Detailed Correspondence
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 06/04/2026 has been entered.
Response to Amendment
Applicants’ submission, filed on 05/26/2026, in response to claims 1-4, 6, and 8-14 rejection from the final office action (02/04/2026), by amending claim 1 and cancelling claims 6 and 8-9 is entered and will be addressed below.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 15-19 remain withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected Invention Group II, there being no allowable generic or linking claim.
Claim Interpretations
The ”wherein the support is formed from a silicon wafer and the mask is formed on the silicon wafer by electroforming” of claim 1 (previous claim 5) is a product by process claim. Whether the starting material is a wafer and whether the process of making the support is by electroforming or other method, when the final support has the same structure, it is considered read into this portion of claim 1.
The “wherein the dummy portion comprises a plurality of dummy cell portions that include a plurality of dummy patterns passing through the dummy portion or extending into the dummy portion to a predetermined depth” of claim 14, as the shape of the dummy cell portions and dummy patterns are not defined, claim 14 includes many possible shape of dummy cell portions and dummy patterns. Note Applicants’ DMs can have different shape (Fig. 1). Applicants’ DP also can have different shape (Fig. 12A).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-4 and 10-14 are 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.
The newly added limitations “wherein the connection portion is an intermetallic compound including Fe, Ni, and Si, the Fe and Ni being derived from the mask and the Si being derived from the support“, it is not clear what is metes and bounds for “derived” composition requires.
Applicants asserted that support for this limitation is found from lines 1-8 of page 15 of the Specification, which refers to a thermal treatment H. A thermal treatment of the intermetallic compound is a product by process claim. However, the claim does not exclude from other process such as annealing or the operation at normal operation temperature. In such temperature induces diffusion of metal or Si, the extent of the Fe, Ni, and Si in the intermetallic compounds also depends on the temperature and duration of the treatment. Furthermore, even at room temperature, there is a minute amount of diffusion. Claim 1 has not specified what level of Fe, Ni, and Si in the intermetallic compound.
This portion of claim 1 will be examined inclusive any level of Fe, Ni, and Si in the intermetallic compound by any of the treatment process, including during deposition using the mask.
Dependent claims 2-4 and 10-14 are also rejected under USC 112(b) at least due to dependency to rejected claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-2 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hagiwara et al. (US 20050115503, hereafter ‘503), in view of IKENAGA (US 20250122606, hereafter ‘606), Jang (US 20190252614, hereafter ‘614), and Li (US 5161728, hereafter ‘728).
‘503 teaches some limitations of:
Claim 1: a manufacturing process of … an organic light-emitting device and the like ([0002]), FIG. 10 shows a cross sectional construction of a deposition mask according to an embodiment of the invention. This deposition mask has the same construction as of the deposition mask discussed above, except that a shielding member 70 for covering the stress relaxation region 60 of the mask body 20 is provided. ([0048]), a deposition mask wherein a mask body 20 made of a metal thin film is tightly mounted on a frame body 10 having an opening 11 ([0031], last sentence, includes the claimed “A mask-support assembly comprising”):
The shielding member 70 is, for example, made of the same material as of the frame body 70, and is formed integrally with the frame body 10. The shielding member 70 is formed in a state of a thin plate inside the opening 11. The shielding member 70 covers the stress relaxation region 60 and the separation region 40 ([0049], includes the claimed “a support comprising an edge portion and a grid portion”, see Fig. 11 for two dimensional structure of the shielding member as the claimed “grid portion”);
a deposition material from the unshown deposition source passes through the passage holes 31 of the pattern region 30 ([0050], see Fig. 2 for the pattern/cell potions, includes the claimed “and a mask connected onto the support and comprising a plurality of cell portions, wherein the plurality of cell portions have a plurality of mask patterns, respectively”).
‘503 also teaches that The mask body 20 is made of a metal thin film of, for example, a metal such as nickel (Ni) … or an alloy thereof, or a rolled stainless steel ([0033]).
‘503 does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 1: (1A) a connection portion interposed between the support and the mask to connect the support and the mask,
wherein the support is formed from a silicon wafer and (1B) the mask is formed on the silicon wafer by electroforming,
(1C) wherein the mask is made of any one of Invar and Super Invar,
(1D) wherein the connection portion is an intermetallic compound including Fe, Ni, and Si, the Fe and Ni being derived from the mask and the Si being derived from the support,
wherein the connection portion interconnects the support and the mask, and
wherein the support is served as a frame supporting the mask.
Claim 12: wherein the edge portion and the grid portion include tapered sides.
Claim 13: wherein a surface resistance of the support is selected from a range of 5X10-4 ohm-cm to 1X10-2 ohm-cm.
