DETAILED ACTION
Nonfinal rejection sent 4/6/26 withdrawn and new rejection recited below.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see page 7 of the arguments, filed 7/6/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 under 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Park (US 20100176383).
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.
Claims 1, 4-5, 8, and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Park (US 2010/0176383).
With regards to claim 1, fig. 2 of Park discloses a thin film transistor 110, comprising: a substrate 100; and a semiconductor layer 112, a gate 111, a source (left 113) and a drain (right 113) that are disposed on the substrate 100; wherein the semiconductor layer 112 includes a first material layer 112a and a second material layer 112b that are stacked 112; a material of the first material layer 112a is selected from one or a combination of first n-type metal oxide semiconductor materials (“ITO”, par [0034]), and a material of the second material layer 112b is selected from one or a combination of second n-type metal oxide semiconductor materials (“second oxide semiconductor layer 112b may be formed … zinc oxide (ZnO) doped with one ion selected from … gadolinium (Gd)”, par [0034]); a carrier mobility of a first n-type metal oxide semiconductor material 112a is greater than or equal to 40 cm2/Vs (“50 to 130 cm.sup.2/Vsec”, par [0038]); a second n-type metal oxide semiconductor material 112b is doped with Y (“gadolinium (Gd)”, par [0034]), and the Y is selected from one or a combination of rare earth elements (“gadolinium (Gd)”, par [0034]); the first material layer 112a is closer to the gate 111 than the second material layer 112b; and a thickness of the second material layer 112b is greater than 10 nm (“10 to 50 nm”, par [0034]; e.g. 12 nm) and less than or equal to 15 nm (“10 to 50 nm”, par [0034]; e.g. 12 nm), and a ratio of a thickness of the first material layer (“1 nm to 5 nm”, par [0034]; e.g. 5 nm) to the thickness of the second material layer (“10 to 50 nm”, par [0034]; e.g. 12 nm) is less than (5/12) or equal to 1.
With regards to claim 4, fig. 2 of Park discloses types of elements (zinc and oxygen) included in the first material layer 112a (“IZO”, par [0034]) are same as types of elements included in the second material layer 112a (“ZnO”, par [0034]), and a ratio of numbers of atomics of all elements (“IZO”, par [0034]) included in the first material layer 112a is different from a ratio of numbers of atomics of all elements (“ZnO”, par [0034]) included in the second material layer 112b.
With regards to claim 5, fig. 2 of Park discloses that the first n-type metal oxide semiconductor material 112a is selected from metal oxides doped with X or not doped with X (“InZO”, par [0034]); and the metal oxides each include one or more of an indium element, a zinc element, a tin element and a gallium element, and an oxide element; and the X is selected from one or a combination of an aluminum element, a tungsten element, a hafnium element, a tantalum element, a zirconium element, a nitrogen element and a hydrogen element.
With regards to claim 8, fig. 2 of Park discloses that as the ratio of the thickness of the first material layer 112a to the thickness of the second material layer 112b gradually increases, a carrier mobility of the thin film transistor increases (“high carrier mobility”, par [0038]).
With regards to claim 11, fig. 2 of Park discloses a thickness of the semiconductor layer 112 is in a range of 30 nm to 70 nm (“1 nm to 5nm” plus ”10 to 50 nm”, par [0034])
With regards to claim 12, fig. 2 of Park discloses a display panel 140, comprising the thin film transistor 110.
With regards to claim 13, fig. 2 of Park discloses a display device 100, comprising the display panel 140.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 10, and 14-15 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.
Regarding claim 2, fig. 2 of Park (US 2010/0176383) discloses wherein a doping ratio of the Y (“gadolinium (Gd)”, par [0034]) in the second n-type metal oxide semiconductor material (“second oxide semiconductor layer 112b may be formed … zinc oxide (ZnO)”, par [0034]). However, Park does not disclose the doping ratio of the Y in a range of 0.01 at% to 0.30 at%, inclusive.
Regarding claim 3, Park (US 2010/0176383) does not disclose the first n-type metal oxide semiconductor material is doped with Z, the Z is selected from one or a combination of rare earth elements, and a type of a rare earth element added to the first n-type metal oxide semiconductor material is same as or different from a type of a rare earth element added to the second n-type metal oxide semiconductor material.
Regarding claim 10, Park (US 2010/0176383) does not disclose the thickness of the first material layer 112a is greater than or equal to 10 nm.
Regarding claim 14, fig. 2 of Park (US 2010/0176383) discloses a type of rare earth element is selected as the Y (“gadolinium (Gd)”, par [0034]). However, Park does not disclose that the doping ratio of the type of rare earth element in the second n-type metal oxide semiconductor material is in a range of 0.01 at% to 0.30 at%, inclusive.
Regarding claim 15, fig. 2 of Park (US 2010/0176383) discloses a combination of multiple types of rare earth elements are selected as the Y (“gadolinium (Gd)”, par [0034]). However Park does not disclose that the doping ratio of the combination of the multiple types of rare earth elements in the second n-type metal oxide semiconductor material is in a range of 0.01 at% to 0.30 at%, inclusive.
Conclusion
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/BENJAMIN TZU-HUNG LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2893
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