DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending in the application.
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
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.
Claims 1, 4-6, 12, 13, 17, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito et al (US 2021/0366964 A1) and Shibuta (US 2020/0303432 A1) in further view of Kobayashi et al (US 2023/0027447 A1).
As per claim 1, Ito discloses an image sensor (fig. 7, solid-state imaging device 10, from herein will be referred to as SSID) comprising:
a sensor substrate comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein the plurality of pixels comprises a first pixel and a fourth pixel configured to detect green light, a second pixel configured to detect blue light, and a third pixel configured to detect red light (fig. 7, SSID 10, substrate 100, comprises red, green and blue pixels);
a color separation lens array apart from the sensor substrate in a first direction, wherein the color separation lens array is configured to separate incident light according to wavelengths, and to condense the separated incident light onto the plurality of pixels (fig. 7, SSID 10, on-chip lens 108);
a spectroscopic filter layer between the color separation lens array (fig. 7, SSID 10, insulator film 105 will be considered spectroscopic filter layer).
Ito fails to teach an organic photoelectric conversion layer between the sensor substrate and the color separation lens array. However, Shibuta discloses a solid-state imaging device comprising an organic photoelectric conversion film 11 (i.e. layer) disposed between a substrate 10 and on-chip lens 18 (Shibuta, fig. 2, SSID 1, photoelectric conversion film 11, substrate 10).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Ito in view of Shibuta, as a whole, by incorporating the organic photoelectric conversion film as disclosed by Shibuta, into the SSID as taught by Ito, because doing so would provide a more efficient way of converting light into an imaging signal, thus enhancing the SSID.
The combined teachings of Ito in view of Shibuta, as a whole, fails to teach wherein each pixel of the plurality of pixels comprises an inorganic photoelectric conversion material. However, Kobayashi discloses a photoelectric conversion element 10A (i.e. pixel) wherein each photoelectric conversion element may be inorganic (Kobayashi, fig. 1, photoelectric conversion element 10A, para 0034).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, by incorporating the inorganic material into the pixels as taught by Kobayashi, into the SSID as taught by Ito and Shibuta, because doing so would provide a more efficient way of converting light into an imaging signal, thus enhancing the SSID.
As per claim 4, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses the image sensor of claim 1, wherein the organic photoelectric conversion layer has a thickness of 100 nanometers (nm) or less (Shibuta, fig. 1, organic photoelectric conversion film 11, para 0076 and 0077, 100nm).
As per claim 5, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses the image sensor of claim 1, further comprising an interlayer between the sensor substrate and the organic photoelectric conversion layer (Ito, fig. 7, insulator film 103).
As per claim 6, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses the image sensor of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pixels are included in a unit pixel group from among a plurality of unit pixel groups included in the sensor substrate (Ito, fig. 7, SSID 10, pixels 50 are in a pixel group) and
wherein the organic photoelectric conversion layer comprises a single layer facing the plurality of unit pixel groups (Shibuta, fig. 2, photoelectric conversion film 11 is disposed facing pixels).
As per claim 12, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses the image sensor of claim 1, wherein the spectroscopic filter layer comprises a plurality of spectroscopic filters facing the plurality of pixels (Ito, fig. 7, SSID 10, insulator film 105 is comprised of pillars 110 (i.e. filters) facing pixels 50), and
wherein each spectroscopic filter of the plurality of spectroscopic filters has a transmission spectrum corresponding to a color of a pixel facing the each spectroscopic filter (Ito, fig. 7, SSID 10, pillars 110 corresponds to the wavelength of the pixel 50, see para 0215).
As per claim 13, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses the image sensor of claim 12, wherein a first spectroscopic filter from among the plurality of spectroscopic filters comprises two first spectroscopic filters having different chief ray angle positions and different structures from each other (Ito, fig. 7, SSID 10, pillars 110 may be constructed to depict any shape, size, or pitch, para 0213-0215).
As per claim 17, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses the image sensor of claim 12, wherein the each spectroscopic filter comprises a plurality of nanostructures (fig. 7, SSID 10, pillars 110, para 0224).
As per claim 18, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses the image sensor of claim 17, wherein a size of the plurality of nanostructures included in the each spectroscopic filter corresponds to the color of the pixel facing the each spectroscopic filter (fig. 7, SSID 10, pillars 110, para 0224).