‘606 is analogous art in the field of VAPOR DEPOSITION MASK, FRAMED VAPOR DEPOSITION MASK (title), an organic EL display device ([0003]). ’606 teaches that the mask layer 20 may include a first metal layer 21 that is near the first surface 20a and the second metal layer 22 that is nearer than the first metal layer 21 to the second surface 20b (Fig. 3, [0172]), The second metal layer 22 may include the body-facing layer 25 that is near the first metal layer 21 and the substrate-facing layer 26 that is nearer than the body-facing layer 25 to the mask substrate 15 ([0175]), the body-facing layer 25 may contain titanium (Ti), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), or gold (Au) ([0188], 4th sentence), the substrate-facing layer 26 may contain gold (Au), aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), an aluminum alloy (Al—Nd) that contains neodymium, a silicon oxide (SiO) or a silicon dioxide (SiO2) ([0189]), The first metal layer 21 may contain a metal material ... An example of the material of the first metal layer 21 may be an iron alloy that contains nickel ... The iron alloy that contains nickel may be an invar material that contains nickel in an amount of 34 mass % or more and 38 mass % or less or a Fe—Ni plating alloy … The iron alloy that contains nickel and cobalt may be a super invar material ([0186]), the mask substrate 15 may have a frame shape in a plan view. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the mask substrate 15 may include a substrate frame body 17 ([0166]), the mask substrate 15 contains silicon ([0309], i.e. frame/support made of silicon), for the purpose of definition can be improve ([0015], i.e. resolution).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have adopted multi-layer mask with layers 21, 25, 26 composition of ‘606 as the mask 20 of ‘503 and to have adopted silicon as the material of the frame body 10 of ‘503 (the limitation of 1A), for the purpose of definition can be improve, as taught by ‘503 ([0015], i.e. resolution).
‘614 is analogous art in the field of MOTHER PLATE, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MOTHER PLATE, METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MASK (title), a method of depositing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) pixels (abstract). ’614 teaches that the present invention relates to a mother plate, a method of manufacturing the mother plate, a method of manufacturing a mask, and a method of depositing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) pixels and, more particularly, to a mother plate using monocrystalline silicon in a process of electroforming a plated film ([0001]), and the patterned plated film may serve as a fine metal mask (FMM) (Fig. 2, [0015], last sentence), To prevent non-uniform deposition of each pixel 700 due to a shadow effect, the pattern of the FMM mask 100 may have a sloped shape S [or a tapered shape S] (Fig. 1, [0054]), the present invention is characterized in that the conductive substrate 21 of the cathode body 20 uses a substrate made of monocrystalline silicon. To have conductivity, the substrate 21 may be highly doped at a concentration equal to or higher than 1019 cm−3. The doping may be performed on the entirety of the substrate 21 or on only the surface of the substrate 21 ([0064], same as Applicants’ doping level, P21, 1st complete paragraph), Considering FIGS. 8 and 9, when the Invar mask 15 or 100 is electroformed using the monocrystalline silicon mother plate 20 of the present invention, … a plated film that is electrodeposited by using, for example, monocrystalline silicon of the present invention as an electrode body may have a remarkably low density of defects ([0106]), for the purpose of a mask having a uniform thickness and an excellent surface state ([0008]) and low density of defects ([0106]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have adopted electroforming of the Invar fine metal mask on the silicon support frame 10 of the combination of ‘503 and ‘606, as taught by ‘614, as the method of producing mask and frame of ‘503 (the limitations of 1B and 1C), for the purpose of a mask having a uniform thickness and an excellent surface state and low density of defects, as taught by ‘614 ([0008],[0106]). Furthermore, to have adopted tapered shape S to the mask pattern of ‘614, to the mask hole 31 of ‘503 (the limitation of claim 12), for the purpose of avoiding shadow effect, as taught by ‘614 ([0054]). Still furthermore, to have adopted doping at a concentration equal to or higher than 1019 cm−3 to have high conductivity (the limitation of claim 13), as taught by ‘614, for the purpose of performing electroforming of mask, as taught by ‘614.
‘606 further teaches that In the case where the thermal expansion coefficient of the first metal layer 21 is higher than the thermal expansion coefficient of the mask substrate 15, the degree of the contraction of the first metal layer 21 is higher than the degree of the contraction of the mask substrate 15 ([0425], 3rd sentence). ‘606 also teaches that the substrate-facing layer 26 may contain gold (Au), aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), titanium (Ti), titanium nitride (TiN), an aluminum alloy (Al—Nd) that contains neodymium, a silicon oxide (SiO) or a silicon dioxide (SiO2) ([0189], in other words, the connection portion includes silicon and nickel but missing iron).
‘606 also teaches After the first metal layer 21 is formed, an annealing treatment (a firing treatment) may be performed on the first metal layer 21 ([0231]).
