DETAILED ACTION
Table of Contents
I. Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 3
II. Specification 3
III. Claim Objections 3
IV. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112 3
A. Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention. 3
V. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 4
A. Claims 1-6, 8-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2022/0199919 (“Choung”) in view of US 2012/0025171 (“Canzler”). 4
B. Claims 1-6 and 8-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choung in view of US 2007/0046189 (“Hatwar”). 15
C. Claims 1, 2, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0002427 (“Moon”) in view of Hatwar. 19
VI. Pertinent Prior Art 24
Conclusion 24
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I. 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 .
II. Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
III. Claim Objections
Claims 2, 7, and 8 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Each of claims 2 and 7 fail to include the following claimed formulas: Formula 1A, Formulae 4-1 through 4-20, and Formulae 2A through 2C.
For the purposes of examination, the formulas from the specification will be presumed.
Appropriate correction is required.
IV. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
A. Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claim 15 recites the limitation “the hole transport region” in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
It is presumed that Applicant means claim 15 to depend from claim 14, which provides antecedent basis for “the hole transport region”.
V. 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 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 of this title, 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.
A. Claims 1-6, 8-16, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2022/0199919 (“Choung”) in view of US 2012/0025171 (“Canzler”).
Claim 1 reads,
1. An organic light-emitting device, comprising:
[1] a first electrode;
[2] a second electrode; and
[3] an organic layer arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode,
wherein
[4a] the organic layer comprises
[4b] an emission layer and
[4c] an n-doped layer,
[5] the n-doped layer is arranged between the first electrode and the emission layer,
[6] the emission layer comprises at least one organometallic compound, and
[7] the at least one organometallic compound comprises at least one silyl group or at least one germyl group.
With regard to claim 1, Choung discloses, generally in Fig. 3,
1. An organic light-emitting device D1 [i.e. OLED; ¶ 168], comprising:
[1] a first electrode 210 [i.e. anode; ¶¶ 168-170];
[2] a second electrode 220 [i.e. cathode; ¶¶ 174-176]; and
[3] an organic layer 230 [¶¶ 172-173, 179-197] arranged between the first electrode 210 and the second electrode 220,
wherein
[4a] the organic layer 230 comprises
[4b] an emission layer 360 [¶¶ 182, 189-191] and
[4c] … [not taught] …
[5] … [not taught] …
[6] the emission layer 360 comprises at least one organometallic compound 362 [i.e. Formula 1; abstract; ¶ 9], and
[7] the at least one organometallic compound 362 comprises at least one silyl group or at least one germyl group [as shown in Formula 1].
With regard to features [4c] and [5] of claim 1,
[4c] an n-doped layer,
[5] the n-doped layer is arranged between the first electrode and the emission layer,
The OLED D1 shown in Fig. 3 of Choung does not teach the n-doped layer positioned as required by features [4c] and [5].
Canzler, like Choung, teaches an OLED include an anode 2 and cathode 1 with an organic layer 4 therebetween, the organic layer including a sequence of layers, including a light emitting layer EL having an iridium metal complex dopant, e.g., “ORE--iridium(III) bis(2-methyldibenzo-[f,h]quinoxaline)(acetylacetonate)”, in a host, e.g. “NPB--N,N % di(naphthalen-2-yl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine” (¶ 62), i.e. “20 nm ORE in NPB (10%)” (e.g. Examples 2 and 4 ¶¶ 66, 68). See also Examples 9 and 10 at ¶¶ 73-95) including a light emitting layer with 20 wt% Ir(piq)3 dopant in host BAlq (¶ 92, compound structures on p. 6). The sequence of layers in each of Choung and Canzler includes essentially the same, well-known general sequence of an OLED including anode, hole transport layer (HTL), electron blocking layer (EBL), light emitting layer (EML or EL), hole blocking layer (HBL), electron transport layer (ETL), and cathode:
[0184] Moreover, the organic light emitting layer 230 can further include at least one of an HIL 340 between the first electrode 210 and the HTL 350 and an EIL 380 between the second electrode 220 and the ETL 370.
