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 .
This is a Non-Final office action based on application 18/756,721 filed June 27, 2024. Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been considered below.
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) 1-4, 6-7, 10-13, & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shiraishi (Pre-Grant Publication 2020/0235149).
Regarding claim 1, Shiraishi discloses an imaging device comprising:
a semiconductor substrate (Fig. 44) that includes at least one pixel (300) having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements (313a/313b) configured to receive light from a common microlens (311),
wherein the semiconductor substrate includes a first surface that is formed of light-receiving surfaces of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements and a second surface that faces the first surface, and the first surface has a concave shape (331), and at least a portion of the first surface is inclined with respect to the second surface (Fig. 44; Paragraph [0400]).
Regarding claim 2, Shiraishi further discloses:
the pixel has an element separation part that separates the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements from each other, and wherein the element separation part is provided at a position corresponding to a bottom of the concave shape (Paragraph [0412 & 0413]).
Regarding claim 3, Shiraishi further discloses:
the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements is provided at positions that do not overlap when viewed from a normal direction of the second surface (Fig. 46 or 47)
Regarding claim 4, Shiraishi further discloses:
the pixel has a floating diffusion region (Fig. 62, 161), and wherein electric charges accumulated in the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements are added up in the floating diffusion region (Paragraph [0550 & 0057]).
Regarding claim 6, Shiraishi further discloses:
the pixel has a readout circuit/transfer transistor (Fig. 30 & 62, 151a/151b) on the second surface of the semiconductor substrate away from the microlens to read out a signal based on a signal charge of the photoelectric conversion elements (Paragraph [0171]).
Regarding claim 7, Shiraishi further discloses:
wherein each of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements has a higher N-type impurity concentration on a side where the readout circuit/transfer transistor is provided than on a side of the light-receiving surface (Paragraph [0153]).
Regarding claim 10, Shiraishi further discloses:
the semiconductor substrate has a plurality of the pixels (Fig. 1, 100 or Fig. 44, 300G/300R)
Regarding claim 11, Shiraishi further discloses:
the plurality of pixels includes a first pixel (300G) having two of the photoelectric conversion elements (313a/313b) (Fig. 46 or 47).
Regarding claim 12, Shiraishi further discloses:
a row signal line (Fig. 1, 21) extending in a row direction and a column signal line (22) extending in a column direction,
wherein the first pixel (300G) includes a pixel in which the two photoelectric conversion elements (Fig. 47, 313a/313b or 313c/313d) are arranged in a direction in which the row signal line extends, and a pixel in which the two photoelectric conversion elements (Fig. 47, 313a/313c or 313b/313cd) are arranged in a direction in which the column signal line extends.
Regarding claim 13, Shiraishi further discloses:
the plurality of pixels includes a second pixel (300R) having four of the photoelectric conversion elements (313a-313d).
Regarding claim 20, Shiraishi further discloses:
An electornic apparatus/equipment (Fig. 63, 1000) comprising the imaging device (1001), a control apparatus/operation unit (1006), an processing apparatus/DSP circuit (1002), a display apparatus (1004), and a storage apparatus/memory unit (1003).
Claim(s) 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kurose (Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0173150).
Regarding claim 15, Kurose disclose an imaging apparatus comprising:
at least one blue or red pixel (Fig. 19a/19b, 2f) having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements (42), wherein adjacent photoelectric conversion elements (42) of a green pixel have a flat light incident surface different in angle to the light incident surface of the blue or red pixel having concave inclined regions (48f).
Regarding claim 16, Kurose further discloses:
a microlens (52), wherein the pixel includes the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements on a light outgoing side of a common microlens.
Regarding claim 17, Kurose disclose an imaging apparatus comprising:
a semiconductor substrate (Fig. 19a/19b, 12) provided with at least one pixel (2f) having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements (42) on a light outgoing side of a common microlens (52), the manufacturing method comprising: etching the semiconductor substrate such that at least a portion of the light-receiving surface of the photoelectric conversion elements provided on a first surface of the semiconductor substrate has a concave shape and is inclined (48f) with respect to a second surface of the semiconductor substrate facing the first surface.
