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 response to the Response to Election/Restriction filed on 06/07/2026.
Claims 1-20 remain pending in the application with claims 12-20 are withdrawn from consideration in light of the Applicants’ election of claims 1-11 for examination.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Invention I, claims 1-11, in the reply filed on 06/07/2026 is acknowledged.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
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, 3-4, 7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng et al. (CN103904138 with provided machine English translation) in view of Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821).
Addressing claim 1, Peng discloses a back contact solar cell (fig. 1), wherein the back contact solar cell comprises:
a silicon substrate 4 ([0012], silicon wafer substrate),
wherein a back surface of the silicon substrate is provided with a columnar hole (grooves 9 with square or circular in shape) and a non-columnar hole region (the region outside of the grooves);
a doped back surface field layer provided in the columnar hole [0023];
a first electrode 6 provided on the back surface of the silicon substrate, wherein the first electrode is in electrical contact with the doped back surface field layer (fig. 8);
a doped emitter layer 8 provided in the non-columnar hole region, wherein the doped emitter layer comprises a doped silicon crystalline layer ([0029], the emitter layer is formed by doping the crystalline substrate, which results in the doped silicon crystalline emitter); and
a second electrode 6 provided on the back surface of the silicon substrate, wherein the second electrode is in electrical contact with the doped crystalline layer 8 (fig. 8);
wherein the first electrode and the second electrode have opposite polarities (the first and second electrodes are connected to the BSF and emitter layers that have opposite polarities, which results in the first and second electrodes having opposite polarities) and are insulated from each other (figs. 1 and 8 show the first and second electrodes are insulated from each other via the insulating layer 7, [0041]).
Peng is silent regarding the emitter layer comprises a doped polycrystalline layer.
Chen discloses a back contact solar cell comprising a BSF layer 32 that is formed within or inside an opening 54 formed inside the crystalline silicon substrate 12 (figs. 10-12, [0016]). Chen further discloses the back contact solar cell includes a doped emitter layer 16 provided in the non-opening region and comprises a doped polysilicon layer [0018].
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 solar cell of Peng with the doped polysilicon emitter material of Chen in order to reduce the occurrence of the carrier recombination, thus improving the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cell (Chen, [0009]).
Addressing claim 3, figs. 4-5 of Peng show the doped back surface field layer is provided on a side wall or a bottom surface of the columnar hole.
Addressing claim 4, Peng discloses in paragraph [0048] that the hole 9 has a diameter of 80 µm, hole spacing of 500 µm and the number of hole is plural (fig. 4). Fig. 4 also shows that the depth of the hole falls within the range of 30% to 80% of a thickness of the silicon substrate as claimed.
Addressing claim 7, Chen discloses the doped emitter layer comprises a tunneling oxide layer 18 provided between the silicon substrate and the doped polysilicon layer 16 in the non-opening region (fig. 4); therefore, the modified solar cell of Peng in view of Chen would have the claimed configuration.
Addressing claim 9, Peng discloses in paragraph [0017] that the substrate is an p-type silicon substrate and Chen discloses the substrate 12 is an p-type silicon substrate [0019]; Peng discloses the doped emitter layer is n+ type and the doped back surface field layer is p+ type; Chen discloses the BSF layer 14 has P+ type and the emitter layer 16 is N+ type [0019]. Chen discloses the N+ dopants are phosphorous, arsenic or antimony [0024] as the claimed group V elements; likewise, Peng discloses the n+ type dopant is phosphorus or arsenic [0028]. Chen discloses the P+ dopant is boron [0021] and Peng discloses the P+ dopant is boron [0029]. Therefore, the limitation of current claim would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teaching of Chen and Peng.
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng et al. (CN103904138 with provided machine English translation) in view of Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821) as applied to claims 1, 3-4, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Eo et al. (KR20150006927 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claims 5-6, Peng discloses the number of columnar hole is plural, the first electrode is provided in each columnar hole, a number of second electrode is plural and the first and second electrodes are not connected.
Peng is silent regarding a first and second conductive gate line in square spiral shape.
Eo discloses back contact solar cell (figs. 2-11) comprising gate line electrodes 200 and 300 for collecting the generated holes and electrons; wherein, the gate line electrodes are arranged in square spiral shape (fig. 5).
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 solar cell of Peng with the gate line electrodes having square spiral shape connecting the base and emitter regions, respectively, as suggested by Eo in order to shorten the distance electrodes and holes travel to the electrode for power generation (Eo, [0024]).
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng et al. (CN103904138 with provided machine English translation) in view of Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821) as applied to claims 1, 3-4, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Deng et al. (US 2024/0186439).
Addressing claim 5, Peng discloses the number of columnar hole is plural, the first electrode is provided in each columnar hole, a number of second electrode is plural and the first and second electrodes are not connected.
Peng is silent regarding a first and second conductive gate lines connected to the first and second electrode, respectively.
Deng discloses a back contact solar cell comprising first 131 and second 141 electrodes electrically connected to the emitter layer 111 and the BSF layer 123 similarly to those of Peng. Deng further discloses in fig. 3 conductive gate lines 133 and 143 for connecting a plurality of first electrodes 131 and plurality of second electrodes 141 (fig. 3).
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 solar cell of Peng with the conductive gate lines disclosed by Deng in order to collect the current generated from the plurality of first and second electrodes (Deng, fig. 3).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Peng et al. (CN103904138 with provided machine English translation) in view of Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821) as applied to claims 1, 3-4, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Cousins et al. (US 2014/0080251).
Addressing claim 11, Peng is silent regarding a bottom and/or a side wall of the columnar hole and/or conical hole is provided with a concave-convex texture structure.