[0185] Furthermore, the organic light emitting layer 230 can further include at least one of an HBL 355 between the HTL 350 and the EML 360 and an EBL 375 between the EML 360 and the ETL 370.
(Choung: ¶¶ 184-185; Fig. 3)
[0044] anode/n-doped ETL/p-doped HTL/EBL/EL/HBL/n-doped ETL/p-doped HTL/cathode
[0045] anode/n-doped ETL/p-doped HTL/EBL/EL/HBL/n-doped ETL/cathode.
[0047] anode/n-doped ETL/EBL/EL/HBL/p-doped HTL/cathode
[0048] anode/n-doped ETL/EBL/EL/HBL/n-doped ETL/cathode
(Canzler: ¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48)
Canzler further teaches including an n-doped ETL, i.e. an electron transport material doped with an n-dopant, just as in the Instant Application, which states in this regard, “In one or more embodiments, the n-doped layer may include an electron transport compound and an n-dopant.” (Instant Specification: ¶ 150). Also like the Instant Application (Instant Specification: ¶¶ 150-166), Canzler teaches that the n-dopant can be a metal complex of, e.g. W (¶ 62) or Ru (¶ 88), albeit of different metals than those in the Instant Application.
Canzler deposits the n-doped layer directly on the anode (supra) before forming the hole transporting materials and EBL alone or followed by a p-doped layer including a p-dopant in a hole transporting material—also as in the Instant Application (Instant Specification: ¶¶ 171-173). Canzler explains the benefit of including the n-doped layer alone or the n-doped layer/p-doped layer, i.e. a np junction on the anode and a pn junction on the cathode, as increasing free charge carriers available to the organic layer (Canzler: ¶¶ 11-12), which allows lower operating voltage of the OLED compared to OLEDs lacking the np and pn junctions (Canzler: ¶ 13-14) and easier selection of anode and cathode materials (Canzler: ¶ 15).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to include an n-doped layer directly on the anode 210 of Choung, or an n-doped layer/p-doped layer directly on the anode 210 of Choung, at least in order to improve free charge carrier availability and thereby allow lower operation voltage, as taught by Canzler (supra). As such, Canzler may be seen as an improvement to Choung in this aspect. (See MPEP 2143.)
This is all of the limitations of claim 1.
In the alternative, Canzler may be viewed as the primary reference. With regard to claim 1, Canzler discloses, generally in Fig. 1,
1. An organic light-emitting device, comprising:
[1] a first electrode 2 [¶ 41, e.g. anode (¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48, 66, 68, 75, 87)];
[2] a second electrode 1 [¶ 41; e.g. cathode (¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48, 66, 68, 83, 95)]; and
[3] an organic layer 4 arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode,
wherein
[4a] the organic layer 4 comprises
[4b] an emission layer [EL of 4 (¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48, 66, 68, 80, 92)] and
[4c] an n-doped layer [n-doped ETL of 4 (¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48, 66, 68, 76, 88)],
[5] the n-doped layer [n-doped ETL] is arranged between the first electrode [anode 2] and the emission layer [EL of 4 (¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48, 66, 69, examples 9 and 10 at ¶¶ 73-95 at p. 5)],
[6] the emission layer [EL of 4 (¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48)] comprises at least one organometallic compound [ORE or Ir(piq)3 (supra)], and
[7] … [not taught] …
Canzler does not teach feature [7] of claim 1:
[7] the at least one organometallic compound comprises at least one silyl group or at least one germyl group.