As per claim 20, the combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, further discloses an electronic apparatus (Ito, fig. 2, electronic device 1) comprising:
a lens assembly comprising at least one lens and configured to form an optical image of an object (Ito, fig. 2, electronic device 1, imaging lens 20);
an image sensor configured to convert the optical image into an electronic signal (Ito, fig. 2, electronic device 1, SSID 10); and
a processor configured to process the electronic signal (Ito, fig. 2, electronic device 1, processor 40), wherein the image sensor (Ito, fig. 2, SSID 10) comprises:
a sensor substrate comprising a plurality of pixels, wherein the plurality of pixels comprises a first pixel and a fourth pixel configured to detect green light, a second pixel configured to detect blue light, and a third pixel configured to detect red light, wherein the plurality of pixels comprises an inorganic photoelectric conversion material;
a color separation lens array apart from the sensor substrate in a first direction, wherein the color separation lens array is configured to separate incident light according to wavelengths and to condense the separated incident light onto the plurality of pixels;
an organic photoelectric conversion layer between the sensor substrate and the color separation lens array; and
a spectroscopic filter layer between the organic photoelectric conversion layer and the color separation lens array (claim limitations have been discussed and rejected, see claim 1 above).
Claim 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ito et al (US 2021/0366964 A1), Shibuta (US 2020/0303432 A1) and Kobayashi et al (US 2023/0027447 A1), in further view of Udaka et al (US 2015/0311445 A1).
As per claim 3, the image sensor of claim 1, wherein the organic photoelectric conversion layer comprises at least one from among polyacene, rylene, rubrene, and biradicaloid.
The combined teachings of Ito and Shibuta, in further view of Kobayashi, as a whole, fails to teach the limitations as recited above in claim 3. However, Udaka discloses a SSID comprising a organic layer 13, wherein organic layer is comprised of Rubrene material (Udaka, fig. 1, SSID 10, organic layer 13, para 0033).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to combine the teachings of Ito, Shibuta, and Kobayashi, in further view of Udaka, as a whole, by incorporating the material of the organic layer as taught by Udaka, into the SSID as taught by Ito, Shibuta and Kobayashi, because doing so would provide a more efficient way of absorbing light into the organic layer, thus enhancing the sensitivity of the imaging device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 7-11, 14-16, and 19 are 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:
Regarding claim 2, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the image sensor of claim 1, wherein the organic photoelectric conversion layer comprises a material configured to absorb a photon to generate an exciton.
Regarding claim 7, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the image sensor of claim 1, wherein the organic photoelectric conversion layer comprises a plurality of cells facing the plurality of pixels.
Regarding claims 8-11, claims depend from claim 7, and are allowable for the same reasons stated above.
Regarding claim 14, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the image sensor of claim 12, wherein each pixel of the plurality of pixels comprises a plurality of light detection cells, and wherein a size of the each spectroscopic filter is equal to a size of a light detection cell facing the each spectroscopic filter from among the plurality of light detection cells.
Regarding claim 15, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, the image sensor of claim 12, wherein the plurality of spectroscopic filters comprise a Fabry-Perot resonator.
Regarding claim 16, claim depend from claim 15, and are allowable for the same reasons stated above.
Regarding claim 19, none of the prior art cited alone or in combination provides the motivation to teach the following claimed limitations, with emphasis that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record, The image sensor of claim 1, wherein the sensor substrate comprises: a first pixel group comprising a plurality of first pixels arranged adjacently and continuously; a second pixel group comprising a plurality of second pixels arranged adjacently and continuously; a third pixel group comprising a plurality of third pixels arranged adjacently and continuously; and a fourth pixel group comprising a plurality of fourth pixels arranged adjacently and continuously, wherein the spectroscopic filter layer comprises: a first spectroscopic filter facing one of the plurality of first pixels included in the first pixel group; a second spectroscopic filter facing one of the plurality of second pixels included in the second pixel group; a third spectroscopic filter facing one of the plurality of third pixels included in the third pixel group; and a fourth spectroscopic filter facing one of the plurality of fourth pixels included in the fourth pixel group.
Conclusion
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/JOHN H MOREHEAD III/Examiner, Art Unit 2639
/TWYLER L HASKINS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2639
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