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 .
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-5 and 9-12 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (WO2021246741A1, please the machine translation attached in this office action) in view of Brueck et al. (US 20210234070 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Lee teaches in Fig. 13, a display device (PNL; Fig. 7, [0068]) comprising: first banks (PW1, PW2, PW3; Fig. 13, [0132]) spaced apart from one another and disposed on a substrate (BSL; Fig. 13, [0136]); a first electrode (ET1; Fig. 13, [0081]) and a second electrode (ET2; Fig. 13, [0081]), each disposed on one of the first banks (PW1, PW2, PW3) to cover each respective one of the first banks (PW1, PW2, PW3) and spaced apart from each other; and a light-emitting element (LD1; Fig. 13, [0133]) disposed between the first electrode (ET1) and the second electrode (ET2), wherein the light-emitting element (LD1) comprises an active layer (12; Fig. 2, [0131]).
Lee does not teach the active layer is in a non-polarized state, and the active layer includes cubic gallium nitride (c-GaN).
In the same field of endeavor of light emitting device, Brueck et al. teach the active layer (active region; Fig. 16A, [0126]) is in a non-polarized state (nonpolar; [0157]), and the active layer (active region) includes cubic gallium nitride (c-GaN) ([0126]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the inventions of Lee and Brueck et al., and to use the c-GaN as the material of the active layer as taught by Brueck et al., because the c-GaN has the advantage that the strain associated with adding the InGaN quantum wells does not induce a polarization field that acts to separate electrons and holes in a polar device as taught by Brueck et al. ([0157]).
Regarding claim 2, Lee teaches the display device of claim 1, wherein the active layer (12).
Lee does not teach the active layer comprises only cubic gallium nitride (c-GaN).
In the same field of endeavor of light emitting device, Brueck et al. teach the active layer (active region; Fig. 16A, [0126]) comprises only cubic gallium nitride (c-GaN) ([0126]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the inventions of Lee and Brueck et al., and to use the c-GaN as the material of the active layer as taught by Brueck et al., because the c-GaN has the advantage that the strain associated with adding the InGaN quantum wells does not induce a polarization field that acts to separate electrons and holes in a polar device as taught by Brueck et al. ([0157]).
Regarding claim 3, Lee teaches the display device of claim 1, wherein the light-emitting element (LD1) further comprises: a first semiconductor layer (11; Fig. 15, [0168]) between the active layer (12) and the second electrode (ET2); and a second semiconductor layer (13; Fig. 15, [0168]) between the active layer (12) and the first electrode (ET1).
Regarding claim 4, Lee teaches the display device of claim 3, wherein the first semiconductor layer (11) includes GaN doped with n-type Si ([0051]).
Regarding claim 5, Lee teaches the display device of claim 4, wherein the first semiconductor layer (11) includes n-type Si doped gallium nitride ([0051]).
Lee does not teach gallium nitride is hexagonal gallium nitride (h-GaN) and cubic gallium nitride (c-GaN).
In the same field of endeavor of light emitting device, Brueck et al. teach gallium nitride (GaN layers under the active region; Fig. 16A, [0126]) is hexagonal gallium nitride (h-GaN) (wurtzite GaN, i.e. hexagonal GaN; Fig. 16A, [0126, 0005]) and cubic gallium nitride (c-GaN) (cubic GaN under the active region; Fig. 16A, [0126]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the inventions of Lee and Brueck et al., and to use the active layer of c-GaN and the first semiconductor layer of h-GaN and c-GaN as taught by Brueck et al., because the c-GaN has the advantage that the strain associated with adding the InGaN quantum wells does not induce a polarization field that acts to separate electrons and holes in a polar device as taught by Brueck et al. ([0157]).
Regarding claim 9, Lee teaches the display device of claim 3, further comprising: a first contact electrode (CE1; Fig. 13, [0133]) electrically connected to the first electrode (ET1) and contacting the second semiconductor layer (13) of the light-emitting element (LD1; see Fig. 15).
Regarding claim 10, Lee teaches the display device of claim 9, further comprising: a second contact electrode (CE2; Fig. 13, [0133]) electrically connected to the second electrode (ET2) and contacting the first semiconductor layer (11) of the light-emitting element (LD1; see Fig. 15).
Regarding claim 11, Lee teaches the display device of claim 10, further comprising: a first element insulating layer (INS1; Fig. 13, [0161]) disposed between the first electrode (ET1), the second electrode (ET2), and the light-emitting element (LD1); and a second element insulating layer (the upper INP; Fig. 13, [0176]) disposed on an upper surface of the light-emitting element (LD1), wherein the first contact electrode (CE1) directly contacts a portion of an upper surface of the second element insulating layer (the upper INP; see Fig. 13), the second contact electrode (CE2) directly contacts another portion of the upper surface of the second element insulating layer (the upper INP; see Fig. 13), and each of the first contact electrode (CE1) and the second contact electrode (CE2) exposes a central portion of the upper surface of the second element insulating layer (the upper INP; see Fig. 15).
Regarding claim 12, Lee teaches the display device of claim 11, further comprising: a third element insulating layer (INS2; Fig. 13, [0184]) integrally formed to cover the first contact electrode (CE1) and the second contact electrode (CE2) and contacting the first contact electrode (CE1) and the second contact electrode (CE2; see Fig. 13).
Claim(s) 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee and Brueck et al. as applied to claim 5 above, and further in view of Jeong (CN 101728411 B, please the machine translation attached in this office action).
Regarding claim 6, Lee teaches the display device of claim 5, wherein the second semiconductor layer (13) includes GaN doped with p-type dopant ([0054]).
Lee does not teach p-type dopant is p-type Si.
In the same field of endeavor of light emitting devices, Jeong teaches p-type dopant is p-type Si ([0033]).
Lee teach all the claimed elements except that Lee is using Mg for p-type dopant of GaN ([0054]) rather than Si.
In the same field of endeavor of light emitting devices, Jeong teaches using Si for p-type dopant of GaN ([0033]).
One of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that Mg and Si are known equivalents for providing p-type dopant for GaN within the semiconductor art.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention was made to substitute one know element (Mg) for another known equivalent element (Si) resulting in the predictable result of providing p-type dopant for GaN (KSR rationales B).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-8 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: The prior art of record does not teach or suggest, singularly or in combination, at least the limitations of "wherein the second semiconductor layer includes p-type Si doped hexagonal gallium nitride (h-GaN) and cubic gallium nitride (c-GaN)" as recited in claim 7.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s amendments, filed 12/11/2025, overcome the rejections to claims 1-12 under 35 U.S.C. 112. The rejections to claims 1-12 under 35 U.S.C. 112 have been withdrawn.
Conclusion
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/HSIN YI HSIEH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2899 4/14/2026
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