As explained above, Choung discloses an Ir metal complex, similar to those disclosed in Canzler. Choung teaches that Ir metal complexes having a ligand substituted with a silyl substituent in a meta position to the carbon bonded to the Ir atom, as in the disclosed Formula 1 of Choung has a longer lifespan and greater emission efficiency than Ir metal complexes (1) without the silyl group (i.e. “Ref-1 using Formula 8 at pp. 80-82) or (2) those with the silyl group positioned ortho to the carbon bonded to the Ir atom (i.e. “Ref-2 through Ref-13 at pp. 80-82). In this regard Table 1 shows the inferior emission efficiency and lifespan of Ir complex compounds Ref-1 through Ref-13 to the inventive compound of Formula 1 in Tables 2, 3, and 4 (Choung: ¶¶ 203-204).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to use an Ir complex having the structure of Formula 1 of Choung, as the Ir complex in Canzler, in order to improve the emission efficiency and lifespan of the OLED, as taught in Choung (supra). As such, Choung may be seen as an improvement to Canzler in this aspect. (See MPEP 2143.)
This is all of the limitations of claim 1.
With regard to claim 2, Choung further discloses,
2. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the organometallic compound is represented by Formula 1:
Formula 1 M1(Ln1) n1(Ln2)n2
wherein, in Formula 1, M1 is a transition metal, Ln1 is a ligand represented by Formula 1A, Ln2 is an organic ligand, n1 is 1, 2, or 3, n2 is 0, 1, or 2,
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352
226
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wherein in Formula 1A,
ring CY1 and ring CY2 are each independently a C5-C30 carbocyclic group or a C1-C30 heterocyclic group,
T1 is -Si(Q1)(Q2)(Q3) or -Ge(Q1)(Q2)(Q3), a1 is 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5,
R10 and R20 are each independently hydrogen, deuterium, …
b10 and b20 are each independently 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10,
* and *’ each indicate a binding site to M1
Choung discloses the general Formula 1 (abstract; ¶ 23 et seq.) as the Ir metal complex dopant 362 in the host of emission layer 360 (Choung: ¶ 189):
-
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248
466
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Several examples, 1 through 405, are provided at pages 3-55 of Choung. Compound 1 on page 3 is reproduced below.
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290
350
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Claimed ligand Ln1 is the ligand on the right of Choung’s compound 1 and meets the requirements that (1) CY1 is a C1-C30 heterocyclic, specifically pyridine—as required by claim 5—each of the R10 is hydrogen (H) with b10 = 4, (2) CY2 is a C5-C30 heterocyclic, specifically dibenzofuran—as required by claim 5—T1 is -Si(CH3)3 with a1 = 1, each of the R20 is hydrogen (H) with b20 = 5 and (3) n1 is 1 and n2 is 2.
Claimed ligand Ln2 is the ligand on the left of Choung’s Formula 1 and compound 1 and meets the requirements that “Ln2 is an organic ligand” meeting the requirements of claimed Formula 2C of claim 8, wherein ring CY5 to ring CY6 are each independently a C5-C30 carbocyclic group, i.e. benzene, or a C1-C30 heterocyclic group, i.e. pyridine, and n2 = 2.
Note that example compounds include claimed ligand Ln1 having n1 of 1 (Choung: compounds 1-270, 393-405), 2 (Choung, compounds: 271-330), or 3 (Choung, compounds: 331-390), with claimed ligand Ln2 the balance of 3—a further required by claims 2 and 4.
With regard to claims 3-6 and 8, either Formula 1 or compound 1 of Choung, above further teaches, the following,
3. The organic light-emitting device of claim 2, wherein M1 is iridium, platinum, osmium, titanium, zirconium, hafnium, europium, terbium, thulium, or rhodium [supra].
4. The organic light-emitting device of claim 2, wherein M1 is iridium, and a sum of n1 and n2 is 3, or M1 is platinum, and the sum of n1 and n2 is 2.
5. The organic light-emitting device of claim 2, wherein ring CY1 and ring CY2 are each independently a benzene group, a naphthalene group, a 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene group, a phenanthrene group, a pyridine group [CY1], a pyrimidine group, a pyrazine group, a triazine group, a quinoline group, an isoquinoline group, a benzoquinoline group, a benzoisoquinoline group, a furopyridine group, a benzofuropyridine group, a thienopyridine group, a benzothienopyridine group, a quinoxaline group, a quinazoline group, a phenanthroline group, a benzofuran group, a benzothiophene group, a fluorene group, a carbazole group, a dibenzofuran group [CY2], a dibenzothiophene group, a dibenzosilole group, an azafluorene group, an azacarbazole group, an azadibenzofuran group, an azadibenzothiophene group, or an azadibenzosilole group.
