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 .
The amendment filed 7/2/2026 has been entered. Claims 2-7, 16-22, 24-28, and 30 have been canceled. Claims 1, 8-15, 23, 29, and 31-44 are pending in the application. Claims 15, 23, 29, and 31-44 have been withdrawn from consideration as being drawn to nonelected inventions. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 3/2/2026. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claim Objections
Claim 1 is objected to because of the following informalities: on line 22, “Al2O3” should read “Al2O3” with proper subscripts; and similarly, on line 24, “HfO2” should read “HfO2” and “Ta2O5” should read “Ta2O5”. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Claim 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 11 recites the limitation "“the essentially porous material layer formed in step (i)" (emphasis added) in lines 5-6. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 1 and 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sung (US2015/0378206A1) in view of Cho (KR2013-0075122A, again please refer to the machine translation on record for the below cited sections, the teachings of which are discussed in detail in Paragraphs 14, 16, and 21 of the prior office action and incorporated herein by reference) or Ahlf (US2018/0119279A1, the teachings of which are discussed in detail in Paragraphs 17-18 and 23-24 of the prior office action and incorporated herein by reference). Sung teaches a display device (Abstract) comprising a substrate (110) and indirectly formed thereon, a passivation layer (410) having excellent water barrier capability (Paragraphs 0012 and 0045, Fig. 3), thereby providing reliability of the display device (Paragraph 0174), wherein the passivation layer (410) comprises a plurality of inorganic layers (412) and organic layers (415) that are laminated alternatingly and formed repeatedly as shown in Fig. 5 (as in instant claim 8), with the inorganic layer (12) including a plurality of layers having different materials such as a first inorganic layer (413) of a predetermined material and a second inorganic layer (414) of another material alternately stacked thereon as shown in Figs. 5, 12, and 13 (Paragraphs 0092-0094). Sung teaches that the inorganic layer (12) may include at least one of aluminum oxide (Al2O3), titanium oxide (TiO2), and tin oxide (SnO2), such that in the case of the inorganic layer (12) including a plurality of layers with different materials, the first inorganic layer (413) can be made of Al2O3 and the second inorganic layer (414) can be made of TiO2 as shown in Figs. 12-13, or the first inorganic layer (413) can be made of Al2O3 and the second inorganic layer (414) can be made of SnO2; and although Al2O3, TiO2, and SnO2 are exemplified, Sung teaches that the “material of the inorganic layer 412 is not restricted to the above-described example, and any kinds of materials that can be deposited at a low temperature are usable” (Paragraph 0096).
Sung teaches that given the small thickness of the inorganic layers (413) and (414), about 1 Å thick, when one of the inorganic layers (413) and (414) is formed at said thickness, pin holes in which the inorganic layers (413, 414) are not uniformly formed may be generated but that when another inorganic layer is stacked on the inorganic layers including the pin hole, the pin holes in the inorganic layer(s) may be covered by the another inorganic layer(s) formed above an underlying inorganic layer in the stacked inorganic layer (12); and similarly, pin holes in the inorganic layer (12) may be covered by the organic layer (415), such that the stacked combination of the inorganic layer(s) (412) and the organic layer(s) (415) may prevent a permeation of water vapor from the atmosphere to the display (Paragraphs 0095 and 0097-0099). Sung teaches that “[a]ccording to the above exemplary embodiment, the respective inorganic layers and organic layers are formed to be very thin, and layers stacked on the underlying layers are formed to fill the pin holes formed in the underlaying layers, so the boundary between the stacked layers can be unclear” as with the stacked structure shown in Figs. 12-13 (Paragraph 0101 and 0164). With respect to the method of forming said layers, Sung teaches that the inorganic layer(s) (412) can be formed using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) method, and the organic layer(s) (415) can be formed using a molecular layer deposition (MLD) method, wherein “[s]ources for forming the inorganic layer and the organic layer can be mounted on an apparatus for forming the passivation layer 410, and for example, a first source for depositing aluminum oxide, a second source for depositing titanium oxide, and a third source for depositing an organic layer can be mounted on an apparatus for forming the passivation layer 410 to perform a deposition process” (Paragraphs 0153-0154); and wherein the steps for forming the alternately laminated organic and inorganic layers can be performed repeatedly a plurality of times as desired (as in instant claim 8) to prevent moisture from an atmosphere from permeating to the display device and to increase a permeation path of permeating moisture, e.g., as shown in Fig. 5, to improve reliability of the display device (Entire document, particularly Paragraphs 0021-0022, 0093, 0102, 0146-0147, 0153-0156, 0160, and 0162-0165).
