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 .
Summary
This is the initial Office Action based on the 19/030,859 application filed on 01/17/2025.
Claims 1-20 are currently pending and have been fully considered.
Claim Objections
Claim 20 is objected to because of the following informalities: in line the phrase “a first” before “a first layer of aluminum” should be deleted. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 2 recites the limitation "the buffer layer" in 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention. Claim 5 recites “the transparent interface layer includes CdyZn(1-y)Te”, which positively requires the presence of CdyZn(1-y)Te in the transparent interface layer; however, the limitation “a concentration range of CdyZn(1-y)Te from 0 at. % to about 90 at. %” includes 0 at. % of CdyZn(1-y)Te, which means the absence of CdyZn(1-y)Te in the transparent interface layer. The conflicting limitation of claim 5 renders the claim indefinite.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7, 10 and 17-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woods et al. (US 2009/0308437) in view of Damjanovic et al. (US 2014/0216550), Li et al. (CN103943696 with provided machine English translation), Garnett et al. (US 2011/0139249) and Yuda et al. (US 2015/0270419).
Addressing claims 1 and 17, Woods discloses a thin-film photovoltaic device (Title) comprising:
a substrate (either the top contact 111 or the substrate 116 corresponds to the claimed substrate);
a transparent conductive oxide layer 112 (made of ZnO or SnO2 [0037]) residing over the substrate;
a CdTe absorber layer 113 [0034] residing over the transparent conductive oxide layer;
a transparent interface layer 114 having a thickness less than 10 nm when it is made of metallic material [0034] or 100 nm when it is made of semiconductor material [0055] in order to ensure some transparency, residing over the absorber layer; and
a transparent back contact layer 115 residing over the transparent interface layer (fig. 1).
Woods is silent regarding the absorber layer is CdSexTe(1-x), the transparent interface layer has a thickness between 10 nm and 50 nm, the transparent contact layer has a thickness of 20 nm to 1000 nm and an optical reflector layer includes a thickness of 20 nm to 500 nm.
Damjanovic discloses a solar cell comprising Cd, Se and Te absorber layer similarly to that of Woods; wherein, the absorber layer includes a p-type CdSexTe(1-x) layer where x, which is indicative of the amount of Se is graded through the thickness of the p-type absorber layer [0044-0046] and the x is in range of about 0.15 to about 0.40 (paragraph [0044] discloses x is between 0.1 to 0.25, which overlaps the claimed range). The p-type absorber layer also as a thickness between 2000 nm to 4000 nm or 2 to 4 microns that overlaps with the claimed range [0044].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the absorber layer of Woods with the absorber layer including p-type CdSexTe(1-x) as disclosed by Damjanovic in order to obtain the predictable result of forming an absorber layer having p-n junction for generating electrical current when exposed to solar radiation (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143).
Garnett discloses a photovoltaic device comprising a highly doped transparent p-type nitrogen doped ZnTe layer positioned between the absorber layer and a TCO layer (paragraph [0058] and fig. 1); wherein, the highly doped p-type ZnTe layer has a thickness of equal to or less than about 30 nm that falls within the claimed range.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods by perform routine experimentation with the thickness of the highly doped p-type ZnTe interface layer in the thickness range disclosed by Garnett in order to optimize the transparency of the interface layer. Therefore, one would have arrived at the claimed thickness range of the interface layer when perform routine experimentation with the thickness of the interface layer of Woods in the thickness range disclosed by Garnett in order to optimize the transparency of the interface layer.
Yuda discloses the transparent contact layer 2 has a thickness between 40 nanometers to 200 nanometers or 0.04 to 0.2 microns [0028], which overlaps the claimed ranges.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed thickness of the transparent contact layer by performing routine experimentation with the thickness of the transparent contact layer of Woods in the thickness range disclosed by Yuda in order to optimize the light transmittance and electrical resistance (Yuda, [0028]).
Li discloses a thin-film photovoltaic device comprising a back contact 4 residing over the absorber layer. The back contact includes a transparent contact layer 401 includes a thickness range of 20 nm to 1000 nm (AZO thickness of 75-85 nm, [0050]) and an optical reflector layer (403+404 includes a thickness range of 20 nm to 500 nm, [0050]).