6. The organic light-emitting device of claim 2, wherein R10 and R20 are each independently hydrogen, deuterium, -F, a substituted or unsubstituted C1-C20 alkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted C3-C10 cycloalkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted C1-C10 heterocycloalkyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted C6-C10 aryl group, -Si(Q1)(Q2)(Q3), or -Ge(Q1)(Q2)(Q3).
8. The organic light-emitting device of claim 2, wherein Ln2 is represented by at least one of Formulae 2A to 2C:
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306
242
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X4 to X6 are each independently C or N,
ring CY4 to ring CY6 are each independently a C5-C30 carbocyclic group or a C1-C30 heterocyclic group,
R50, and R60 are each independently hydrogen,
With regard to claim 9, Choung further discloses,
9. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the emission layer emits a red light, a green light, or a blue light [¶ 151].
With regard to claim 9, Choung further discloses,
10. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein
[1] the emission layer 360 further comprises a host and a dopant 362, and
[2] the dopant 362 comprises the at least one organometallic compound.
Choung states,
[0189] The EML 360 includes a first compound being the organometallic compound of the present disclosure as a dopant (e.g., an emitter) 362. In addition, the EML 360 can further include a second compound as a host.
[0190] The EML 360 can have a thickness of 10 to 100 nm, preferably 20 to 50 nm. In the EML 360, the dopant 362 can have a weight % of 1 to 20 weight %, preferably 1 to 10 weight %.
(Choung: ¶¶ 189-190; emphasis added)
With regard to claims 11-13, Canzler further discloses,
11. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the n-doped layer comprises an electron transport compound and an n-dopant [i.e. n-doped ETL].
12. The organic light-emitting device of claim 11, wherein the electron transport compound [e.g. “2,4,7,9-tetraphenyl phenanthroline” (¶ 62)] comprises a cyano group, a π electron-deficient nitrogen-containing ring group, an electron transport moiety [i.e. phenanthroline, as evidenced by the Instant Application (Instant Specification: ¶ 152: “a phenanthroline group”; ¶ 153)], or a combination thereof.
13. The organic light-emitting device of claim 11, wherein the n-dopant comprises a metal [e.g. “Ndop--tetrakis(1,2,3,3a,4,5,6,6a,7,8-decahydro-1,9,9b-triazaphenalenyl)di-tungsten(II)” (¶ 62) or “Ru(t-butyl-trpy)2” (¶ 88)].
With regard to claim 14, Canzler further discloses,
14. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the organic layer 4 further comprises
[1] a hole transport region [e.g. p-doped HTL/EBL (Canzler: ¶¶ 44, 45)] arranged between the first electrode [anode 2] and the emission layer [EL of 4], and
[2] the hole transport region comprises a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer [p-doped HTL], an electron blocking layer [EBL], a buffer layer, or a combination thereof (Canzler: ¶¶ 44, 45)].
In addition, Choung teaches a anode 210/HIL 340/HTL 350/EBL 355/emission layer 360 (Choung: ¶¶ 184-185). Thus, Choung modified to use the n-doped layer or the n-doped layer/p-doped layer of Canzler would still include at least an HTL and EBL between the anode 210 and the emission layer 360.
With regard to claim 15, Canzler further discloses,
15. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the n-doped layer is arranged between the first electrode and the hole transport region [Canzler: ¶¶ 44, 45, 47, 48 (supra)].
Because the n-doped layer is in contact with the anode, Choung modified to use the n-doped layer or the n-doped layer/p-doped layer of Canzler would still include “the n-doped layer is arranged between the first electrode and the hole transport region” as require by claim 15.
