DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restriction
Applicant's election without traverse of Group II, claims 1-6 is acknowledged. Claims 7-10 withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner, 37 CFR. 1.142(b), as being drawn to non-elected invention.
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 1, 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (10930717) in view of MA et al. (20220310721) and further in view of Choi et al. (20060204902).
With regard to claim 1, Chen discloses a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting diode display panel (for example, see figs. 5, 6), comprising:
providing a thin film transistor substrate (21) comprising a first surface (a top surface);
forming a planarization layer (22) on the first surface (21);
forming an anode layer (23) on a surface of the planarization layer (22) away from the TFT substrate (21);
forming a dam layer (a support layer 25 functions as a dam layer) on a surface of the anode layer (23) away from the planarization layer (22).
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Chen does not clearly disclose removing the dam layer not shielded by a semi-transparent mask and the anode layer not covered by the dam layer to form a patterned dam layer and a patterned anode layer.
However, MA et al. disclose removing the dam layer (removing a middle portion of the spacer 3, fig. 1 wherein the spacer 3 function as the dam layer) not shielded by a semi-transparent mask (partially-transparent pattern 62 or 61, 62, or 61, 62, 63 functions as a semi-transparent mask) and the anode layer (4) not covered by the dam layer (3, fig. 1) to form a patterned dam layer (referred to as “32A” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 2 below) and a patterned anode layer (4).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Chen’s device to include steps of removing the dam layer not shielded by a semi-transparent mask and the anode layer not covered by the dam layer to form a patterned dam layer and a patterned anode layer as taught by MA et al. in order to minimize the signal interference for enhancing a stability operation of the semiconductor device, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
Chen and MA et al. do not clearly disclose a step of removing a part of the patterned dam layer to expose a part of the anode layer.
However, Choi et al. disclose a step of removing a part of the patterned dam layer (a photoresist layer 231, figs. 4C, 4D functions as the patterned dam layer) to expose (expose at the opening 250, fig. 4F) a part of the anode layer (220, fig. 4F).
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Chen and MA et al.’s device to include a step of removing a part of the patterned dam layer to expose a part of the anode layer as taught by Choi et al. in order to enhance a high efficiency of reducing the signal interference for enhancing a stability operation of the semiconductor device, as is known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
With regard to claim 6, Chen discloses the providing the TFT substrate (21) comprises: providing a substrate (referred to as “21A” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 6 below) comprising a second surface (a top surface of the substrate 21A functions as a second surface); and forming a TFT layer (21) on the second surface (the top surface of the substrate 21A functions as the second surface).
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Claim 2 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen (10930717) in view of MA et al. (20220310721) and Choi et al. (20060204902) further in view of Zhang et al. (12446405).
With regard to claim 2, MA et al. disclose the semi-transparent mask (61, 62, 63) comprises a semi-transparent area (64), a transparent area (62); another area (61); the semi-transparent area (64) covers the dam layer (3, fig. 1) to pattern the dam layer (32A, fig. 2 below), the transparent area (62) covers the anode layer (4) to inherently pattern the anode layer (4). the semi-transparent area (64) and the transparent area (62) are connected through the another area (61).
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Chen, MA et al. and Choi et al. do not clearly disclose the another area is the opaque area wherein the transparent area is a fully transparent area.
However, Zhang et al. disclose the another area (referred to as “200A” by examiner’s annotation shown in fig. 5(b2) below; the opaque area 200A is covered by shielding layers 220, 230. Therefore, the area 200A functions as the opaque area) is the opaque area wherein the transparent area (210) is a fully transparent area.
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the Chen, MA et al. and Choi et al. ’s device to include the another area is the opaque area wherein the transparent area is a fully transparent area as taught by Zhang et al. in order to improve the opening includes: removing an entirety of the pixel define layer material in an area corresponding to the first opening using a half-tone mask and the exposure and development technology.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 3 - 5 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.
Claim 3 is allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as providing the semi-transparent mask on the dam layer, so that the semi-transparent area covers the dam layer, and the fully transparent area covers the anode layer; and etching the anode layer and the dam layer, so that the part of the dam layer corresponding to the semi-transparent area and the part of the anode layer corresponding to the fully transparent area are etched away to form the patterned dam layer and the patterned anode layer, respectively as recited in claim 3.
Claims 4, 5 are allowable over the prior art of record, because none of these references disclose or can be combined to yield the claimed invention such as removing a part of the dam layer adjacent to the anode layer by an ashing process, so that the dam layer is depressed towards the anode layer to expose a part of the patterned anode layer; and drying the dam layer and the anode layer at high temperature to cure the dam layer ashed as recited in claim 4.
Conclusion
6. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAN N TRAN whose telephone number is (571) 272 - 1923. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:30-5:00PM.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Davienne Monbleau can be reached on (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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/TAN N TRAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
Prosecution Insights