Cousins discloses the groove within which the doped semiconductor layer 160 is formed (fig. 12); wherein, the groove’s bottom surface is provided with a concave-convex texture structure 130 (fig. 5).
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 solar cell of Peng with the textured surface 130 as disclosed by Cousins in order to increase solar radiation collection (Cousins, j[0018]).
Claim(s) 1, 3, 7 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821) in view of Zhang et al. (CN103618025 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claims 1 and 3, Chen discloses a back contact solar cell (fig. 1), wherein the back contact solar cell comprises:
a silicon substrate 12,
wherein a back surface of the silicon substrate is provided with trenches region 54 (fig. 10);
a doped back surface field layer (doped area 32, [0016], fig. 12) provided in the trenches region 54;
a first electrode 24 provided on the back surface of the silicon substrate 12, wherein the first electrode 24 is in electrical contact with the doped back surface field layer 32 [0030];
a doped emitter layer 16 (doped polysilicon layer 16) provided in the non-trenches region (fig. 1), wherein the doped emitter layer comprises a doped polysilicon layer [0030]; and
a second electrode 22 provided on the back surface of the silicon substrate, wherein the second electrode is in electrical contact with the doped polysilicon layer 16 [0030];
wherein the first electrode and the second electrode have opposite polarities (because they are connected to doped layers with opposite polarities) and are insulated from each other (separated from one another by the insulating layer 40, [0017], fig. 1).
Chen is silent regarding the claimed columnar hole within which the back surface field layer is provided.
Zhang discloses back contact solar cell (fig. 11) comprises trenches region 12 (fig. 8) or columnar hole region 12 (fig. 9) for forming the depression areas in the back surface of the silicon substrate within which the doped layer 11 is formed (fig. 11).
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 solar cell of Chen with the known plurality of contact holes 12 disclosed by Zhang in order to obtain the predictable result of holes within the back surface of the silicon substrate for the formation of doped back surface field layer (Rationale B, KSR decision, MPEP 2143).
Addressing claim 7, Chen discloses a tunneling oxide layer 18 [0018] provided between the silicon substrate 12 and the doped polysilicon layer 16 in the non-columnar hole region (as discussed in the modified solar cell of Chen in view of Zhang).
Addressing claim 9, Chen discloses the substrate 12 is an p-type silicon substrate [0019]. Chen discloses the BSF layer 14 has P+ type and the emitter layer 16 is N+ type [0019]. Chen discloses the N+ dopants are phosphorous, arsenic or antimony [0024] as the claimed group V elements; likewise, Peng discloses the n+ type dopant is phosphorus or arsenic [0028]. Chen discloses the P+ dopant is boron [0021] and Peng discloses the P+ dopant is boron [0029]. Therefore, the limitation of current claim would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art based on the teaching of Chen and Zhang.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821) in view of Zhang et al. (CN103618025 with provided machine English translation) as applied to claims 1, 3, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Peng et al. (CN103904138 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claim 4, Zhang discloses the number of columnar hole as plural and the modified solar cell of Chen in view of Zhang has the claimed a depth of the columnar hole is 30% to 80% of a thickness of the silicon substrate (Chen disclose the thickness of the silicon substrate is 50 µm [0021] and Zhang discloses the depth of the columnar hole 12 is 30 µm [0020], which results in the depth of the columnar hole being 80% of the thickness of the silicon substrate).
Zhang is silent regarding the diameter of the columnar hole and the interval between adjacent columnar holes in the claimed ranges.
Peng discloses a back contact solar cell comprises columnar holes similarly to that of Zhang; wherein, Peng discloses in paragraph [0048] that the hole 9 has a diameter of 80 µm, hole spacing of 500 µm and the number of hole is plural (fig. 4).
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 solar cell of Zhang by perform routine experimentation with the diameter and spacing of the plurality of columnar holes in the ranges disclosed by Peng in order to optimize the size of the doped semiconductor layer in the columnar holes.
Claim(s) 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821) in view of Zhang et al. (CN103618025 with provided machine English translation) as applied to claims 1, 3, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Eo et al. (KR20150006927 with provided machine English translation).
Addressing claims 5-6, Chen in view of Zhang discloses the number of columnar hole is plural, the first electrode is provided in each columnar hole, a number of second electrode is plural and the first and second electrodes are not connected.
Chen and Zhang are silent regarding a first and second conductive gate line in square spiral shape.
Eo discloses back contact solar cell (figs. 2-11) comprising gate line electrodes 200 and 300 for collecting the generated holes and electrons; wherein, the gate line electrodes are arranged in square spiral shape (fig. 5).
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 solar cell of Chen in view of Zhang with the gate line electrodes having square spiral shape connecting the base and emitter regions, respectively, as suggested by Eo in order to shorten the distance electrodes and holes travel to the electrode for power generation (Eo, [0024]).
Claim(s) 11 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen et al. (US 2014/0096821) in view of Zhang et al. (CN103618025 with provided machine English translation) as applied to claims 1, 3, 7 and 9 above, and further in view of Cousins et al. (US 2014/0080251).
Addressing claim 11, Chen and Zhang are silent regarding a bottom and/or a side wall of the columnar hole and/or conical hole is provided with a concave-convex texture structure.
Cousins discloses the groove within which the doped semiconductor layer 160 is formed (fig. 12); wherein, the groove’s bottom surface is provided with a concave-convex texture structure 130 (fig. 5).
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 solar cell of Chen with the textured surface 130 as disclosed by Cousins in order to increase solar radiation collection (Cousins, [0018]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 8 and 10 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.
Conclusion
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/BACH T DINH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1726 06/22/2026
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