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
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- 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over OH et al. (U.S. 2017/0117480 A1, hereinafter refer to OH) in view of Moon et al. (U.S. 2021/0367178 A1, hereinafter refer to Moon).
Regarding Claims 1, 2, 3, and 4: OH discloses a display device (see OH, Fig.3 as shown below and ¶ [0003]) comprising:
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an anode (EL1) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0044]);
an organic EL layer including a hole injection layer (HIL), a hole transport layer (HTL), an electron blocking layer (not shown), a light emitting layer (EML), an electron transport layer (ETL) and an electron injection layer (EIL) (note: hole transport region HTR may have a monolayer structure formed by using a plurality of different materials including the hole injection layer HIL/hole transport layer HTL/electron blocking layer are sequentially laminated) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0048]); and
a cathode (EL2) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above),
wherein the electron transport layer (ETL) includes a high-concentration layer (ETL1) and a low-concentration layer (ETL2) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]),
a concentration of Liq contained in the high-concentration layer is 70% or more and 90% or less (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]),
a concentration of Liq contained in the low-concentration layer is 10% or more and 50% or less (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]), and
a thickness of the high-concentration layer is 5% or more and 15% or less of a thickness of the electron transport layer (ETL) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]) (as claimed in claim 1);
a thickness of the electron transport layer (ETL) is 22.6 nm (about 10nm to about 100nm) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]), and
a thickness of the high-concentration layer (ETL1) is 2.6 nm (about 1nm to about 15nm) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]) (as claimed in claim 2);
wherein the concentration of Liq contained in the high-concentration layer (ETL1) is 80% (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]) (as claimed in claim 3);
wherein the concentration of Liq contained in the low-concentration layer (ETL2) is 20% (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]) (as claimed in claim 4).
OH is silent upon explicitly disclosing wherein the high-concentration layer is adjacent to an interface with the electron injection layer (as claimed in claim 1).
However, OH teaches the low-concentration layer (ETL2) is adjacent to an interface with the electron injection layer (EIL) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]),
the high-concentration layer (ETL1) is adjacent to an interface with the low-concentration layer (ETL2) (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0084]- ¶ [0092]).
Hence, claims to an electron transport layer which read on the prior art except with regard to the position of the n-type dopant concentration level of electron transport layer were held unpatentable because shifting the position of the n-type dopant concentration level of electron transport layer would not have modified the operation of the device. Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out the a person of ordinary skill in the art would have been able to carry out shifting the position of the n-type dopant concentration level of electron transport layer and shifting the position of the n-type dopant concentration level of electron transport layer achieves to obtain a desirable degree of the electron transport property without an excess increase in the driving voltage.
In addition, OH teaches an overlapping ranges of n-type dopant concentration for high-concentration layer and low-concentration layer of electron transport layer as shown above; therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art of making semiconductor devices to determine the workable or optimal value for the n-type dopant concentration for high-concentration layer and low-concentration layer of electron transport layer through routine experimentation and optimization to obtain a desirable degree of the electron transport property without an excess increase in the driving voltage because the n-type dopant concentration for high-concentration layer and low-concentration layer of electron transport layer is a result-effective variable and there is no evidence indicating that it is critical or produces any unexpected results and it has been held that it is not inventive to discover the optimum or workable ranges of a result-effective variable within given prior art conditions by routine experimentation. See MPEP § 2144.05
OH is silent upon explicitly disclosing wherein an organic EL layer including a hole blocking layer.
Before effective filing date of the claimed invention the disclosed an organic EL layer were known to include a hole blocking layer in order to substantially minimized the electron/hole leakage phenomenon and increase the efficiency and lifespan characteristics of the device.
For support see Moon, which teaches wherein an organic EL layer including a hole blocking layer (53) (see Moon, Fig.1 as shown below and ¶ [0047]- ¶ [0049]).
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Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before effective filing date of the claimed invention combine the tecahings of OH and Moon to enable the OH’s an organic EL layer to include a hole blocking layer as taught by Moon in order to substantially minimized the electron/hole leakage phenomenon and increase the efficiency and lifespan characteristics of the device.
Regarding Claim 5: OH as modified teaches a display device as set forth in claim 1 as above. The combination of OH and Moon further teaches wherein the light emitting layer emits blue light (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0055]).
Regarding Claim 6: OH as modified teaches a display device as set forth in claim 1 as above. The combination of OH and Moon further teaches wherein when a difference in LUMO energy of the electron injection layer and the electron transport layer is defined as ΔE1_LUMO, the ΔE1_LUMO is 0.2 eV or less (see OH, Fig.3 as shown above and ¶ [0077]- ¶ [0083]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BITEW A DINKE whose telephone number is (571)272-0534. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7 a.m. - 5 p.m..
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davienne Monbleau can be reached at (571)272-1945. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BITEW A DINKE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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