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 .
Specification
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: In the first line of the Abstract, “photovoltaic” should read - - photovoltaics - -.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1 and 2 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Dasgupta et al., Novel Process for Screen-Printed Selective Area Front Polysilicon Contacts for TOPCon Cells Using Laser Oxidation, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 12, No. 6, Nov. 2022, 1282-1288; in view of CN 101771102 A.
Dasgupta teaches a process for patterning a poly-Si layer on a TOPCon solar cell to form an estimated 1-4 nm thick stoichiometric SiO-2 layer by patterning the poly-Si layer using a nanosecond UV (355 nm) laser with a power ≥ 3 W at a 400 mm/s scan speed [abstract].
Dasgupta does not explicitly state that the TOPCon solar cell is placed on a workbench prior to laser patterning.
CN 102 teaches a process for laser etching (i.e., patterning) of an Si layer on a photovoltaic panel substrate in which the substrate is placed on a worktable (i.e., a workbench) in order to adjust the flatness (i.e., levelness) thereof [0009, 0011].
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify the process of Dasgupta so as to place the TOPCon solar cell substrate on any known substrate holder prior to laser patterning thereof. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to do so by the desire and expectation of advantageously holding the TOPCon solar cell in a flat, level configuration for the laser patterning. See MPEP §§ 2143(I)(A) and 2144(II).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-10 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
US 2003/0226834 A1, for example, teaches an apparatus for laser processing a flat, thin film substrate (150), on workbench (152) is horizontally disposed on rack (156) [Fig. 1]. Laser emission unit (162) is mounted on the rack (156) and located above the workbench (152) [id.]. The laser emission contains a plurality of laser emitters (166). Neither US 834 in particular, nor the prior art in general, teaches or suggests the claimed process wherein the laser emission unit comprises: a mounting plate; two longitudinally disposed mounting bars mounted on a lower surface of the mounting plate; a feed mechanism for driving the mounting plate to move horizontally; and a driving mechanism for driving the two mounting bars to reciprocate longitudinally.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. CN 1715931 A1 teaches an apparatus for UV laser-treating a substrate that is mounted on a worktable. CN 931 teaches driving the workbench using stepping motors. The following references are representative of the state of the prior art:
Shukla et al., Investigations on effect of laser-induced self-assembled patterning on optical properties of flexible polyimide substrates for solar cell applications, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys, 51 (2018) 045502-045514.
Wilkes et al., Laser Crystallization and Dopant Activation for a-Si:H Film in Carrier-Selective Contacts for Silicon Solar cells, Proc. IEEE 46th Photovolt. Specialists Conf., 2019, 2709-2712.
Wilkes et al., Laser Crystallization and Dopant Activation of a-Si:H Carrier-Selective Layer in TOPCon Si Solar Cells, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Vol. 10, No. 5, Sep. 2020, 1283-1289.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WILLIAM P FLETCHER III whose telephone number is (571)272-1419. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9 AM - 5 PM.
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WILLIAM PHILLIP FLETCHER III
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 1759
/WILLIAM P FLETCHER III/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1759
23 July 2026
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