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the back contact of Woods with the back contact layer disclosed by Li in order to improve welding performance and adhesion of the photovoltaic device while improving the conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic device (Li, [0018]).
Addressing claim 2, Woods discloses the buffer layer 119 made of ZnO [0029].
Addressing claims 3-4, Woods is silent regarding the window layer and the materials of current claims.
Damjanovic discloses the thin-film photovoltaic device includes a CdSeTe absorber layer 635 and a CdS window layer 615 positioned between the absorber layer and the TCO layer 610 [0041].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods with the CdS window layer positioned between the CdSeTe absorber layer and the TCO layer in order to form the required p-n junction with the absorber layer (Damjanovic, [0041]).
Addressing claim 7, Woods discloses in paragraph [0034] the transparent conductive contact layer 115 is made of Zinc Oxide doped with aluminum.
Addressing claim 10, Woods disclose the TCO layer is made of ZnO or SnO2 [0037]; however, Woods does not disclose the claimed dopant.
Damjanovic discloses the TCO layer is made of zinc oxide or tin oxide similarly to that of Woods or cadmium stannate, which includes cadmium oxide and cadmium tin oxide dopant [0031].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the TCO layer of Woods’ photovoltaic device by substituting the known ZnO or SnO2 material with the known cadmium stannate material disclosed by Damjanovic in order to obtain the predictable result of allowing light to pass through to the absorber layer while serving as an ohmic electrode to transport photogenerated charge carriers away from the absorber layer (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143; paragraph [0031]).
Addressing claim 18, Li discloses the optical reflector layer includes a first layer 404 made of aluminum and a second layer 403 made of silver [0050].
Addressing claim 19, please see the rejection of claims 1 and 18 above because current claim includes the limitations of claims 1 and 18.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woods et al. (US 2009/0308437) in view of Damjanovic et al. (US 2014/0216550), Li et al. (CN103943696 with provided machine English translation), Garnett et al. (US 2011/0139249) and Yuda et al. (US 2015/0270419) as applied to claims 1-4, 7, 10 and 17-19 above, and further in view of Garnett (US 2010/0015753 or ‘753).
Addressing claims 5-6, the modified photovoltaic device of Woods includes interface layer that is p+doped with a Group V material.
Woods is regarding the interface layer comprises cadmium.
Garnett ‘753 discloses a p+ CdxZn1-xTe layer formed between the p-type absorber layer and the contact [0088] to improve electrical contact. Garnett ‘753 further discloses the highly doped p+ CdZnTe layer has the same composition as the p-type CdZnTe layer, which has x between 0 to about 0.60 or 60 at.% [0088], and is doped with arsenic [0023] that satisfies the limitation of claim 5. Alternatively, the highly doped p+ layer can be made of ZnTe with nitrogen as dopant [0023], which satisfies the limitation of claim 6.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the interface layer of Woods with the p+ CdxZn1-xTe layer or ZnTe layer that is doped with group V material disclosed by Garnett ‘753 in order to improve the electrical contact between the absorber layer and the contact (Garnett, [0088]).
Claim(s) 8-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woods et al. (US 2009/0308437) in view of Damjanovic et al. (US 2014/0216550), Li et al. (CN103943696 with provided machine English translation), Garnett et al. (US 2011/0139249) and Yuda et al. (US 2015/0270419) as applied to claims 1-4, 7, 10 and 17-19 above, and further in view of Zhao et al. (US 2013/0233380) and Goto et al. (JP2006140388 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claims 8-9, Woods is silent regarding the limitations of current claims.
Zhao discloses a photovoltaic device comprising a transparent conductive oxide layer 122 that includes a SnO2:F layer (TCO layer 115 made of SnO2:F [0038] and an undoped SnO2 layer 120 [0040] having a thickness range of about 20 nm to about 100 nm [0040].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods with the known TCO stack having the buffer layer and the TCO layer disclosed by Zhao in order to reduce the risk of direct electrical shunting and shorting of the PV module (Zhao, [0027]).
