DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Species Embodiment 1, with corresponding claims 1-12, 14-22, and 25-28, in the reply filed on 06/09/2026 is acknowledged. Claims 13 and 23-24 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to nonelected Species Embodiments.
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 following title is suggested: DISPLAY PANEL INCLUDING HYDROGEN SUPPLY LAYER DISPOSED ON BARRIER LAYER AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME.
Claim Objections
Claim 5 is objected to because of the following informalities: “a metal…a metal oxide” should be changed to “the metal…the metal oxide”. Appropriate correction is required.
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 1-4, 9-12, 15-16, 19-22, 25-26, and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Im et al. (US 2025/0072228 A1; hereinafter “Im”) in view of Lee (US 2021/0202910 A1).
Regarding claim 1, referring to Figs. 4-5, Im teaches a display panel comprising: a base layer (100) (paragraphs 66-67); a circuit layer (PCL) disposed on the base layer (paragraphs 66-68); and a light emitting element (LED1 and 131) disposed on the circuit layer (paragraphs 95-96), wherein the light emitting element includes: a hydrogen supply layer (131 of 130) disposed on the circuit layer, and including an inorganic material (for example, silicon nitride) (paragraphs 130-132); a first electrode (211) disposed on the hydrogen supply layer (paragraphs 97-98); a light emitting layer (221) disposed on the first electrode, and including a quantum dot (paragraphs 102-103); and a second electrode (230) disposed on the light emitting layer (paragraph 126).
Im does not further teach that the light emitting element includes a barrier layer including a metal and a metal oxide. Lee teaches a light emitting element (a region including Del, 152, and 154) disposed on a circuit layer (a region including at least Tdr) (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 26 and 80-81), wherein the light emitting element includes a barrier layer including a metal and a metal oxide (a third hydrogen blocking layer 152 formed of copper oxide, which is a metal oxide including a metal) for preventing hydrogen diffusion into the underlying circuit layer including the semiconductor layer 130 (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 80-84). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Im with that of Lee in order to prevent hydrogen diffusion into the underlying circuit layer including the semiconductor layer.
Regarding claim 2, Im teaches wherein the hydrogen supply layer comprises hydrogen impurities, wherein the hydrogen impurities are diffused into the light emitting layer (paragraph 131).
Regarding claim 3, Im teaches wherein the hydrogen supply layer comprises at least one selected from silicon nitride, silicon oxide, and silicon oxynitride (paragraph 131).
Regarding claim 4, Im teaches wherein a thickness of the hydrogen supply layer is about 2000 angstroms or less (paragraph 132).
Regarding claims 9-10, while Im does not teach that the metal oxide comprises aluminum oxide (for claim 9) and the metal comprises at least one selected from aluminum and silver (for claim 10), Im also teaches another hydrogen blocking layer formed of aluminum oxide (126 formed of aluminum oxide) (paragraph 84) and it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize readily available metal oxide material such as aluminum oxide, which includes aluminum as the metal, for obtaining the similar hydrogen diffusion blocking characteristics.
Regarding claim 11, Im teaches wherein the circuit layer comprises: at least one transistor (TR1) electrically connected to the light emitting element; a connection electrode (SD1) electrically connected to the transistor; and an insulation layer (119) disposed between the connection electrode and the barrier layer, wherein the transistor includes an oxide semiconductor (Fig. 5 and paragraphs 85 and 93).
Regarding claim 12, Im in view of Lee teaches wherein the first electrode covers the hydrogen supply layer and the barrier layer (Im, Fig. 5, 211 covering 131 and Lee, Fig. 1, 158 as a first electrode covering 152), and is connected to the connection electrode via a contact-hole defined through the insulation layer (Im, Fig. 5, 211 connected to SD1 through a contact hole in 119).
Regarding claim 15, Im teaches wherein the first electrode comprises a transparent conductive oxide (211 formed of ITO) (paragraph 98).
Regarding claim 16, Im teaches wherein a thickness of the first electrode is in a range of about 500 angstroms to about 1500 angstroms (paragraph 15), which is an overlapping range to that of the claim reciting “a range of about 500 angstroms to about 1000 angstroms”. As such, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to choose the thickness within the thickness range from Im, including the claimed thickness range, as a routine skill in the art to discover the optimum and/or workable range. See MPEP 2144.05 for overlap of ranges.
Regarding claim 19, Im teaches wherein the light emitting element further comprises: a hole transport region disposed between the first electrode the light emitting layer; and an electron transport region disposed between the light emitting layer and the second electrode (paragraphs 124-125).
