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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Claims 1-18 in the reply filed on 11/18/2025 is acknowledged.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
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) 1-5, 9-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over You (20220069255), in view Chang (8853698).
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Regarding claim 1, You teaches an display device (fig. 18 and 19) comprising:
a substrate (100) including a display area (DA) and a peripheral area (NDA) surrounding the display area;
a thin-film transistor (TFT) disposed on the display area of the substrate; and
a pixel electrode (211) disposed on the thin-film transistor and electrically connected to the thin-film transistor, the pixel electrode including:
a lower layer including titanium nitride (TiN) (L1; par. 114 and 115), an intermediate layer disposed on the lower layer and including an aluminum alloy (L2; par. 114 and 115); and an upper layer disposed on the intermediate layer and including transparent conductive oxide (e.g. ITO, IZO, ZnO, In.sub.2O.sub.3, IGO, or AZO).
You fails to teach:
an upper layer disposed on the intermediate layer and including titanium oxide
Chang teaches an pixel electrode being composed of transparent conductive oxides, such as ITO, AZO, indium titanium oxide (ITiO) and other transparent conductive materials. Chang shows that when choosing transparent conductive oxide materials to be used for the pixel electrode, materials such as ITO, AZO and ITiO are known functionally equivalent materials. It would have been within the scope of a PHOSITA, at the time of filing, to combine the teachings of Chang with You since simple substitution of one known material (e.g. ITO, AZO) for another to known material (e.g. ITiO) to obtain predictable results is a known motivation in the art.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA, at the time of filing, to utilize aforementioned teachings of the prior art(s) in the primary prior art(s) due to aforementioned reason(s).
Please note that multiple embodiments of prior art are used above. It would have been obvious to a PHOSITA, at the time of filing, to utilize these embodiments in combination since are related to similar fields of endeavor.
Regarding claim 2, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 1, further comprising a pad portion (You, fig. 19: 211P) disposed on the peripheral area of the substrate (fig. 19 shows 211P in the peripheral area NDA1) and including a first pad electrode layer (211P: L3) and a second pad electrode layer (211P: L1) disposed on the first pad electrode layer, wherein the second pad electrode layer includes a same material as a material of the lower layer (please see figures above).
Regarding claim 3, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 2, wherein the second pad electrode layer contacts the first pad electrode layer (all layers in 211P stack are conductive).
Regarding claim 4, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 2, wherein the thin-film transistor (TFT) includes a source region and a drain region on the substrate (ACT), a gate electrode (GE), a source electrode electrically connected to the source region (SE), and a drain electrode electrically connected to the drain region (DE), wherein the first pad electrode layer includes a same material as a material of the source electrode and the drain electrode (You, par. 108).
Regarding claim 5, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 4, wherein the lower layer contacts the source electrode or the drain electrode (You: 211P is connected via 213).
Regarding claim 9, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 1, further comprising: an emission layer (You: 212b) disposed on the pixel electrode; an opposite electrode (You: 213) disposed on the emission layer; and a thin-film encapsulation layer (You: ENL) disposed on the opposite electrode.
Regarding claim 10, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 9, further comprising red, green and blue color filters disposed on the thin-film encapsulation layer (par. 66).
Regarding claim 11, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 9, wherein the emission layer is unitary on the substrate (see You 212b above).
Regarding claim 12, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 1, wherein the substrate includes a semiconductor substrate (You, par. 60).
Regarding claim 13, You teaches an display device (fig. 18 and 19) comprising:
a substrate (100) including a display area (DA) and a peripheral area (NDA) surrounding the display area;
a thin-film transistor (TFT) disposed on the display area of the substrate; and
a pixel electrode (211) disposed on the thin-film transistor and electrically connected to the thin-film transistor, the pixel electrode including:
the pixel electrode including:
a lower layer including titanium nitride (TiN) (L1; par. 114 and 115), an intermediate layer disposed on the lower layer and including an aluminum alloy (L2; par. 114 and 115); and an upper layer disposed on the intermediate layer and including transparent conductive oxide (e.g. ITO, IZO, ZnO, In.sub.2O.sub.3, IGO, or AZO), and
a pad portion (You, fig. 19: 211P) disposed on the peripheral area of the substrate (fig. 19 shows 211P in the peripheral area NDA1) and including a first pad electrode layer (211P: L3) and a second pad electrode layer (211P: L1) disposed on the first pad electrode layer, wherein the second pad electrode layer includes a same material as a material of the lower layer (please see figures above).
You fails to teach:
an upper layer disposed on the intermediate layer and including titanium oxide
Chang teaches an pixel electrode being composed of transparent conductive oxides, such as ITO, AZO, indium titanium oxide (ITiO) and other transparent conductive materials. Chang shows that when choosing transparent conductive oxide materials to be used for the pixel electrode, materials such as ITO, AZO and ITiO are known functionally equivalent materials. It would have been within the scope of a PHOSITA, at the time of filing, to combine the teachings of Chang with You since simple substitution of one known material (e.g. ITO, AZO) for another to known material (e.g. ITiO) to obtain predictable results is a known motivation in the art.
Thus, it would have been obvious to a PHOSITA, at the time of filing, to utilize aforementioned teachings of the prior art(s) in the primary prior art(s) due to aforementioned reason(s).
Please note that multiple embodiments of prior art are used above. It would have been obvious to a PHOSITA, at the time of filing, to utilize these embodiments in combination since are related to similar fields of endeavor.
Regarding claim 14, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 13, wherein the pad portion includes a first pad electrode layer and a second pad electrode layer disposed on the first pad electrode layer (please see rejection for claim 13 above).
Regarding claim 15, You, in view Chang, teaches an display device of claim 14, wherein the thin-film transistor (TFT) includes a source region and a drain region on the substrate (ACT), a gate electrode (GE), a source electrode electrically connected to the source region (SE), and a drain electrode electrically connected to the drain region (DE), wherein the first pad electrode layer includes a same material as a material of the source electrode and the drain electrode (You, par. 108).
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.
Claim 7 is objected to based on its dependence on claim 6.
Claim 8 is objected to based on its dependence on claim 6.
Claim 16 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.
Claim 17 is objected to based on its dependence on claim 16.
Claim 18 is objected to based on its dependence on claim 16.
Conclusion
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/CALEB E HENRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818