Goto discloses a fluorine doped tin oxide material for photovoltaic device; wherein, the concentration of fluorine is controlled to be less than 4 mol% in order to form the fluorine tine oxide layer with carrier concentration that is less than 4x1020 cm-3 in order to reduce the resistance while maintaining high transmittance [0022].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods in view of Zhao by perform routine experimentation with the concentration of fluorine in the fluorine tin oxide layer in the concentration range disclosed by Goto in order to optimize the reduction in resistance and maintain high transmittance (Goto, [0022]). Therefore, one would have arrived at the claimed fluorine tin oxide layer having the claimed carrier concentration of claim 8 when perform routine experimentation with the concentration of fluorine in the fluorine tin oxide layer in the concentration range disclosed by Goto in order to optimize the reduction in resistance and maintain high transmittance. Furthermore, one would have arrived at the limitation “the second carrier concentration at least 100 times less than the first carrier concentration” of claim 9 when perform routine experimentation with the concentration of fluorine in the fluorine tin oxide layer in the concentration range disclosed by Goto in order to optimize the reduction in resistance and maintain high transmittance because the undoped SnO2 has minimal carrier concentration that results in the claimed limitation.
Claim(s) 11-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woods et al. (US 2009/0308437) in view of Damjanovic et al. (US 2014/0216550), Li et al. (CN103943696 with provided machine English translation), Garnett et al. (US 2011/0139249) and Yuda et al. (US 2015/0270419) as applied to claims 1-4, 7, 10 and 17-19 above, and further in view of Yu et al. (US 2014/0284750).
Addressing claims 11-13, Woods is silent regarding the limitations of current claims.
Yu discloses an electron reflector 130 residing between the absorber layer 120 and the layer 140. Yu further discloses in paragraph [0033] the electron reflector 130 includes zinc and telluride and having a thickness between 5 to 25 nm.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods with the electron reflector between the absorber layer and the transparent interface layer as suggested by Yu in order to provide an ohmic contact to achieve high performance efficiency at the interface between the absorber layer and the back current pathway (Yu, [0019]) by reducing the recombination of electron-hole pairs at the surface of the absorber layer closest to the back current pathway (Yu, [0020]).
Addressing claim 14, paragraph [0049] of Yu discloses the electron reflector layer includes Cd(1-x)ZnxTe that meets the claimed limitation.
Claim(s) 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woods et al. (US 2009/0308437) in view of Damjanovic et al. (US 2014/0216550), Li et al. (CN103943696 with provided machine English translation), Garnett et al. (US 2011/0139249) and Yuda et al. (US 2015/0270419) as applied to claims 1-4, 7, 10 and 17-19 above, and further in view of Zhao et al. (US 2013/0233380).
Addressing claims 15-16, Woods is silent regarding the limitations of current claims.
Zhao discloses a photovoltaic device similarly to that of Woods; wherein, the device comprises a window layer 130 residing between the transparent conductive oxide layer 110 (layer 110 made of SnO2 [0039]) and the absorber layer 135; and a buffer layer 120 residing between the transparent conductive oxide layer 110 and the window layer 130 (fig. 1, [0019]). The buffer layer 120 including tin oxide and/or zinc oxide [0040] with a thickness range of about 25 nm to about 200 nm [0040]. The buffer layer 120 include a first layer of SnO2 115 [0038] and a second layer of intrinsic SnO2 (layer 120 is made of tin oxide, without being disclosed as being doped which qualifies it as the claimed intrinsic SnO2) residing between the SnO2 layer 115 and the window layer 130.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods with the buffer layer residing in the position relative to the transparent conductive oxide layer, the window layer and the absorber layer as disclosed by Zhao in order to reduce the risk of direct electrical shunting and shorting of the PV module (Zhao, [0027]).
Claim(s) 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Woods et al. (US 2009/0308437) in view of Damjanovic et al. (US 2014/0216550), Li et al. (CN103943696 with provided machine English translation), Garnett et al. (US 2011/0139249), Yuda et al. (US 2015/0270419) and Zhao et al. (US 2013/0233380).
Addressing claim 20, Woods discloses a thin-film photovoltaic device (Title) comprising:
a substrate (either the top contact 111 or the substrate 116 corresponds to the claimed substrate);
a transparent conductive oxide layer 112 (made of ZnO or SnO2 [0037]) residing over the substrate;
a buffer layer 119 residing over the transparent conductive oxide layer;
a CdTe absorber layer 113 [0034] residing over the transparent conductive oxide layer;
a transparent interface layer 114 having a thickness less than 10 nm when it is made of metallic material [0034] or 100 nm when it is made of semiconductor material [0055] in order to ensure some transparency, residing over the absorber layer; and
a transparent back contact layer 115 residing over the transparent interface layer (fig. 1).