Hence, with respect to the claimed invention as recited in instant claim 1, Sung teaches a method for forming a coating on a substrate, comprising: (i) using a molecular layer deposition (MLD) process, depositing at least one layer of bulk of material directly or indirectly on a surface of the substrate, and (ii) using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, depositing an inorganic film on/over the at least one layer formed in step (i), whereby a coating is formed, and wherein the inorganic film formed in step (ii) comprises a plurality of deposition layers arranged into a stack, and wherein said plurality of deposition layers includes the deposition layers composed of Al2O3 alternating with the deposition layers of a second inorganic material; and given that Sung teaches that the deposited layers may be deposited at a thickness such that the deposited layers comprise pin holes (e.g., pores or “defective sites”) wherein subsequent layers stacked on underlying layers may fill the pin holes (e.g., pores or “defective sites”) formed in the underlying layers so the boundary between the stacked layer is somewhat unclear as shown in Figs. 12-13, Sung clearly teaches and/or suggests that the deposited organic layer(s) formed by the MLD process may be a deposited layer having pin holes, e.g., “composed of porous bulk of material”, into which a subsequently applied ALD layer is infiltrated, and given that it is known in the art that an ALD process utilizes reactive precursors that are sequentially applied, such as commonly trimethylaluminum (TMA) and water precursors for producing a layer of Al2O3 or similar metal compound/water pair for producing other inorganic metal oxide layers (as established on the record, see for example, Hossbach, Entire document; and as also as evidenced by Cho, Paragraphs 0009 and 0027; or Ahlf, Paragraphs 0016-0018, 0021, 0027, and Examples), Sung provides a teaching and/or suggestion that unreacted precursors (such as TMA or similar metal-containing precursor compound) may infiltrate the pin holes in the MLD underlying layer, such that the differences between the instantly claimed invention and the invention taught by Sung are that: 1) Sung does not teach that the inorganic layer(s) (412) formed by ALD, or more particularly, the stack of alternating inorganic layers (413) and (414) formed by ALD are composed of Al2O3 alternating with hafnium (IV) oxide (HfO2) and/or tantalum (V) oxide (Ta2O5) as the second material as instantly claimed; and 2) that unreacted ALD precursors that may infiltrate the pin holes/defective sites in the MLD underlying layer to fill the pin holes (e.g., “seal said defective sites through formation of a sealing compound”) “enter chemical interaction with harmful environmental species penetrated into the coating at defective sites thereof and seal said defective sites through formation of a sealing compound” as instantly claimed.
