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 § 102
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.
Claim(s) 1-14 and 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Smith (US 2015/0280043).
[claim 1] A preparation method for a solar cell (figs. 1A-1E), comprising: step (a): forming a dielectric layer (102, fig. 1A, [0029]) on a first main surface of a silicon substrate (100, fig. 1A, [0030]); step (b): forming a silicon film (104, fig. 1B, [0031][0032]) having a first conductive characteristic (boron containing p-type) on the dielectric layer, the silicon film including a first region (regions of 104, fig. 1B, 106 in fig. 1C) and a second region (regions of 104, fig. 1B, 108 in fig. 1C) located outside the first region ; and step (c): transforming the conductive characteristic of the first region from the first conductive characteristic to a second conductive characteristic (106, fig. 1C, [0033][0034]), the first conductive characteristic being opposite to the second conductive characteristic (phosphorous containing p-type).
[claim 2] The preparation method of claim 1, wherein the step (b) further comprises: step (bl): dividing the silicon film into the first region and the second region (regions of 104 are divided into 106 and 108, fig. 1C).
[claim 3] The preparation method of claim 1, wherein the silicon film includes a plurality of first regions (108, fig. 1C, [0033]) and a plurality of second regions (106, fig. 1C, [0033]); the plurality of first regions and the plurality of second regions are arranged alternately (fig. 1C).
[claim 4] The preparation method of claim 1, wherein the step (b) further comprises: step (b2): depositing a silicon film having a first type of doping material (p-type boron, fig. 1B) on the dielectric layer.
[claim 5] The preparation method of claim 4, wherein the step (b2) comprises: step (b21): depositing a silicon film on the dielectric layer (104, fig. 1B); and step (b22): doping the silicon film with the first type of doping material in an in-situ doping manner ([0032] either in-situ or ion implant may be used).
[claim 6] The preparation method of claim 5, wherein the step (c) comprises: doping the first region with a second type of doping material in an ion implantation manner [0034], the doping concentration of the second type of doping material being greater than the doping concentration of the first type of doping material [0034].
[claim 7] The preparation method of claim 6, wherein the method further comprises: activating the doping material with which the silicon film is doped in an annealing manner [0036].
[claim 8] The preparation method of claim 6, wherein the first type of doping material is a doping material that forms an N-type conductive characteristic, and the second type of doping material is a doping material that forms a P-type conductive characteristic; or, the first type of doping material is a doping material that forms a P-type conductive characteristic [0031], and the second type of doping material is a doping material that forms an N-type conductive characteristic [0034] .
[claim 9] The preparation method of claim 8, wherein the doping concentration of the first type of doping material in the silicon film is 1.0x 1019 atoms/cm3-2.0x1021 atoms/cm3 [0027] or the doping concentration of the second type of doping material in the second region of the silicon film is 1.0x1019 atoms/cm3-2.0x1021 atoms/cm3 [0027]or both.
[claim 10] The preparation method of claim 1, wherein the step (a) comprises: forming a single-layer dielectric film (single 102, fig. 1A, [0030]) or a stacked dielectric film on the first main surface of the silicon substrate in a low pressure chemical deposition manner, wherein the single- layer dielectric film or the stacked dielectric film includes: one or more of silicon oxide [0030], titanium oxide and silicon oxynitride.
[claim 11] The preparation method of 10, wherein the thickness of the single-layer dielectric film or the stacked dielectric film ranges from 0.5 nm to 2.5 nm [0030].
[claim 12] The preparation method of claim 1, wherein the silicon film includes: a single-layer film or a stacked film formed of one or more of microcrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, and polycrystalline silicon [0032].
[claim 13] The preparation method of claim 1, wherein after the step (c), the method further comprises: depositing passivation anti-reflection films (126, fig. 1E, [0040]) on the silicon film and a second main surface of the silicon substrate, respectively.
[claim 14] The preparation method of claim 13, wherein the passivation anti-reflection film includes: any one or more of silicon nitride [0040], silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride and aluminum oxide.
[claim 18] A preparation method for a silicon film (figs. 1A-1E), wherein the method comprises: step (a’): forming a silicon film (104, fig. 1B, [0031][0032]) having a first conductive characteristic (boron containing p-type), the silicon film including a first region (regions of 104, fig. 1B, 106 in fig. 1C) and a second region (regions of 104, fig. 1B, 108 in fig. 1C) located outside the first region; and step (b’): transforming the conductive characteristic of the first region from the first conductive characteristic to a second conductive characteristic (106, fig. 1C, [0033][0034]), the first conductive characteristic being opposite to the second conductive characteristic (phosphorous containing p-type).
[claim 19] The preparation method of claim 18, wherein, in the step (a’), the silicon film is doped with a first type of doping material in an in-situ doping manner ([0032] either in-situ or ion implant may be used).
[claim 20] The preparation method of claim 18, wherein, In the step (b’), the first region is doped with a second type of doping material in an ion implantation manner [0034]; the doping concentration of the second type of doping material is greater than the doping concentration of the first doping material [0034].
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.
Claim(s) 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith (US 2015/0280043)
Smith discloses the method of claim 13 but does not disclose that the ARC film ranges from 30 to 300 nm.
Nevertheless it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill before the time of filing to have made the thickness of the ARC film from 30 to 300nm, since it has been held that where the general conditions of a claim are disclosed in prior art, discovering the optimum or working ranges involves only routine skill in the art. In re Aller, 105 USPQ 233. It also been held that the normal desire of scientists or artisans to improve upon what is already generally known provides the motivation to determine where in a disclosed set of percentage ranges is the optimum combination of percentages. In re Peterson, 315 F.3d 1325, 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2003). The claimed range is a result-effective variable since the thickness of the ARC affects the amount of space the device occupies.
Claim(s) 16 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Smith (US 2015/0280043) in view of Ryo (US 2015/0194313).
Smith discloses the method of claim 13 and preparing electrodes in the first region (120, fig. 1E) and the second region (122, fig. 1E) but does not expressly disclose performing sintering to achieve an ohmic contact or that the silicon containing layer comprise SiC (Si is only disclosed).
Ryo discloses a means of forming electrodes on a silicon containing layer including performing sintering to achieve an ohmic contact between the metal and the silicon containing layer, wherein the silicon containing layer may be SiC (claim 6)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to have performed a sintering process between the metal electrodes and the silicon containing layer in order to form an ohmic contact between the metal and silicon containing layer.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the time of filing to have made the silicon containing layer SiC instead of Si since it has been held that simple substitution of one known element (SiC) for another (Si) to obtain predictable results (a silicon containing semiconductor layer) is obvious. KSR Int'l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 415-421, 82 USPQ2d 1385, 1395-97 (2007)
With this modification Smith discloses:
[claim 16] The preparation method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises: preparing metal electrodes in the first region and the second region, and performing sintering to achieve an ohmic contact (upon modification).
[claim 17] The preparation method of claim 12, wherein the silicon film further includes: silicon oxide or silicon carbide, or both (upon modification).
Conclusion
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/AMAR MOVVA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2898
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