With regard to claim 16, each of Choung and Canzler further discloses,
16. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein
[1] the organic layer further comprises an electron transport region [375/370/380 in Fig. 3 of Choung; e.g. HBL/n-doped ETL in ¶ 44 in Canzler ] arranged between the emission layer [360 in Choung; EL in ¶ 44 in Canzler] and the second electrode [220 in Choung; cathode 1 in ¶ 44 and Fig. 1 in Canzler], and
[2] the electron transport region comprises a hole blocking layer [HBL in ¶ 44 in Canzler], an electron transport layer [370 in Choung; n-doped ETL in ¶ 44 in Canzler], an electron injection layer [EIL 380 in Choung], or a combination thereof.
With regard to claim 20, Choung further discloses,
20. An electronic apparatus [i.e. an OLED display; Fig. 2; ¶¶ 150-151], comprising the organic light-emitting device of claim 1 [i.e. D1 in Fig. 3; ¶¶ 150-151].
B. Claims 1-6 and 8-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Choung in view of US 2007/0046189 (“Hatwar”).
With regard to claim 1, Choung discloses, generally in Figs. 7 and 8,
1. An organic light-emitting device D2 [i.e. OLED; ¶ 266], comprising:
[1] a first electrode 810 [i.e. anode; ¶¶ 266-267];
[2] a second electrode 820 [i.e. cathode; ¶¶ 266-267]; and
[3] an organic layer 830/890/930/990/1030 [¶¶ 266-280] arranged between the first electrode 810 and the second electrode 820,
wherein
[4a] the organic layer 830/890/930/990/1030 comprises
[4b] an emission layer 960 [¶¶ 271, 274-275] and
[4c] an n-…[type]… layer 910 [i.e. n-type charge generation layer (CGL); ¶ 273],
[5] the n-…[type]… layer 910 is arranged between the first electrode 810 and the emission layer 960,
[6] the emission layer 960 comprises at least one organometallic compound 966 [i.e. Formula 1; abstract; ¶9; ¶ 274: “The second EML 960 includes a first host and a first dopant 966, and the first dopant 966 is the organometallic compound of the present invention.”], and
[7] the at least one organometallic compound 966 comprises at least one silyl group or at least one germyl group [as shown in Formula 1].
With regard to features [4c] and [5] of claim 1, Choung does not give the composition of the n-type CGL and does not therefore indicate whether or not it is an n-doped layer”, as claimed.
Hatwar, like Choung, teaches a tandem OLED 200 (Hatwar: Fig. 2; ¶ 26; title) wherein the light emitting stacks 120.1, 120.2 are separated by a charge generation layer 130.1 (Hatwar: ¶ 26). Also like Choung, Hatwar teaches that he charge generation layer 130.1 can have a configuration of an n-type layer 331 closer to the anode 110 and with a p-type layer 335 directly thereon and closer to the cathode 170 (Hatwar: Fig. 3E; ¶ 86). Similarly, Choung teaches that the charge generation layer 890 is an n-type layer 910 closer to the anode 810 and with a p-type layer 920 closer to the cathode 820 (Choung: ¶ 273).
Hatwar further teaches that it is very old and well known to make the n-type CGL 331 from an n-dopant in an electron transport material (Hatwar: ¶¶ 87, 108), the n-dopant being a metal (Hatwar: ¶ 88) that include same metals as disclosed in the Instant Application, i.e. Li, Na, K, Cs, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Y, La, Ce, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Gd, and Yb (id.). In addition, Hatwar teaches that the p-type layer 335 is a p-dopant in a hole transport material (Hatwar: ¶ 140).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to make the n-type CGL 910 and p-type CGL 920 of Choung using the compositions in Hatwar, i.e. a metal n-dopant in an ETM and p-dopant in a HTM, respectively, because Hatwar teaches that this is old and well known. As such, the selection of the n-type CGL as an n-doped ETL amounts to obvious material choice. (See MPEP 2144.07.)
This is all of the limitations of claim 1.
With regard to claims 2-6 and 8, directed to claimed Formula 1, see the discussion above.
