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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/18/2024 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-2 and 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim (US 2020/0381473) in view of Koezuka (US 2014/0306220).
Regarding claim 1, Kim discloses, in at least figures 2-4B and related text, an image sensor comprising:
a substrate (110, [37]) including a photoelectric conversion region (PD1, [37]);
a semiconductor pattern (CHL, [55]) on the substrate (110, [37]);
a gate electrode (TG3, [54]) on the semiconductor pattern (CHL, [55]); and
a gate insulating layer (14, [55]) between the semiconductor pattern (CHL, [55]) and the gate electrode (TG3, [54]),
wherein the semiconductor pattern (CHL, [55]) includes a first sub pattern (left CP1, [57], figures) including a first source/drain region, a second sub pattern (right CP1, [57], figures) including a second source/drain region, and a third sub pattern (CP2, [57]) between the first sub pattern (left CP1, [57], figures) and the second sub pattern (right CP1, [57], figures),
the gate electrode (TG3, [54]) is on the third sub pattern (CP2, [57]).
Kim does not explicitly disclose the first sub pattern, the second sub pattern, and the third sub pattern extend along different directions.
Koezuka teaches, in at least figures 1A-1B and related text, the device comprising the first sub pattern (left 112a, [45], figures), the second sub pattern (right 112a, [45], figures), and the third sub pattern (112, [45]) extend along different directions, for the purpose of providing a novel semiconductor device using an oxide semiconductor in which a reduction in channel length is controlled ([12]).
Kim and Koezuka are analogous art because they both are directed to semiconductor device and one of ordinary skill in the art would have had a reasonable expectation of success to modify Kim with the specified features of Koezuka because they are from the same field of endeavor.
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 structure disclosed in Kim to have the first sub pattern, the second sub pattern, and the third sub pattern extending along different directions, as taught by Koezuka, for the purpose of providing a novel semiconductor device using an oxide semiconductor in which a reduction in channel length is controlled ([12], Koezuka).
Regarding claim 2, Kim discloses the image sensor of claim 1 as described above.
Koezuka further teaches, in at least figures 1A-1B and related text, the gate electrode (104, [43]) extends on a first side (left side of 112, figures) of the third sub pattern (112, [45]), for the purpose of providing a novel semiconductor device using an oxide semiconductor in which a reduction in channel length is controlled ([12]).
Regarding claim 4, Kim discloses the image sensor of claim 2 as described above.
Koezuka further teaches, in at least figures 1A-1B and related text, the gate electrode (104, [43]) extends on a second side (right side of 112, figures) of the third sub pattern (112, [45]) that is opposite to the first side (left side of 112, figures), for the purpose of providing a novel semiconductor device using an oxide semiconductor in which a reduction in channel length is controlled ([12]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 3 is 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 because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 1, 2, and 3 that recite "the first side is a {310} plane or a {210} plane" in combination with other elements of the base claims 1, 2, and 3.
Claim 5 is 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 because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 1, 2, 4, and 5 that recite "the first side and the second side are a {310} plane or a {210} plane" in combination with other elements of the base claims 1, 2, 4, and 5.
Claim 6 is 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 because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 1 and 6 that recite "a ratio between a magnitude of a first direction component and a magnitude of a second direction component of the third direction is 1:3, 1:2, 2:1, or 3:1" in combination with other elements of the base claims 1 and 6.
Claims 7-14 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 because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 1 and 7 that recite "the fourth sub pattern extends in a direction different from the directions of the first sub pattern, the second sub pattern, and the third sub pattern" in combination with other elements of the base claims 1 and 7.
Claim 15 is 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 because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 1 and 15 that recite "the floating diffusion region is electrically connected to the gate electrode" in combination with other elements of the base claims 1 and 15.
Claims 16-20 are allowed because the prior art of record neither anticipates nor render obvious the limitations of the base claims 16 that recite "the floating diffusion region of the first and second pixels are electrically connected respectively to the gate electrode of the first pixel and the gate electrode of the second pixel" in combination with other elements of the base claims 16.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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/TONG-HO KIM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2811
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