However, with respect to the above difference 1), although Sung teaches that the inorganic layer (12) may include at least one of Al2O3, TiO2, and SnO2, such that in the case of the inorganic layer (12) including a plurality of layers with different materials, the first inorganic layer (413) can be made of Al2O3 and the second inorganic layer (414) can be made of TiO2 as shown in Figs. 12-13 or of SnO2, Sung clearly teaches that the “material of the inorganic layer 412 is not restricted to the above-described example, and any kinds of materials that can be deposited at a low temperature are usable” (Paragraph 0096) as discussed in detail above; and given that each of Cho and Ahlf teaches a similar organic-inorganic stack of MLD and alternating ALD layers forming a barrier laminate for an electronic device as in Sung, with suitable metal-containing precursor compounds for forming the inorganic layers via the ALD process at a low temperature include compounds of Al, Ti, and/or Sn as in Sung, as well as Hf, Ta, and/or mixtures thereof, thereby providing ALD inorganic oxide layers thereof, e.g., HfO2 and/or Ta2O5 as instantly claimed (Ahlf: Entire document, particularly Paragraphs 0001-0008 and 0014-0019; Cho: Entire document, particularly Paragraphs 0001-0005, 0008-0009, 0013, 0019-0022, 0024-0028, and Claims 5, 7, and 13). Hence, given that each of Cho and Ahlf is of the same field of endeavor as Sung and each clearly teaches the functional equivalence of HfO2 and/or Ta2O5 to the Al2O3, TiO2, and/or SnO2 as taught by Sung with respect to the inorganic layers, the above difference 1) would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art given that it is prima facie obviousness to simply substitute one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
In terms of difference 2), given that water is commonly utilized as the second reactive species in the ALD process as noted above and that water is a “harmful environmental species” (as in instant claim 14) such that in order for the subsequently deposited ALD layer to fill the pin holes or “defective sites” in the underlying MLD layer, water, i.e., a harmful environmental species, would also need to infiltrate the pin holes or “defective sites”, reacting with the first or metal-containing ALD precursor compound to seal the pin holes/defective sites by formation of the respective inorganic metal oxide as the “sealing compound” as instantly claimed, the above difference 2) would have been obvious over the teachings of Sung, and hence, the claimed invention as recited in instant claims 1, 8, and 14 would have been obvious over the teachings of Sung in view of Cho or Ahlf.
With respect to instant claim 9, given that Sung (as well as each of Cho and Ahlf) teaches a plurality of MLD organic layers alternating with a plurality of ALD inorganic layer stacks wherein the MLD and ALD process steps are repeated as discussed above, such that a subsequent MLD layer is formed on a previously deposited ALD layer by performing a step(ii) before a step (i) as instantly claimed, the claimed invention as recited in instant claim 9 would have been obvious over the teachings of Sung in view of Cho or Ahlf.
With respect to instant claims 10-11, Sung teaches that the passivation layer (410) is provided on an overcoat layer (390) indirectly formed on an insulation substrate (110) as shown in Fig. 3 (Abstract), and given that the insulation substrate (110) combined with the additional layers underlying the overcoat layer (390) may read upon the broadly claimed “substrate” of the instantly claimed invention such that application of the overcoat layer (390) provided thereon as taught by Sung reads upon the broadly claimed “primer layer” and “pretreatment” as instantly claimed, the Examiner takes the position that the claimed invention as recited in instant claims 10-11 would have been obvious over the teachings of Sung in view of Cho or Ahlf. Further, given that Cho teaches an ozone pretreatment prior to application of the barrier laminate, while Ahlf teaches that a planarization layer (similar to the overcoat taught by Sung) may be utilized to enhance adhesion of the barrier laminate to the substrate (as discussed previously on the record in Paragraphs 14 and 17 of the prior office action which are incorporated herein by reference), the claimed invention as recited in instant claims 10-11 would have been further obvious over the teachings of Sung in view of Cho or Ahlf given that it is prima facie obviousness to combine prior art elements according to known methods to yield predictable results.
With respect to instant claims 12-13, Sung teaches that the passivation layer (410) may comprise an MLD organic layer as an outermost layer thereof, and that the material of the organic layer may be polyurethane (Paragraphs 0151-0152), reading upon the claimed “comprising depositing a polymer film on/over the coating as a topmost layer” as in instant claim 12, and “wherein the polymer film constituting the topmost layer consists of…polyurethane (PU)” as in instant claim 13. Hence, the claimed invention as recited in instant claims 12-13 would have been obvious over the teachings of Sung in view of Cho or Ahlf.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 7/2/2026 have been fully considered but are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection presented above.
Any objection or rejection from the prior office action not restated above has been withdrawn by the Examiner in light of Applicant’s claim amendments and arguments filed 7/2/2026.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MONIQUE R JACKSON whose telephone number is (571)272-1508. The examiner can normally be reached Mondays-Thursdays from 10:00AM-5:00PM.
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/MONIQUE R JACKSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1787
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