With regard to claims 9 and 10, Choung further discloses,
9. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the emission layer 960 emits a red light, a green light, or a blue light [¶ 271: “One of the first to third EMLs 860, 960 and 1060 includes the organometallic compound of the present disclosure and provides the green emission.”].
10. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein
[1] the emission layer further comprises a host and a dopant [¶ 274: “The second EML 960 includes a first host and a first dopant 966, and the first dopant 966 is the organometallic compound of the present invention”], and
[2] the dopant comprises the at least one organometallic compound [id.].
With regard to claims 11-13, Choung modified according to Hatwar as explained under claim 1 further teaches,
11. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the n-doped layer 910 comprises an electron transport compound [¶¶ 87, 108] and an n-dopant [supra].
12. The organic light-emitting device of claim 11, wherein the electron transport compound comprises a cyano group, a π electron-deficient nitrogen-containing ring group, an electron transport moiety, or a combination thereof.
13. The organic light-emitting device of claim 11, wherein the n-dopant comprises a metal [¶ 88, supra].
Hatwar explains that the ETM includes first and second organic compounds (¶ 87). The second organic compound include the required “cyano group, a π electron-deficient nitrogen-containing ring group, an electron transport moiety”:
Carbocyclic and heterocyclic ring systems useful for the current invention for the second compounds are selected from metal and non-metal chelated oxinoids, anthracenes, bipyridyls, butadienes, imidazoles, phenanthrenes, phenanthrolines, styrylarylenes, benzazoles, buckministerfullerene-C60 (also known as buckyball or fullerene-C60), tetracenes, xanthenes, perylenes, coumarins, rhodamines, quinacridones, dicyanomethylenepyrans, …
(Hatwar: ¶ 108)
Thus using the composition for the n-doped CGL of Hatwar for the n-type CGL 910 of Choung may include and electron transport compound having “cyano group, a π electron-deficient nitrogen-containing ring group, an electron transport moiety”.
This is all of the limitations of claims 11-13.
With regard to claims 14-19, Choung further discloses in Figs. 7 and 8,
14. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the organic layer 830/890/930/990/1030 further comprises
[1] a hole transport region 950/955 arranged between the first electrode 810 and the emission layer 960, and
[2] the hole transport region 950/955 comprises a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer 950, an electron blocking layer 955, a buffer layer, or a combination thereof [¶ 269].
15. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the n-doped layer 910 [of Choung/Hatwar] is arranged between the first electrode 810 and the hole transport region 950/955.
16. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein
[1] the organic layer 830/890/930/990/1030 further comprises an electron transport region 975/970 arranged between the emission layer 960 and the second electrode 820, and
[2] the electron transport region 975/970 comprises a hole blocking layer 975, an electron transport layer 970, an electron injection layer, or a combination thereof [¶ 269].
17. The organic light-emitting device of claim 1, wherein the organic layer 830/890/930/990/1030 further comprises:
[1] n emission units 830, 930, 1030 [¶¶ 268-270]; and
[2] n-1 charge generation units 890, 990 [¶ 273] arranged between two neighboring emission units [(id.) and as shown in Figs. 7 and 8],
wherein
[3] n is an integer of 2 or greater [i.e. 3], and
[4] at least one of the n emission units 930 comprises the at least one organometallic compound 966 [¶ 274: “The second EML 960 includes a first host and a first dopant 966, and the first dopant 966 is the organometallic compound of the present invention.”].
18. The organic light-emitting device of claim 17, wherein the organic layer 830/890/930/990/1030 further comprises
[1] a hole transport region 950/955 arranged between the first electrode 810 and the emission layer 960,
[2] the hole transport region 950/955 comprises a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer 950, an electron blocking layer 955, a buffer layer, or a combination thereof [¶ 296], and
[3a] the n-doped layer 910 is arranged between the first electrode 910 and the hole transport region 950/955 [as shown in Fig. 7], or
[3b] at least one of the n-1 charge generation units 890 comprises the n-doped layer 910 [as shown in Fig. 7].