‘728 is solving similar problem of Ceramic-metal Bonding (title), a structural joint between a metal and a ceramic for practical uses above 600o C … uniformly metallizing the ceramic and increasing the ratio of the ceramic material strength to the dynamic and static mismatch stresses due to differential thermal expansions (abstract, note this is in Applicants’ thermal treatment H temperature of 300-800o C). ’728 teaches that a diffused interfacial layer of graded composition, microstructures, and mechanical properties is formed which can be highly shock-absorbing (col. 17, lines 19-21), Cushioning or shock-absorbing qualities of the liquid-diffused, chemically and mechanically graded interfacial layer 33 between the superconductor film and substrate (col. 26, lines 5-8), other yieldable metals such as … or even iron or nickel (col. 26, lines 15-17), The ceramics I have already bonded with my W/Mo-based metallizing methods described here include: … silicon (col. 18, lines 46-49).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have adopted a diffused interfacial layer of graded composition, as taught by ‘728, as the second metal layer 22 (25+26+27) of ‘606 that connected to the invar mask and the silicon mother plate/support, and then combined with ‘503 and ‘614 (the limitations of 1D), for the purpose of mismatch stresses due to differential thermal expansions, as taught by ‘728 (col. 17, lines 19-21).
‘503 further teaches the limitations of:
Claim 2: Fig. 10 shows the claimed “wherein a thickness of the grid portion is thinner than a thickness of the edge portion”.
Alternatively, claims 1-2 and 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘503, in view of ‘606, ‘614, ‘728, and Pan (US 20150322562, hereafter ‘562.
In case Applicants argue that ‘606’s annealing and ‘728’s diffusion bonding is not “the connection portion is an intermetallic compound including Fe, Ni, and Si, the Fe and Ni being derived from the mask and the Si being derived from the support”.
‘562 is analogous art in the field of MASK PLATE (title), an organic electroluminescence display (OLED) technology ([0003]), the metal substrate is made of invar steel or stainless steel ([0011], which is a mask, [0008]-[0009]). ’562 teaches that Temperature of the evaporation deposition process is usually above 300 degrees Celsius ([0071], 5th sentence).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have operated the combined apparatus of ‘503, ‘606, ‘614, and ‘728 at above 300 degrees Celsius, as taught by ‘562, for its suitability with predictable results. The selection of something based on its known suitability for its intended use has been held to support a prima facie case of obviousness. MPEP 2144.07. As this temperature is the same Applicants’ heater treatment H, it would have had the claimed “the connection portion is an intermetallic compound including Fe, Ni, and Si, the Fe and Ni being derived from the mask and the Si being derived from the support”.
Claims 3-4, 11, and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘503, ‘606, ‘614, and ‘782 (optionally with ‘562), as being applied to claim 1 rejection above, further in view of DONOGHUE et al. (US 20200131617, hereafter ‘617).
‘503 also teach some limitations of:
Claim 3: Fig. 11 shows the claimed “wherein the grid portion comprises: a plurality of first grid portions extending in a first direction and having opposite ends connected to the edge portion; and a plurality of second grid portions extending in a second direction different from the first direction, intersecting the plurality of first grid portions, and having opposite ends connected to the edge portion”.
Fig. 2 of ‘606 shows the mask 10 has generally circular shape except for a flat cut portion.
The combination of ‘503, ‘606, ‘614, and ‘782 (optionally with ‘562), does not teach the other limitations of:
Claim 3: wherein the support and the mask have a circular shape.
‘617 is analogous art in the field of Direct-Deposition System Including Standoffs For Controlling Substrate-Mask Separation (title), formation of electronic devices based on chemically sensitive organic materials, such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) ([0010]). ’617 teaches that Shadow mask 104 is a high-precision shadow mask that includes annular frame 302, membrane 304, apertures 306, and standoffs 108 (Fig. 3A-3B, [0057], Fig. 3A shows both the frame 302 and mask membrane 304 are complete circular without corners).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have changed the shape of the mask 20 and frame body 10 of ‘503 to complete circular of ‘617. A change of shape is generally recognized as being within the ordinary level of skill in the art. In re Dailey, 357 F.2nd 669, 149 USPQ 1966.
‘503 further teaches the limitations of:
Claim 4: the mask body 20 has a stress relaxation region 60 that includes a plurality of fine holes 61 between the pattern region 30 and the holding region 51. Therefore, when this deposition mask is used, stress belonging to the mask body 20 can be efficiently decentralized by the fine holes 61, and position precision of the passage hole 31 can be improved ([0035], Fig. 2 shows the stress relaxation regions 60 are closer to the holding region 51 of the frame body 10 than the pattern regions),
the stress relaxation region 60 is covered with the shielding member 70. Therefore, the deposition material does not pass through the fine holes 61 of the stress relaxation region 60 ([0050], 2nd sentence), A separation region 40 is provided between the pattern regions 30 ([0033], last sentence, includes the claimed “wherein the mask further comprises: a dummy portion connected onto the edge portion; and separation portions positioned closer to a central part of the mask than the dummy portion and disposed in spaces between two adjacent cell portions of the plurality of cell portions, and wherein the separation portions are supported on the grid portion, and wherein the plurality of cell portions are disposed at the central part of the mask”, see also Fig. 11 for the correspondence of the separation region 40 and the shielding member 70. Note also Fig. 2 shows that there are no holes 61 in the separation region 40).
