which:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit (40) that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate (41) or the second substrate (55) and shields light between an active element provided in the second substrate and the photodiode (PD) (Figs. 3 and 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the light shielding layer of Sano within the similar solid state imaging element of Niwa to improve image quality by suppressing incidence of hot carrier light as noise detrimentally affecting the underlying circuitry.
Claims 1, 7 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niwa WO 2019/087471 A1 (see attached English Translation) in view of Shoji et al. WO 2013/115075 A1 (see attached English Translation).
Regarding claims 1, 7 and 8, Niwa discloses:
A solid-state imaging element (Figs. 1-8) comprising:
a first substrate (Fig. 2; 201 light receiving chip) provided with a photodiode (Fig. 3; 221 photodiodes) that photoelectrically converts incident light to generate a photocurrent; and
a second substrate (Fig. 2; 202 detection chip) provided with a luminance change detection circuit (Figs. 6 and 8; 340 quantizer which includes a 341 comparator) that detects a change in luminance of the incident light on a basis of a voltage signal converted by a conversion circuit (Fig. 6; 310 current-voltage conversion circuit) that converts the photocurrent into the voltage signal, the second substrate bonded to the first substrate,
Niwa does not disclose:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate or the second substrate and shields light between an active element provided in the second substrate and the photodiode.
Shoji discloses a publication from a similar field of endeavor in which:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit (40) that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate or the second substrate (41) and shields light between an active element (47) provided in the second substrate and the photodiode (34) (Fig. 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the light shielding layer of Sano within the similar solid state imaging element of Niwa to improve image quality by suppressing incidence of hot carrier light as noise detrimentally affecting the underlying circuitry.
(claims 7 and 8) a second wiring layer (Shoji: Fig. 3; 40 including 45/46 in 41).
Claims 1 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niwa WO 2019/087471 A1 (see attached English Translation) in view of Takahisa et al. JP 2018/101699 A (see Applicant submitted translation).
Regarding claims 1 and 9, Niwa discloses:
A solid-state imaging element (Figs. 1-8) comprising:
a first substrate (Fig. 2; 201 light receiving chip) provided with a photodiode (Fig. 3; 221 photodiodes) that photoelectrically converts incident light to generate a photocurrent; and
a second substrate (Fig. 2; 202 detection chip) provided with a luminance change detection circuit (Figs. 6 and 8; 340 quantizer which includes a 341 comparator) that detects a change in luminance of the incident light on a basis of a voltage signal converted by a conversion circuit (Fig. 6; 310 current-voltage conversion circuit) that converts the photocurrent into the voltage signal, the second substrate bonded to the first substrate,
Niwa does not disclose:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate or the second substrate and shields light between an active element provided in the second substrate and the photodiode.
Takahisa discloses a publication from a similar field of endeavor in which:
the solid-state imaging element including:
a light shielding unit (71/72) that is provided in at least any one of the first substrate (28) or the second substrate (26) and shields light between an active element provided in the second substrate and the photodiode (PD) (Fig. 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the light shielding layer of Sano within the similar solid state imaging element of Niwa to improve image quality by suppressing incidence of hot carrier light as noise detrimentally affecting the underlying circuitry.
(claim 9) a connection electrode (Takahisa: Fig. 3; 52, 64, 71 and 72).
Claim 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Niwa/Sano, as applied to claim 1 above, in view of Tetsuya et al. JP 2018/148116 A (see Applicant submitted translation).
Regarding claim 10, Niwa/Sano do not disclose:
further comprising: a light shielding member embedded in a trench extending from a boundary region between adjacent photodiodes toward an inside of a first wiring layer provided between a semiconductor layer including the photodiode in the first substrate and the second substrate.
Tetsuya discloses a publication from a similar field of endeavor in which:
further comprising: a light shielding member (15) embedded in a trench (15) extending from a boundary region between adjacent photodiodes (PD) (Fig. 22).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate the light shielding member of Tetsuya inside of a first wiring between the semiconductor layer including the photodiode in the first substrate and the second substrate of Niwa/Sano to prevent incident light from leaking into adjacent pixel regions thereby improving image quality of the solid-state imaging element.
Conclusion
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/ERROL V FERNANDES/Primary Examiner, AU 2893