DETAILED ACTION
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) 1-5 and 7-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Ahn et al. US 2014/0346498 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Ahn discloses:
A thin film transistor (Figs. 2 and 3) comprising:
a gate electrode (GE);
an In-Zn-Sn oxide (IZTO) channel layer (200) that overlaps the top or bottom of the gate electrode and has a spinel single-phase crystalline (Fig. 3; paras 0050-0054 and 0062; page 3 “Chemical Formula 1”);
a gate insulating layer (101) disposed between the gate electrode and the IZTO channel layer; and
source and drain electrodes (SE and DE) respectively connected to both ends of the IZTO channel layer.
(claims 2-5) Fig. 3; paras 0050-0054 and 0062; page 3 “Chemical Formula 1”.
Regarding claim 7, Ahn discloses:
A thin film transistor (Figs. 2 and 3) comprising:
a gate electrode (GE);
an IZTO (In-Zn-Sn oxide) channel layer (200) that overlaps the gate electrode and has a plurality of crystal grains, where all the crystal grains have a composition of Zn₂-xSn₁-xIn₂ₓO₄ (0<x<0.45) (Fig. 3; paras 0050-0054 and 0062; page 3 “Chemical Formula 1”);
a gate insulating layer (101) disposed between the gate electrode and the IZTO channel layer; and
source and drain electrodes (SE and DE) respectively connected to both ends of the IZTO channel layer.
(claims 8-10) Fig. 3; paras 0050-0054 and 0062; page 3 “Chemical Formula 1”.
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.
Claims 6 and 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ahn et al. US 2014/0346498 A1.
Regarding claims 6 and 11, although Ahn does not specifically disclose “wherein the IZTO channel layer has crystal planes of (220), (222), (331), and (422)”, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to determine the claimed crystal phase of the IZTO channel layer taught by Ahn, based on the disclosure, Fig. 3 paras 050-0054 and 0062, to achieve the characteristics of the channel layers discussed namely higher heat stability, higher photo stability and high electron mobility.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ERROL V FERNANDES whose telephone number is (571)270-7433. The examiner can normally be reached on 9-5:30.
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/ERROL V FERNANDES/Primary Examiner, AU 2893
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