19. The organic light-emitting device of claim 18, wherein
[2] the n emission units 830, 930, 1030 comprise a kth emission unit [i.e. 2nd of 3, i.e. 930] which is kth nearest [i.e. 2nd nearest] to the first electrode 210, wherein k is an integer from 2 to n [i.e. light-emission unit 930 is the second or k=2], and
[2] the kth emission unit comprises the emission layer 960 comprising the at least one organometallic compound 966 [as shown in Fig. 7].
With regard to claim 20, Choung further discloses,
20. An electronic apparatus [i.e. an OLED display; Fig. 4], comprising the organic light-emitting device of claim 1 [i.e. D2 of Figs. 7 or 8 (¶¶ 208-209)].
C. Claims 1, 2, and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0002427 (“Moon”) in view of Hatwar.
With regard to claim 1, Moon discloses, generally in Fig. 5,
1. An organic light-emitting device 100 [i.e. OLED; ¶ 266], comprising:
[1] a first electrode 110 [¶ 78];
[2] a second electrode 120 [¶ 78]; and
[3] an organic layer 230 [¶ 78] arranged between the first electrode 110 and the second electrode 120,
wherein
[4a] the organic layer 230 comprises
[4b] an emission layer 162 [¶ 78] and
[4c] an n-…[type]… layer 191 [i.e. n-type charge generation layer (CGL); ¶ 78 ],
[5] the n-…[type]… layer 191 is arranged between the first electrode 110 and the emission layer 162,
[6] the emission layer 162 comprises at least one organometallic compound 966 [i.e. Formula 1 in abstract and ¶¶ 12, 37; ¶ 77: “the light-emitting layer [162] can contain the organometallic compound represented by the Chemical Formula I according to the present disclosure as the dopant thereof.”], and
[7] the at least one organometallic compound comprises at least one silyl group or at least one germyl group [infra].
With regard to claim 1, Moon states,
[0077] The organic electroluminescent device according to the present disclosure can act as a white light emitting diode having a tandem structure. The organic electroluminescent element having the tandem structure according to one implementation of the present disclosure can have a structure in which at least two unit light emitting elements are connected to each other via a charge generation layer (CGL). The organic electroluminescent element includes first and second electrodes facing each other and disposed on a substrate, and two or more light-emitting stacks vertically arranged between the first and second electrodes to emit light beams in specific wavelength bands, respectively. In this regard, the light-emitting layer can contain the organometallic compound represented by the Chemical Formula I according to the present disclosure as the dopant thereof. …
[0078] FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an organic electroluminescent element in a tandem structure having two light-emitting stacks according to one implementation of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the organic electroluminescent element 100 according to the present disclosure can include a first electrode 110 and a second electrode 120 facing each other, and an organic layer 230 positioned between the first electrode 110 and the second electrode 120. The organic layer 230 includes a first light-emitting stack (ST1) 240 positioned between the first electrode 110 and the second electrode 120 and including a first light-emitting layer 161; a second light-emitting stack (ST2) 250 positioned between the first light-emitting stack 240 and the second electrode 120 and including a second light-emitting layer 162; and a charge generation layer (CGL) 260) disposed between the first and second light-emitting stacks 240 and 250. The charge generation layer can include an N-type charge generation layer 191 and a P-type charge generation layer 192.
(Moon: ¶¶ 77-78; emphasis added)
With regard to feature [6] of claim 1, Moon does not state that the “N-type charge generation layer 191” (id.) is an n-doped layer.
As explained above, Hatwar, like Moon, teaches a tandem OLED 200 (Hatwar: Fig. 2; ¶ 26; title) wherein the light emitting stacks 120.1, 120.2 are separated by a charge generation layer 130.1 (Hatwar: ¶ 26). Also like Choung, Hatwar teaches that he charge generation layer 130.1 can have a configuration of an n-type layer 331 closer to the anode 110 and with a p-type layer 335 directly thereon and closer to the cathode 170 (Hatwar: Fig. 3E; ¶ 86). Similarly, Moon teaches that the charge generation layer 260 is an n-type layer 191 closer to the anode 110 and with a p-type layer 192 closer to the cathode 120 (Moon: ¶ 78).
