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 § 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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yagi(USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2016/0043318, hereinafter Yagi) in view of Saito (USPGPUB DOCUMENT: 2020/0168815, hereinafter Saito).
Re claim 1 Yagi discloses an organic semiconductor film comprising an organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] having a crystalline property[0082], wherein the organic semiconductor film has carrier transportability[0103],
Yagi does not discloses wherein the organic semiconductor film has three crystalline peaks in a range of a diffraction angle (20) of 15° or more and 30° or less in an XRD spectrum.
Saito disclose in Fig 4-6 wherein the organic semiconductor film(fullerene)[0089] has three crystalline peaks in a range of a diffraction angle (20) of 15° or more and 30° or less in an XRD spectrum(Fig 4-6)[0093].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Saito to the teachings of Yagi in order to to provide improvements in the quantum efficiency and response rate of a photoelectric conversion element [0005, Saito].
Re claim 2 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 1, wherein
the three crystalline peaks(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito] include a first crystalline peak, a second crystalline peak, and a third crystalline peak from a side of a low angle, and
the first crystalline peak positioned at a side of a lowest angle, among the three crystalline peaks(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito], has a peak intensity higher than the second crystalline peak and the third crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito].
Re claim 3 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 2, wherein an intensity ratio between the first crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito] and each of the second crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito] and the third crystalline peak is greater than 2.
Re claim 4 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 2, wherein an intensity ratio of each residual component of the first crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito], the second crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito], and the third crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito] to the peak intensity of the first crystalline peak is smaller than 1.
Re claim 5 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 1, further comprising a first organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] having electron transportability.
Re claim 6 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 5, comprising a second organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] as the organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085], wherein
the second organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] has hole transportability, and has a HOMO level or LUMO level shallower than the first organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085].
Re claim 7 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 6, comprising, as the organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085], a third organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] having an absorption peak for light in a predetermined wavelength band.
Re claim 8 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 7, wherein the LUMO level of the first organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] is 4.0 eV or more and 5.0 eV or less.
Re claim 9 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 7, wherein the HOMO level of the second organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] is 5.0 eV or more and 6.0 eV or less.
Re claim 10 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 6, wherein a composition ratio between the first organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] and the second organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] is greater than 1.
Re claim 11 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 1, wherein the organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] is oriented horizontally relative to an in- plane direction.
Re claim 12 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 5, wherein the first organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] comprises fullerene or a fullerene derivative.
Re claim 13 Yagi and Saito discloses the organic semiconductor film according to claim 1, wherein
the three crystalline peaks(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito] include a first crystalline peak, a second crystalline peak, and a third crystalline peak from a side of a low angle, and
an intensity ratio of each residual component of the first crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito], the second crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito], and the third crystalline peak(Fig 4-6)[0093 of Saito] to an intensity ratio of the second crystalline peak is smaller than 1.8.
Re claim 14 Yagi discloses an photoelectric conversion element comprising: a first electrode(10/20);
a second electrode(10/20) disposed to be opposed to the first electrode(10/20); and
a photoelectric conversion layer(30/40/50) provided between the first electrode(10/20) and the second electrode(10/20) and including an organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] having a crystalline property[0082],
the photoelectric conversion layer(30/40/50) having carrier transportability[0103]
Yagi does not discloses the photoelectric conversion layer(30/40/50) having three crystalline peaks in a range of a diffraction angle (2Θ) of 15° or more and 30° or less in an XRD spectrum.
Saito disclose in Fig 4-6 the photoelectric conversion layer(fullerene)[0089] having three crystalline peaks in a range of a diffraction angle (2Θ) of 15° or more and 30° or less in an XRD spectrum(Fig 4-6)[0093].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Saito to the teachings of Yagi in order to to provide improvements in the quantum efficiency and response rate of a photoelectric conversion element [0005, Saito].
Re claim 15 Yagi and Saito discloses the photoelectric conversion element according to claim 14, wherein the first electrode(10/20) includes a plurality of electrode(10/20)s independent of each other.
Re claim 16 Yagi and Saito discloses the photoelectric conversion element according to claim 15, wherein respective voltages are applied individually to the plurality of electrode(10/20)s.
Re claim 17 Yagi discloses an imaging device comprising a plurality of pixels[0120] each including an imaging element[0116] that includes one or a plurality of photoelectric conversion sections, the photoelectric conversion section including
a first electrode(10/20),
a second electrode(10/20) disposed to be opposed to the first electrode(10/20), and
a photoelectric conversion layer(30/40/50) provided between the first electrode(10/20) and the second electrode(10/20) and including an organic semiconductor material(fullerene)[0082,0085] having a crystalline property[0082], the photoelectric conversion layer(30/40/50) having carrier transportability[0103]
Yagi does not discloses the photoelectric conversion layer(30/40/50) having three crystalline peaks in a range of a diffraction angle (20) of 15° or more and 30° or less in an XRD spectrum.
Saito disclose in Fig 4-6 the photoelectric conversion layer(fullerene)[0089] having three crystalline peaks in a range of a diffraction angle (20) of 15° or more and 30° or less in an XRD spectrum(Fig 4-6)[0093].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the invention to apply the teachings of Saito to the teachings of Yagi in order to to provide improvements in the quantum efficiency and response rate of a photoelectric conversion element [0005, Saito].
Re claim 18 Yagi and Saito discloses the imaging device according to claim 17, wherein the imaging element[0116] further includes one or a plurality of photoelectric conversion regions(left/right 230 in Fig 1 of Saito) that performs photoelectric conversion of a wavelength band different from the one or the plurality of photoelectric conversion sections.
Re claim 19 Yagi and Saito discloses the imaging device according to claim 18, wherein the one or the plurality of photoelectric conversion regions(left/right 230 in Fig 1 of Saito) is formed to be embedded in a semiconductor substrate, and
the one or the plurality of photoelectric conversion sections is disposed on a side of a light incident surface of the semiconductor substrate.
Re claim 20 Yagi and Saito discloses the imaging device according to claim 19, wherein a multilayer wiring layer(Fig 1 of Saito) is formed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate on a side opposite to the light incident surface.
Conclusion
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/PATRICIA D VALENZUELA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2812
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