Regarding claim 20, Im teaches wherein the hydrogen supply layer comprises hydrogen impurities (paragraph 131). While Im does not explicitly teach that the hydrogen impurities are diffused into the electron transport region, Im teaches the hydrogen supply layer comprising the hydrogen impurities and the electron transport region identical to that of the claim structurally and compositionally (See claims 1 and 19-20). As such, claimed property or function, “the hydrogen impurities are diffused into the electron transport region”, is presumed to be at least obvious: Where the claimed and prior art products are identical or substantially identical in structure or composition, or are produced by identical or substantially identical processes, a prima facie case of either anticipation or obviousness has been established. In re Best, 195 USPQ 430, 433 (CCPA 1977) and MPEP 2112.01.
Regarding claim 21, Im teaches wherein the light emitting element is provided in plural, and a plurality of light emitting elements includes a first light emitting element (PX including LED1) and a second light emitting element (PX2 including LED2), which emit light of different colors, respectively (Fig. 5 and paragraph 75 for claim 21). While Im does not teach that a thickness of the hole transport region of the first light emitting element and a thickness of the hole transport region of the second light emitting element are different from each other, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide varying thicknesses of the hole transport regions including hole injection layers and/or hole transport layers for different color emitting pixels in order to optimize the microcavity effect for the different color emitting pixels.
Regarding claim 22, Im teaches wherein: the hole transport region of each of the first light emitting element and the second light emitting element comprises a hole injection layer and a hole transport layer which are sequentially stacked one on another (a hole injection layer/a hole transport layer combination for the first common layer between 211 and 221) (paragraph 124). While Im does not teach that a thickness of the hole injection layer of the first light emitting element and a thickness of the hole injection layer of the second light emitting element are different from each other, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide varying thicknesses of the hole transport regions including hole injection layers and/or hole transport layers for different color emitting pixels in order to optimize the microcavity effect for the different color emitting pixels.
Regarding claim 25, referring to Figs. 4-5, Im teaches a method for manufacturing a light emitting element, the method comprising: forming a hydrogen supply layer (131) disposed on a substrate (100) and including an inorganic material (for example, silicon nitride) (paragraphs 66-67 and 130-133); forming a first electrode (211) on the hydrogen supply layer (paragraphs 97-98); forming a light emitting layer (221) including a quantum dot on the first electrode (paragraphs 102-103); and forming a second electrode (230) on the light emitting layer (paragraph 126).
Im does not further teach forming a barrier layer including a metal and a metal oxide. Lee teaches forming a barrier layer (152) including a metal and a metal oxide (a third hydrogen blocking layer 152 formed of copper oxide, which is a metal oxide including a metal) on a circuit layer (a region including at least Tdr) (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 26 and 80-81) for preventing hydrogen diffusion into the underlying circuit layer including the semiconductor layer 130 (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 80-84). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Im with that of Lee in order to prevent hydrogen diffusion into the underlying circuit layer including the semiconductor layer.
Regarding claim 26, Im teaches wherein the forming the hydrogen supply layer comprises depositing the inorganic material (paragraphs 131-134). While Im does not teach a specific deposition method for the hydrogen supplying layer, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the chemical vapor deposition method as a well-known deposition process known in the semiconductor art for depositing the desired layer such as the hydrogen supply layer.
Regarding claim 28, Im teaches further comprising, after the forming the first electrode and before the forming the light emitting layer, forming a functional layer (a hole injection/transport layer) on the first electrode (paragraphs 123-124), wherein the forming the functional layer is performed by an inkjet printing process. While Im does not teach a specific deposition method for the functional layer, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the inkjet printing process as a well-known deposition process known in the semiconductor art for depositing the desired layer such as the hole injection/transport layer.
Claim 25 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2025/0143100 A1; hereinafter “Lee 100”) in view of Lee (US 2021/0202910 A1).
Regarding claim 25, Lee 100 teaches a method for manufacturing a light emitting element, the method comprising: forming a hydrogen supply layer (200) disposed on a substrate (SUB) and including an inorganic material (for example, silicon oxide) (Figs. 10-11 and paragraphs 91 and 116-118); forming a first electrode (PE) on the hydrogen supply layer (Fig. 13 and paragraph 123); forming a light emitting layer (EML1) including a quantum dot (QD1) on the first electrode (Fig. 14 and paragraphs 97-98 and 124); and forming a second electrode (CE) on the light emitting layer (Fig. 14 and paragraphs 104-105 and 124).
Lee does not further teach forming a barrier layer including a metal and a metal oxide. Lee teaches forming a barrier layer (152) including a metal and a metal oxide (a third hydrogen blocking layer 152 formed of copper oxide, which is a metal oxide including a metal) on a circuit layer (a region including at least Tdr) (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 26 and 80-81) for preventing hydrogen diffusion into the underlying circuit layer including the semiconductor layer 130 (Fig. 1 and paragraphs 80-84). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine the teaching of Lee 100 with that of Lee in order to prevent hydrogen diffusion into the underlying circuit layer including the semiconductor layer.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-8, 14, 17-18, and 27 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL B WHALEN whose telephone number is (571)270-3418. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F: 8AM-5PM.
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/DANIEL WHALEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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