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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group III claims 15-20 in the reply filed on 2/23/2026 is acknowledged.
Claim Interpretation
Claims 15 and 16 require an evaporation source with a plurality of nozzles. However, the claims do not require the nozzles to be integral as part of a single unitary array as shown in applicant’s fig. 4A where nozzles 315 are the outermost nozzles of an integral nozzle bank/array. The 102 rejections below use two (a plurality of) independent evaporation sources/nozzles that are angled relative to each other.
In contrast, claim 17 requires that the evaporation source has the plurality of nozzles and has a surface with a first end and second end. These limitations indicate there is an integral evaporation source with the outermost nozzles angled with respect to each other and the surface of the evaporation source.
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) 15, 16, and 19 and is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by GOEBERT et al. (US 2013/0337174).
Regarding claim 15,
GOEBERT teaches a method of depositing thin films by evaporation in a vacuum abstract. The evaporation can be performed form from at least two evaporation sources that are angled relative to each other [0040] and Fig. 3. The nozzle plate 4 is positioned over the evaporation material and includes wall portions 10 and 11 that are angled to “guide” evaporated to be directed towards the substrate Fig. 3. The nozzles guiding material towards the substrate further include heat reflectors 16 (temperature control) to prevent clogging of the nozzle [0060] and [0064]. When using two evaporation sources, they are each the “outermost” nozzles that are tilted relative to each other.
Regarding claims 16,
GOEBERT further teaches using a second set of evaporation nozzles angled relative to each other as shown in fig. 4.
Regarding claim 19,
GOEBERT teaches one of the evaporation sources can be lithium for doping the solar cell material [0004] and [0019].
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.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 15, 16, 19 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HERLE (US 2019/0088987) in view of YANG et al. (US 2005/0072361).
Regarding claims 15, 19 and 20,
HERLE teaches a method of making a lithium metal film on a current collector of a battery [0009]. Deposition of the lithium metal is done by a PVD process such as evaporation [0084]. A continuous flexible sheet is provided as the current collector material 1250 in fig. 12, see [0111]. Each of the processing chambers are separated from each other and angled toward the processing drum 1255 (angled relative to each other) and both chambers 1210 and 1220 are used to deposit lithium [0118].
HERLE teaches separating process chambers from each other (guiding evaporated material) but does not teach using a temperature control shield. However, YANG teaches that when directing an evaporation source at a drum a containment shield 40 can be used to control the deposition zone [0056] which can further be configured for heating or cooling [0058]. At the time of filing the invention it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to use the containment shield of YANG in the evaporation process of HERLE to better control the deposition zone.
Regarding claim 16,
HERLE further teaches additional deposition zones 1230 and 1240 which can be considered a second plurality of nozzles that are “outermost” and tilted relative to each other.
Claim(s) 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HERLE (US 2019/0088987) in view of YANG et al. (US 2005/0072361) further in view of SUNIC SYSTEM hereinafter “SUNIC” (KR 20160005877; citations to machine translation provided in IDS).
Regarding claim 17,
HERLE teaches depositing material through nozzles but does not expressly teach a head with a plurality of nozzles with outmost nozzles tilted with respect to a surface of nozzles. However, SUNIC teaches that when spraying vaporized material from a crucible abstract and [0043], the material sprayed can be sprayed from a bank of nozzles and the outer edge (outermost nozzles) can be angled to reduce a shadow effect from the deposition [0074]-[0075] and Fig. 8 and 9. At the time of filing the invention it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to provide a nozzle bank with tilted outermost nozzles to reduce shadow effects of the vapor deposition.
Claim(s) 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HERLE (US 2019/0088987) in view of YANG et al. (US 2005/0072361) further in view of SUNIC SYSTEM hereinafter “SUNIC” (KR 20160005877; citations to machine translation provided in IDS) and NISHIGUCHI et al. (US 2020/0087777).
Regarding claim 18,
Modified HERLE teaches the relative angling of nozzles but does not teach a particular angle. However, NISHIGUCHI teaches that when angling nozzles to increase incident angles [0013], they can be angled at 5-30° [0043]-[0045]. At the time of filing the invention it would have been prima facie obvious to look to the prior art to find suitable angles for tilted nozzles and use the angles known as operable angles in the art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AUSTIN MURATA whose telephone number is (571)270-5596. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5.
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/AUSTIN MURATA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1712
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