Regarding claim 18, Kurose further discloses:
a semiconductor substrate provided with at least one pixel blue or red (2f) having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements (42), the manufacturing method comprising: etching the semiconductor substrate such that adjacent photoelectric conversion elements (42) of a green pixel (2f) have a flat light incident surface different in angle to the light receiving surface of the blue or red pixel having concave inclined regions (48f).
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) 5 & 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiraishi (Pre-Grant Publication 2020/0235149) in view of Kurose (Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0173150).
Regarding claim 5, Shiraishi disclose all of the limitations of claim 1 (addressed above). Shiraishi does not disclose an anti-reflection film is provided on the light receiving surfaces. However Kurose disclose an imaging device comprising:
A antireflection film (61) on the light incident surface (Paragraph [0133]).
It would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to form the anti-reflection film on the light receiving surfaces because reflection of light will be prevented thereby improving the sensitivity of the imaging device (Paragraph [0133]).
Regarding claim 14, Shiraishi disclose all of the limitations of claim 1 (addressed above). Shiraishi does not disclose an third pixel having a smaller number of photoelectric conversion element than the first pixel. However Kurose discloses an imaging device comprising:
A first pixel (Fig. 34, 2hb) and a third pixel (2ha) wherein the first pixel includes two photoelectric conversion elements (42-1 & 42-2) and the third pixel includes a smaller number of photoelectric conversion elements (42) than the first pixel.
It would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to form the third pixel having a smaller number of photoelectric conversion element than the first pixel because the first pixel having two photoelectric conversion element can serve to separately receive light coming from the left and right thereby allowing for a focus position to be detected at a high speed (Paragraph [0212 & 0250]).
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiraishi (Pre-Grant Publication 2020/0235149) in view of Iida (Pre-Grant Publication 2006/0061674).
Regarding claim 8, Shiraishi disclose all of the limitations of claim 1 (addressed above). Shiraishi does not disclose the pixel has a readout circuit between the photoelectric conversion elements and the microlens to read out a signal based on a signal charge of the photoelectric conversion elements. However Iida disclose a imaging device comprising:
A pixel/photoelectric conversion element (Fig. 1, 106) wherein a readout circuit/transfer transistor (109) and floating diffusion (107) are formed between the photoelectric conversion element and a microlens (101).
It would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to form the readout circuit between the photoelectric conversion element and the microlens because it will allow for the size of the imaging device to be smaller and the readout circuit to be closer to photoelectric conversion element allow for the signal/charge to be accumulated more efficiently.
Regarding claim 9, Shiraishi further discloses:
wherein each of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements has a higher N-type impurity concentration on a side where the readout circuit/transfer transistor is provided than on a side of the light-receiving surface (Paragraph [0153]).
Claim(s) 19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kurose (Pre-Grant Publication 2022/0173150) in view of Kim (Pre-Grant Publication 2024/0120357).
Regarding claim 19, Kurose disclose all of the limitations of claim 17 (addressed above). Kurose does not explicitly disclose the etching is performed by anisotropic wet etching. However Kim discloses an image sensor comprising:
A photoelectric conversion element (Figs. 10-12, PDa/PDb) wherein a unevenness portion (157) has a pyramid shape on the light incident surface wherein the unevenness portion is formed by wet etching (Paragraph [0058]).
It would have been obvious to those having ordinary skill in the art at the time of invention to form the unevenness portion by wet etching because it will allow for etching at a high etch rate and form a surface capable of increasing the amount of light received by the photoelectric conversion elements (Paragraph [0052 & 0058]).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wu (Pre-Grant Publication 2025/0311465) disclose a high performance image sensor including angled surface segment at a light incident surface of a substrate.
Kushida (Pre-Grant Publication 2024/0213282) disclose a light detection device including a light incidence face having a plurality of concave parts.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRANDON C FOX whose telephone number is (571)270-5016. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00AM-6:00PM.
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/BRANDON C FOX/Examiner, Art Unit 2818
/DAVID VU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2818
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