Woods is silent regarding the absorber layer is CdSexTe(1-x) having the claimed features, a window layer residing over the buffer layer, the buffer layer includes a first layer of SnO2 and second layer of intrinsic SnO2, the transparent interface layer with a thickness range of 10 nm to 50 nm, the back contact includes the transparent contact layer includes a thickness range of 20 nm to 1000 nm; an optical reflector layer including a thickness range of 20 nm to 500 nm; a first layer of aluminum and a second layer of either gold or silver.
Damjanovic discloses a solar cell comprising Cd, Se and Te absorber layer similarly to that of Woods; wherein, the absorber layer includes a p-type CdSexTe(1-x) layer where x, which is indicative of the amount of Se is graded through the thickness of the p-type absorber layer [0044-0046] and the x is in range of about 0.15 to about 0.40 (paragraph [0044] discloses x is between 0.1 to 0.25, which overlaps the claimed range). The p-type absorber layer also as a thickness between 2000 nm to 4000 nm or 2 to 4 microns that overlaps with the claimed range [0044].
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the absorber layer of Woods with the absorber layer including p-type CdSexTe(1-x) as disclosed by Damjanovic in order to obtain the predictable result of forming an absorber layer having p-n junction for generating electrical current when exposed to solar radiation (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143).
Garnett discloses a photovoltaic device comprising a highly doped transparent p-type nitrogen doped ZnTe layer positioned between the absorber layer and a TCO layer (paragraph [0058] and fig. 1); wherein, the highly doped p-type ZnTe layer has a thickness of equal to or less than about 30 nm that falls within the claimed range.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods by perform routine experimentation with the thickness of the highly doped p-type ZnTe interface layer in the thickness range disclosed by Garnett in order to optimize the transparency of the interface layer. Therefore, one would have arrived at the claimed thickness range of the interface layer when perform routine experimentation with the thickness of the interface layer of Woods in the thickness range disclosed by Garnett in order to optimize the transparency of the interface layer.
Yuda discloses the transparent contact layer 2 has a thickness between 40 nanometers to 200 nanometers or 0.04 to 0.2 microns [0028], which overlaps the claimed ranges.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have arrived at the claimed thickness of the transparent contact layer by performing routine experimentation with the thickness of the transparent contact layer of Woods in the thickness range disclosed by Yuda in order to optimize the light transmittance and electrical resistance (Yuda, [0028]).
Li discloses a thin-film photovoltaic device comprising a back contact 4 residing over the absorber layer. The back contact includes a transparent contact layer 401 includes a thickness range of 20 nm to 1000 nm (AZO thickness of 75-85 nm, [0050]) and an optical reflector layer (403+404 includes a thickness range of 20 nm to 500 nm, [0050]).
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the back contact of Woods with the back contact layer disclosed by Li in order to improve welding performance and adhesion of the photovoltaic device while improving the conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic device (Li, [0018]).
Zhao discloses a photovoltaic device similarly to that of Woods; wherein, the device comprises a window layer 130 residing between the transparent conductive oxide layer 110 (layer 110 made of SnO2 [0039]) and the absorber layer 135; and a buffer layer 120 residing between the transparent conductive oxide layer 110 and the window layer 130 (fig. 1, [0019]). The buffer layer 120 including tin oxide and/or zinc oxide [0040] with a thickness range of about 25 nm to about 200 nm [0040]. The buffer layer 120 include a first layer of SnO2 115 [0038] and a second layer of intrinsic SnO2 (layer 120 is made of tin oxide, without being disclosed as being doped which qualifies it as the claimed intrinsic SnO2) residing between the SnO2 layer 115 and the window layer 130.
At the time of the effective filing date of the invention, one with ordinary skill in the art would have found it obvious to modify the photovoltaic device of Woods with the buffer layer residing in the position relative to the transparent conductive oxide layer, the window layer and the absorber layer as disclosed by Zhao in order to reduce the risk of direct electrical shunting and shorting of the PV module (Zhao, [0027]).
Conclusion
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 01/28/2026