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 and Specification Status
The Examiner acknowledges the amendments to claims 27, 31 and 36 in the Applicant’s response dated 26 June 2026. The claim amendments have been addressed below.
The Examiner acknowledges the cancellation of claim 29 in the Applicant’s response dated 26 June 2026 in lieu of the 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection presented in the previous office action. The 35 U.S.C. 112(b) rejection is therefore withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 27-28 and 30-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Regarding Claim 27, the claim recites “a light-emitting layer that includes: an insulating material”, establishing the insulating layer to be comprised in the light-emitting layer. Claim 31 further recites, “the insulating material interposed between the light-emitting layer and the second charge transport layer”, putting the insulating layer in a position outside the light-emitting layer on a surface thereof. Therefore, it is unclear to one of ordinary skill in the art how an insulating layer may be comprised in a light-emitting layer and disposed on a surface of the light-emitting layer at a same time. Claims 28 and 30-41 are rejected due to their dependence on claim 27.
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 27-28, 30, 32 and 34-36 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon Gyu Han et al. (US 2020/0343487 A1; hereinafter “Han”) in view of Kiril Radkov Kirov et al. (US 2020/0194701 A1; hereinafter “Kirov”).
Regarding Claim 27, Han teaches a light-emitting element (20, Fig. 2, para [0252] describes a light emitting device 20) comprising:
a light-emitting layer (13a, Fig. 2, para [0252] describes a first emissive layer 13a), that includes:
a quantum dot (para [0238] describes wherein the emissive layer 13a may include quantum dots),
a halogen element (para [0161] describes wherein the emissive layer 13a may comprise a halogen element), and
a coordination compound that is coordinated with the quantum dot (para [0145] describes wherein the emissive layer 13a may comprise an organic ligand present on surfaces of the quantum dots), wherein:
the coordination compound includes a compound having one or more, and n or less, carbon-hydrogen bonds, where n is a plural number (para [0146] and para [0147] describes a coordination compound comprising an organic ligand that may be oleic acid wherein oleic acid has one or more and n or less carbon-hydrogen bonds), or a compound having n chain structures with different elements bonded at any two coordination positions of an element that has a coordination number of four or greater (para [0146] and para [0147] describes wherein the organic ligand of the coordination compound may comprise a plurality of organic ligand compounds wherein a resulting structure would have at least n chain structures with different elements bonded at any two coordination positions, such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and may have a coordination number of four or greater),
a mass ratio between the coordination compound and the quantum dot is 0.5 or less (para [0159] describes the organic ligand material, representing the coordination compound, in the first emission layer may be less than or equal to about 20 % of the total weight of the emission layer 13a based on a total weight of the quantum dots), and
the coordination compound (para [0146] describes wherein a coordination compound includes an organic ligand) further includes:
a binding coordination compound that forms a coordination bond with the quantum dot (para [0146] describes wherein the coordination compound includes an organic ligand which may be bound to the surfaces of the quantum dots).
Han fails to explicitly disclose a light-emitting layer that includes: an insulating material and wherein the coordination compound further includes an excess coordination compound that has a higher free energy with respect to molecular weight than the binding coordination compound, that does not form the coordination bond with the quantum dot, and that is dispersed in the insulating material.
However, Kirov discloses a similar light-emitting element comprising:
a light-emitting layer (100, Fig. 1, para [0050] and para [0039] describes a photon multiplier film 100 that may be used in a light-emitting diode) that includes:
an insulating material (102, Fig. 1, para [0050] describes wherein the light-emitting layer 100 may comprise a host material 102 comprised of an insulating material such as polyvinyl butyral (PVB)), and
wherein the coordination compound further includes an excess coordination compound that has a higher free energy with respect to molecular weight than the binding coordination compound (104, Fig. 1, para [0050] describes a fission material 104 comprising a hydrocarbon material wherein said fission materials 104 are further described in para [0029] wherein some of the hydrocarbon ligands 104 may be directly attached to an inorganic nanoparticle surface wherein the inorganic nanoparticle may be the quantum dots 106 as shown in Fig. 1 and further wherein para [0029] describes the ligand 104 can be disposed in excess and not all of the ligands may be in direct contact with the quantum dots 106 resulting in the excess coordination compounds 104 not in contact with the quantum dots 106 would have a higher free energy as a result of not being bound to the quantum dot material 106), that does not form the coordination bond with the quantum dot (104, Fig. 1, para [0050] and para [0029] describes wherein the excess coordination compound ligands 104 may not form a coordination bond with the quantum dots 106), and that is dispersed in the insulating material (104 and 102, Fig. 1, para [0050] describes wherein the excess coordination compounds 104 may be disposed in the insulating host material 102).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Han with Kirov to further disclose a light-emitting element comprising an insulating material and an excess coordination compound that has a higher free energy with respect to molecular weight than a binding coordination compound, that does not form a coordination bond with a quantum dot, and that is dispersed in the insulating material in order to provide the well-known advantage of providing a surplus of coordination compounds so that a maximum number of coordination compounds may be disposed in an insulating layer in order to be bound to quantum dots in a light-emitting layer in which the remaining surplus of coordination compounds may be removed in a further processing step of the light-emitting layer if necessary.
