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 .
Election/Restriction
Pursuant to the election without traverse on June 8, 2026, claims 8 and 14-20 are withdrawn from consideration.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed. The examiner proposes: IR LIGHT SENSING DEVICE WITH AN ABSORPTION LAYER OVER A CHANNEL LAYER
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Zeller, US 11,374,187 B1.
Claim 1: Zeller discloses
a channel layer (540);
a first electrode (520) provided on a first surface of the channel layer;
a second electrode (530) provided on the first surface of the channel layer and spaced apart from the first electrode;
and a light absorption layer (510) provided on the channel layer between the first electrode and the second electrode and configured to absorb infrared rays (Title), wherein the light absorption layer comprises a doped semiconductor layer (silicon doped with germanium).
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Claim 2: the channel layer comprises an n-type semiconductor layer. “n-type graphene (which may be realized, for example, through hydrazine treatment of graphene oxide before reduction) has a significantly smaller work function in the range of 3.6 eV to 4.0 eV, and consequently a lesser built-in potential with Ge/SiGe.” Col. 6 ll. 10-14.
Claim 3: the light absorption layer directly contacts the first surface of the channel layer (FIG 5).
Claim 4: the channel layer comprises: a first doped region corresponding to the first electrode; and a second doped region corresponding to the second electrode. “n-type graphene (which may be realized, for example, through hydrazine treatment of graphene oxide before reduction) has a significantly smaller work function in the range of 3.6 eV to 4.0 eV, and consequently a lesser built-in potential with Ge/SiGe.” Col. 6 ll. 10-14. The region under 520 is the first doped region and the region under 530 is the second doped region.
Claim 5: the light absorption layer comprises a doped Ge layer or a doped Si layer (Si doped with Ge or Ge doped with Si).
Claim 6: the doped semiconductor layer is amorphous or polycrystalline. Each of the quantum dots of layer 510 has its own crystal structure, thus the overall layer can be understood as polycrystalline.
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.
Claims 7, 9, and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou, CN 109786498 A, in view of Zeller.
Claim 7: Zhou discloses
an insulating layer (103);
a channel layer (104) provided on the insulating layer;
a first electrode (105) provided on a first surface of the channel layer;
a second electrode (111) provided on the first surface of the channel layer and spaced apart from the first electrode;
a light absorption layer (108) provided on the channel layer between the first electrode and the second electrode and configured to absorb infrared rays (abstract);
and a gate insulating layer (106) provided between the channel layer and the light absorption layer,
wherein the channel layer comprises a semiconductor layer,
“the channel layer is composed of any one of or a combination of any two-dimensional material graphene” (machine translation p. 6, second paragraph)
and wherein the light absorption layer comprises an undoped semiconductor layer.
“infrared radiation absorbing layer is made of any one kind of or mixture of several of metal thin film material, graphene and carbon nano-tube in the formed film layer” (machine translation p. 5 third from bottom paragraph)
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Zhou does not disclose that the channel is n-doped. However, Zeller discloses that “n-type graphene (which may be realized, for example, through hydrazine treatment of graphene oxide before reduction) has a significantly smaller work function in the range of 3.6 eV to 4.0 eV.” Col. 6 ll. 10-14. It would have been obvious to have n-doping in order to adjust the work function of the graphene.
Claim 9: Zhou discloses a first semiconductor layer (101 or 110), wherein the insulating layer is between the first semiconductor layer and the channel layer (FIG. 1).
Claim 11: Zhou discloses that the substrate can be silicon germanium, etc., but does not address doping. Zeller discloses using a n doped silicon germanium (FIG. 5). It would have been obvious to have used this in Zhou as a known material for the substrate of a graphene IR detector. Thus the first semiconductor layer comprises a semiconductor layer of a type (n) that is the same as a type of the channel layer.
Claim 12: the channel layer comprises a first doped region corresponding to the first electrode and a second doped region corresponding to the second electrode. “n-type graphene (which may be realized, for example, through hydrazine treatment of graphene oxide before reduction) has a significantly smaller work function in the range of 3.6 eV to 4.0 eV, and consequently a lesser built-in potential with Ge/SiGe.” Col. 6 ll. 10-14. The region under 520 is the first doped region and the region under 530 is the second doped region.
Claim 13: Zhou does not disclose that the light absorption layer comprises a Ge layer. Zeller discloses that The absorbing layer is an SiGe quantum dot layer, which is a layer comprising Ge. It would have been obvious to have used this in Zhou as a known absorption layer for an IR detector.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Zeller and Kim, US 2019/0237611 A1. Kim discloses a substrate that has both p (110) and n (115) type semiconductor layers in an IR detector (FIG. 1). It would have been obvious to use such a substrate in Zhou as known for the purpose of forming an IR detector. In Zhou in view of Kim, the first semiconductor layer (Kim layer 11) comprises a p-type semiconductor layer.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PETER BRADFORD whose telephone number is (571)270-1596. The examiner can normally be reached 10:30-6:30.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jacob Choi can be reached at 469.295.9060. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/PETER BRADFORD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2897
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