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 Group I in the reply filed on May 7, 2026 is acknowledged.
Claims 12-18 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on May 7, 2026.
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 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Monodane et al (US 2019/0362992 A1) in view of Do et al (US 2021/0272986 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Monodane discloses a laser annealing equipment (Fig. 1) comprising:
at least one laser diode controller (Fig. 1 and para 25 “laser oscillation unit 1”) including at least one output fiber (Fig. 1 and para 25 “optical fiber 8”);
at least one light path module (Fig. 1 and para 25 “optical system 2”) connected to an output fiber (8) of the laser diode controller (1) to process light emitted from the output fiber and direct the light to a substrate (Fig. 1 and para 25 “irradiation target 31”) and perform a dehydrogenation process or a crystallization process on a silicon layer applied to the substrate (para 35 “The irradiation target 31 is an object to be subjected to laser annealing. Used in the first embodiment is a silicon wafer made of single-crystal silicon subjected to ion implantation of impurities to a depth of 1 μm to 50 μm below the surface. It should be noted that the irradiation target 31 is not limited to the silicon wafer described above, and it is also possible to use such an irradiation target other than the silicon wafer, as a silicon carbide (SiC) wafer or a thin film transistor (TFT) forming substrate”); and
a stage capable of relative motion (Fig. 1 and para 25 “optical system moving unit 4”; Fig. 2 and para 32 “turntable 3”) with respect to the light path module (2) and loading the substrate so that the dehydrogenation process and the crystallization process are performed on a surface (3a) of the substrate with respect to the light path module (see Fig. 3, and para 35).
However, the annealing is not done by blue laser annealing.
Do discloses the semiconductor layer 130 (Fig. 1) is crystallized by bule laser annealing using a blue laser beam (para [0073] The semiconductor layer 130 may include polysilicon. The semiconductor layer 130 may be crystallized by blue laser annealing (BLA) using a blue laser beam, which is a continuous-wave beam, after stacking amorphous silicon. For example, the blue laser annealing may use a blue laser having a wavelength of about 360 nm to 480 nm. More specifically, the blue laser annealing may use a blue laser having a wavelength of about 440 nm to 460 nm. The blue laser annealing may be performed by scanning the blue laser line beam having a width of 20 μm or less and a length of 300 μm or more on a substrate surface in a direction perpendicular to a substrate movement direction. The blue laser annealing may be performed by scanning the blue laser beam having the shape of a point, a circle, and a polygon on the substrate surface in the direction perpendicular to the substrate movement direction. The semiconductor layer 130 may have the thickness of about 50 nm to about 300 nm. A process of dehydrogenating the semiconductor layer 130 before the crystallization by the blue laser annealing may be further included”).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention before the effective filing date to have the semiconductor layer to be crystallized by bule laser annealing using a blue laser beam as taught by Do because “unlike the surface of the semiconductor layer crystallized by excimer laser annealing (ELA), the surface of the semiconductor layer 130 crystallized by the blue laser annealing may have no protrusion or its frequency may be small, and a grain size may be large, and a grain boundary may have a shape that extends in a direction parallel to the scan direction during the annealing. In addition, the semiconductor layer 130 of the transistor T1 according to the exemplary embodiment may be small in shape or characteristic change even during a plurality of folding operations, and may have the excellent foldability”, see para 74).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-11 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:
Regarding claim 2, claim is allowable at least for the reason that the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest blue laser diode controller includes
a controller housing;
a plurality of blue laser diodes provided in the controller housing;
a first focus lens disposed in front of each of the blue laser diodes;
a prism lens reflecting light emitted from the first focus lens;
a second focus lens focusing the light reflected from the prism lens and merged; and
an image lens guiding the light emitted from the second focus lens to the output fiber as set forth in the claimed combination; and
Regarding claims 3-11, claims are allowable at least for the reason that the prior art does not teach or reasonably suggest the light path module includes
a collimator connected to the output fiber;
a light guide connected to the collimator;
a polarization mirror reflecting light emitted from the light guide; and
a projection lens module refracting and focusing the light reflected and emitted from the polarization mirror and irradiating the light onto the substrate placed on the stage as set forth in the claimed combination.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Jang et al (US 11,663,978 B1) discloses blue laser annealing used in a process for crystallizing a silicon of the transistor.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EUNCHA P CHERRY whose telephone number is (571)272-2310. The examiner can normally be reached M to F 7am to 3:30pm.
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6/22/2026
/EUNCHA P CHERRY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872
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