Hatwar further teaches that it is very old and well known to make the n-type CGL 331 from an n-dopant in an electron transport material (Hatwar: ¶¶ 87, 108), the n-dopant being a metal (Hatwar: ¶ 88) that include same metals as disclosed in the Instant Application, i.e. Li, Na, K, Cs, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Y, La, Ce, Sm, Eu, Tb, Dy, Gd, and Yb (id.). In addition, Hatwar teaches that the p-type layer 335 is a p-dopant in a hole transport material (Hatwar: ¶ 140).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to make the n-type CGL 191 and p-type CGL 192 of Moon using the compositions in Hatwar, i.e. a metal n-dopant in an ETM and p-dopant in a HTM, respectively, because Hatwar teaches that this is old and well known. As such, the selection of the n-type CGL as an n-doped ETL amounts to obvious material choice. (See MPEP 2144.07.)
With regard to feature [7] of claim 1, Moon discloses several examples of the metal complex of Formula 1 that are Ir metal complexes including a silyl group, e.g. 104 (p. 19), 119 (p. 21), 151 (p. 25), 168 (p. 27), 200 (p. 31), 232 (p. 35), 273 (p. 40), 289 (p. 42), and 291 (p. 43).
This is all of the limitations of claim 1.
With regard to claim 2, the example compound 289 on page 42 of Moon (reproduced below) meets all of the requirements of claimed Formulas 1 and 1A:
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304
466
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Greyscale
Claimed ligand Ln1 is the ligand on the left of Moon’s compound 1 and meets the requirements that (1) CY1 is a C1-C30 heterocyclic, each of the R10 is hydrogen (H) or C1 to C60 alkyl with b10 = 6, (2) CY2 is a C5-C30 heterocyclic, specifically naphthalene, T1 is trimethylsilyl, i.e. -Si(CH3)3 with a1 = 1, each of the R20 is hydrogen (H) with b20 = 5 and (3) n1 is 2 and n2 is 1.
Claimed ligand Ln2 is the ligand on the right of Moon’s compound 289 and meets the requirements that “Ln2 is an organic ligand”.
This is all of the limitations of claim 2.
With regard to claim 7, the example compound 289 of Moon, above, further meet the requirements of claim 7, as follows:
7. The organic light-emitting device of claim 2, wherein Ln1 is represented by one of Formulae 4-1 to 4-20 [i.e. 4-19]
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262
336
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Greyscale
X11 is C(R11) … X12 is C(R12) … wherein at least two of R11 to R18, [i.e. R11 and R12] … are optionally linked together to form a C5-C30 carbocyclic group [i.e. C6 carbocyclic group] that is … substituted with at least one R10a, … R10a is defined as for R10 in claim 2, e.g. hydrogen and C1-C60 alkyl, inter alia;
X13 is C(R13) … X14 is C(R14) … X15 is C(R15), and X16 is C(R16), wherein R11 to R18 are each defined as for R10 in claim 2, e.g. hydrogen or C1 to C60 alkyl, inter alia;
X17 is … S;
X22 is C(T1), wherein T1 is -Si(Q1)(Q2)(Q3), e.g. Si(CH3)3;
X21 is … C(R21), … X23 is … C(R23),… X24 is … C(R24), … X25 is … C(R25) … and X26 is … C(R26), wherein R21 through R26 are each defined as for R20 in claim 2, e.g. hydrogen, inter alia.
This is all of the limitations of claim 7.
VI. Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2020/0313098 (“Kim”) (cited in IDS filed 09/03/2024) and US 2020/0287143 (“Kim”) are each cited for disclosing an OLED having a light-emitting layer with an Ir metal complex requiring a ligand having a silyl substituent, as required by claim 1. See at least the abstract of each.
Conclusion
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Signed,
/ERIK KIELIN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2814