Claim 11: Fig. 10 shows some holes 61 overlaps with the shielding member 70 of the two edges, these are considered “dummy portion”, and some holes 61 overlaps with the middle of the shielding member 70, these holes are considered “slit lines” in the claimed “wherein the mask further comprises: a dummy portion connected on the edge portion; and slit lines are formed in spaces between two adjacent cell portions of the plurality of cell portions, and wherein the plurality of cell portions are positioned closer to a central part of the mask than the dummy portion”.
Claim 14: Fig. 2 (or Fig. 7) shows the claimed “wherein the dummy portion comprises a plurality of dummy cell portions that include a plurality of dummy patterns passing through the dummy portion or extending into the dummy portion to a predetermined depth”.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ‘503, ‘606, ‘614, ‘728, and ‘617 (optionally with ‘562), as being applied to claim 3 rejection above, further in view of Hasegawa et. al. (US 20020059903, hereafter ‘903).
‘614 further teaches wet etching for forming patterns of tapered shape ([0082]).
The combination of ‘503, ‘606, ‘614, ‘728, and ‘617 (optionally with ‘562) does not teach the limitations of:
Claim 10: wherein a longitudinal direction of the first grid portions or a longitudinal direction of the plurality of second grid portions is different from a crystal orientation of a (100) plane or (111) plane of the silicon wafer.
‘903 is analogous art in the field of Deposition Mask And Method Of Preparing The Same (title), a deposition mask employed for depositing a deposit material such as an organic EL (electroluminescence) film on a substrate ([0002]). ’903 teaches that the mask opening preferably includes a tapered through hole formed by performing anisotropic wet etching on the mask layer. A through hole having a large cone angle can be readily formed by anisotropic etching. Consequently, nonuniformity of the thickness of the deposit can be more reduced on an end of the mask opening. In this case, the mask layer is preferably formed by a single-crystalline silicon thin film having a (100) plane. Thus, an etching surface of a (111) plane can be formed when employing an alkaline etching solution having crystal orientation dependency on the (100) plane of silicon as a wet etching solution, for example, whereby the mask layer can be readily subjected to anisotropic wet etching ([0060]), A process of forming the support 21 on the mask layer 11 according to the second embodiment is similar to the aforementioned process ([0130], see also [0118]), for the purpose of allowing working of a tapered mask opening also when reduced in thickness ([0051]).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to have adopted the silicon crystal orientation to (100) or (111) plane, as taught by ‘903, to the tapered shape hole of ‘614, and then combined with ‘503 and ‘617, for the purpose of allowing working of a tapered mask opening also when reduced in thickness, as taught by ‘903 ([0051]).
Note ‘903 also teaches adhesive layer ([0063]) and Covar ([0062]).
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/26/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
In regarding to 35 USC 103 rejection, Applicants argue that
Li ‘728 is generally ceramic-metal bonding, does not pertain to a mask-support assembly, see the middle of page 11.
This argument is found not persuasive.
‘728 is applicable to general bonding. The ceramic-metal bonding is called out because the difficulty of ceramic-metal bonding due to huge mismatch of thermal expansion. (Metal to metal bonding is discussed, for example, col. 13, lines 18-32).
Because this argument, the examiner also adds ‘562 to the rejection above.
The combination does not teach “therein the support is served as a frame supporting the mask” because Jang ‘614 silicon mother plate for forming the mask and is separated after the mask is formed, see the top of page 13.
This argument is found not persuasive.
‘606 teaches that the mask substrate 15 may have a frame shape in a plan view. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the mask substrate 15 may include a substrate frame body 17 ([0166]), the mask substrate 15 contains silicon ([0309], i.e. frame/support made of silicon).
It would have been obvious for PHOSITA have adopted silicon as the material of the frame body 10 of ‘503. Therefore, there is no need to separate the mother plate of ‘614 after electroforming.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20150044084 is cited for “the graded composition diffuses the thermal expansion mismatch to avoid cracking ([0202], last sentence), 304SS to Invar gradient fabrication process ([0036]).
US 20100079893 is cited for electroforming solution ([0237]) and Si and Ni with respect to the depth of sputtering ([0248]).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEATH T CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-1870. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am-5:00 pm.
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/KEATH T CHEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1716
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