Regarding Claim 28, the combination of Han and Kirov teaches the light-emitting element according to claim 27, wherein the halogen element is present at, or near, a surface of the quantum dot (Han, para [0156] describes wherein the emission layer 13a may include halogen as a ligand wherein the resulting halogen ligand would be present at or near a surface of the quantum dot).
Regarding Claim 30, the combination of Han and Kirov teaches the light-emitting element according to claim 28,
wherein the quantum dot includes a core (Han, para [0168] describes wherein the quantum dots may include a core) and a shell formed around the core (Han, para [0168] describes wherein the quantum dots may include a shell on the core), and
a distance between the halogen element and the surface of the quantum dot is equal to, or less than, a distance corresponding to a thickness of the shell (Han, para [0294] describes wherein the halogen is on the surface of the quantum dots further wherein para [0163] describes wherein the halogen element may bond with the metal of the quantum dot such as Zn wherein such a bond on a surface of the quantum dot would result in a distance between the halogen element and the surface of the quantum dot to be equal, to or less than, a distance corresponding to a thickness of the shell).
Regarding Claim 32, the combination of Han and Kirov teaches the light-emitting element according to claim 27,
wherein the coordination compound includes a compound having three or more carbon-hydrogen bonds or a compound having three or more chain structures (Han, para [0146] and para [0147] describes wherein the coordination compound comprising organic ligand may be oleic acid wherein oleic acid has three or more carbon-hydrogen bonds).
Regarding Claim 34, the combination of Han and Kirov teaches the light-emitting element according to claim 27,
wherein the halogen element includes F (Han, para [0162] describes wherein the halogen element of the emission layer 13a may include fluorine (F)).
Regarding Claim 35, the combination of Han and Kirov teaches the light-emitting element according to claim 27,
wherein the halogen element includes at least one of Cl, Br, or I (Han, para [0162] describes wherein the halogen element of the emission layer 13a may include chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br) and Iodine (I)).
Regarding Claim 36, the combination of Han and Kirov teaches the light-emitting element according to claim 27,
wherein the coordination compound further includes an inorganic compound, an organic compound, or a perfluoro compound (Han, para [0146] and para [0147] describes wherein the coordination compound further comprising an organic ligand may be oleic acid wherein oleic acid is an organic compound).
Claims 31, 33 and 37-41 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Moon Gyu Han et al. (US 2020/0343487 A1; hereinafter “Han”) in view of Kiril Radkov Kirov et al. (US 2020/0194701 A1; hereinafter “Kirov”) and in further of Choelmin Jang et al. (US 2020/0313108 A1; hereinafter “Jang”).
Regarding Claim 31, the combination of Han and Kirov discloses all the limitations of claim 27.
Han and Kirov disclose the light-emitting element according to claim 27, further comprising:
a first charge transport layer in contact with the light-emitting layer (Han, 22, Fig. 3, para [0271] and para [0272] describes a first charge auxiliary layer 22 which may comprise a charge transport layer which is in contact with a light-emitting layer 23a which corresponds to the emitting layer 13a); and
a second charge transport layer formed on a side of the light-emitting layer opposite the first charge transport layer (Han, 24, Fig. 3, para [0271] and para [0272] describes a second charge auxiliary layer 24 which may comprise a charge transport layer formed on a side of the light-emitting layer 13a opposite the first charge transport layer 22).
