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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 – 2, 4 – 5, and 8 – 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20180006264 A1 hereinafter Lee in further view of US 20210202655 A1 hereinafter Cho.
For claim 1, Lee teaches a display device comprising: a substrate (Lee, fig. 4 numeral 100); a semiconductor layer on the substrate (fig. 4 numeral 102); a source electrode and a drain electrode on the semiconductor layer (fig. 4 numeral 106a and 106b); an auxiliary electrode (fig. 4 numeral 130); a first electrode electrically connected with the source electrode or the drain electrode (fig. 4 numeral 120); a light emitting element layer on the first electrode (fig. 4 numeral 121); and a second electrode on the light emitting element layer (fig. 4 numeral 122), wherein the auxiliary electrode comprises at least one groove located inside the auxiliary electrode so as to be spaced from an outer periphery of the auxiliary electrode (fig. 4 numeral 111 and 112 shows grooves in the auxiliary electrode and located away from the ends or outer periphery of the auxiliary electrode), and the light emitting element layer and the second electrode are located in a groove of the at least one groove (fig. 4 shows light emitting element layer 121 and second electrode 122 located in the groove 111 and 112), and the light emitting element layer is in direct contact with the auxiliary electrode on a side surface of the auxiliary electrode and a part of the second electrode and the auxiliary electrode directly contact on the side surface of the auxiliary electrode (fig. 4 shows the light element layer 121 and the second electrode 122 being in direct contact with sidewalls of the auxiliary electrode 130). Lee is silent regarding the groove having an under cut structure and the auxiliary electrode being located on the same layer as the source electrode and the drain electrode. Lee does teach embodiments wherein an undercut structure may be formed (fig. 12).
Cho teaches a display device (Cho, fig. 5) including an auxiliary electrode (fig. 5 numeral VL) on the same layer as a drain and source electrode (fig. 5 numeral DE and SE) and wherein the auxiliary electrode has an undercut structure wherein a side surface of the auxiliary electrode is within a top surface of the auxiliary electrode (fig. 5). A second electrode in Cho is shown to directly contact the auxiliary layer on a side surface of the undercut structure (fig. 5 numeral 183).
It would have bene obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the immediate invention to combine the drain and source electrode placement and the under cut structure in Cho with the auxiliary electrode in Lee in order to improve display quality while preventing or reducing IR drop and controlling manufacturing cost (Cho, Par. [0006]; Par. [0083]; Par. [0058]).
For claim 2, Lee and Cho teach all of claim 1. Lee also teaches the second electrode directly contacts a side surface of the auxiliary electrode in the groove of the at least one groove of the auxiliary electrode (Lee, fig. 4 numeral 111 shows the groove including the second electrode 122 contacting the auxiliary electrode 130 in the groove 111).
For claim 4, Lee and Cho teach all of claim 1. Lee also teaches where the second electrode and the auxiliary electrode directly contact farther from the substrate than a region where the light emitting element layer and the auxiliary electrode directly contact (Lee, fig. 4 numeral 122).
For claim 5, Lee and Cho teach all of claim 1. Cho also teaches the auxiliary electrode comprises a first layer, a second layer, and a third layer (Cho, fig. 9 numeral VL1, VL2, and VL3), and a planar area of the second layer (VL2) is narrower than planar areas for the first layer (VL1) and the third layer (VL3) (Cho shows the second region VL2 having a top and bottom surface, creating the planar areas, which are narrower than the top surface of the first layer VL1 and the bottom surface of the third layer VL3).
For claim 8, Lee and Cho teach all of claim 1. Lee also teaches the planar shape of the auxiliary electrode is polygonal or circular (Lee, fig. 8 shows circular shapes of the auxiliary electrode; fig. 17 shows polygonal shapes of the auxiliary electrode 330).
For claim 9, Lee and Cho teach all of claim 1. Lee also teaches the groove being either linear, polygonal, or circular (Lee, fig. 10 numeral 11 shows a circular groove shape; fig. 11 shows grooves 300 having polygonal shapes with linear sides).
For claim 10, Lee and Cho teach all of claim 1. Lee also teaches the planar shape of the auxiliary electrode and a planar shape of the groove of the at least one groove are the same (Lee, fig. 9 shows the groove and the auxiliary electrode having matching shapes inside the groove; fig. 11 shows the grooves and the auxiliary electrode having polygonal shapes).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 20180006264 A1 hereinafter Lee in view of US 20210202655 A1 hereinafter Cho in further view of CN 113013362 A hereinafter Zhou.
For claim 7, Lee and Cho teach all of claim 1. Lee and Cho are silent regarding the groove of the auxiliary electrode is between 1,000 angstroms and 20,000 angstroms.
Zhou teaches a display (Zhou, fig. 1) with auxiliary electrodes (fig. 1 numeral 5) wherein grooves are located inside the auxiliary electrode (fig. 1 numeral 6 shows the layer filling the groove in auxiliary electrode 5) and wherein the groove is between 1000 angstroms and 20,000 angstroms (Par. [0055 – 0059]).
It would have bene obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the immediate invention to combine the groove width in Zhou with eth auxiliary electrode and grooves in Lee and Cho in order to control the conductivity between layers while controlling the volume and resistance of the device (Zhou, Par. [0055 – 0059]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 6 is 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.
For claim 6, Lee appears to teach in embodiments wherein the second electrode and the light emitting element layer directly contact the auxiliary electrode inside the groove, that the width of the groove is less than the thickness of the auxiliary electrode (Lee, fig. 4). This appears to teach against the groove being wider than a thickness of the auxiliary electrode.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/J.T.N./ Examiner, Art Unit 2815
/MONICA D HARRISON/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2815
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