Han and Kirov fail to explicitly disclose the light-emitting element according to claim 27, wherein the light-emitting layer, on a side facing the second charge transport layer, is adjacent to the second charge transport layer with the insulating material interposed between the light-emitting layer and the second charge transport layer.
Jang teaches a similar light-emitting element (EE, Fig. 3A, para [0050] describes a light emitting diode EE), wherein the light-emitting layer (EML, Fig. 3A, para [0050] describes an emission layer EML), on a side facing the second charge transport layer (CTL2, Fig. 3A, para [0051] describes a second charge transport layer CTL2), is adjacent to the second charge transport layer with the insulating material interposed between the light-emitting layer and the second charge transport layer (ISL, Fig. 3A, para [0051] describes an insulating layer ISL disposed between the light-emitting layer EML and the second charge transport CTL2).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Han and Kirov with Jang to further disclose a light-emitting element comprising an insulating layer disposed between an emission layer and a charge transport layer in order to provide the advantage of providing for a transparent insulating layer which is capable of achieving a charge balance improving effect in a light emitting element (Jang, para [0073]).
Regarding Claim 33, the combination of Han, Kirov and Jang discloses the light-emitting element according to claim 31,
wherein the first charge transport layer is a hole transport layer configured to transport holes to the light-emitting layer (Han, 22, Fig. 3, para [0272] describes wherein the first charge transport layer 22 may be a hole transport layer), and
the second charge transport layer is an electron transport layer configured to transport electrons to the light-emitting layer (Han, 24, Fig. 3, par [0271] describes wherein the second charge transport layer 24 may be an electron transport layer).
Regarding Claim 37, the combination of Han, Kirov and Jang discloses the light-emitting element according to claim 31, further comprising:
an insulating layer formed between the light-emitting layer and the second charge transport layer (ISL, Fig. 3A, para [0051] describes an insulating layer ISL disposed between the light-emitting layer EML and the second charge transport CTL2).
Regarding Claim 38, the combination of Han, Kirov and Jang discloses the light-emitting element according to claim 37,
wherein the insulating layer is amorphous and includes at least one of a glass-based material, a tetrafluoroethylene-based material, or a silicone-based material (Jang, ISL, Fig. 3A, para [0073] describes wherein the insulating layer ISL may comprise a silicon-based material such as SiN).
Regarding Claim 39, the combination of Han, Kirov and Jang discloses the light-emitting element according to claim 37,
wherein the insulating layer has a light transmittance of 80% or greater in a visible light region (Jang, ISL, Fig. 3A, para [0073] describes wherein the insulating layer ISL may be any material that is transparent and does not block light generated from the light emitting diode wherein a resulting transparent layer would have a light transmittance greater than 80%).
Regarding Claim 40, the combination of Han, Kirov and Jang discloses all the limitations of claim 37.
The combination of Han and Jang fails to explicitly disclose the light-emitting element according to claim 37, wherein the insulating layer includes an ether-based, perfluoro-based, or hydrocarbon-based solvent.
However, Han teaches wherein an organic solvent may be used in a film surrounding the quantum dots in the light emitting layer wherein said organic solvent may be comprised of an aliphatic hydrocarbon material (Han, para [0284]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filling date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Han with Jang to form an insulating layer comprised of silicon nitride with an organic solvent comprised of an aliphatic hydrocarbon in order to apply a known technique of forming an insulating layer on a surface of a light-emitting layer using a same solvent for both the light-emitting layer film and the insulating layer in order to provide the well-known advantage of simplifying the manufacturing process of both a quantum dot light-emitting layer and an insulating layer disposed on a surface of the light-emitting layer by using a same organic solvent for both material layers.
Regarding Claim 41, the combination of Han, Kirov and Jang discloses the light-emitting element according to claim 37, wherein the insulating layer has a thickness of 5 nm or less (Jang, ISL, Fig. 3A, para [0081] describes wherein the insulating layer ISL may have a thickness of about 0.1 nm to about 10 nm wherein a thickness of 4 nm falls within the range discloses by Jang and is a thickness of 5 nm or less).
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 27-28 and 30-41 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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALEXANDER M MILLER whose telephone number is (571)272-6051. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Julio Maldonado can be reached at 571(272)-1864. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALEXANDER MICHAEL MILLER/Examiner, Art Unit 2898 /JULIO J MALDONADO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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