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 .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) was filed with the application on 5/9/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yamada (US Patent Pub. # 2017/0163917) in view of Shiomi (US Patent Pub. # 2021/0057168).
As to claim 1, Yamada teachers a solid-state imaging device comprising:
a pixel (pixel cells 14A and 14B) (Para 84); and
an operating voltage supply section (voltage supply circuit 60), wherein the pixel (14A and 14B) includes a photoelectric conversion layer (photoelectric conversion layer 51) that converts light into electric charge (Para 87 and 88),
a charge accumulation electrode (pixel electrode 50) provided on the charge accumulation/transfer layer (52) on a side opposite to the photoelectric conversion layer (51) (Para 104 and 105), and
the operating voltage supply section (60) selectively supplies one of a first operating voltage (voltage V2) and a second operating voltage (voltage V1) to the pixel, the second operating voltage being different from the first operating voltage (Para 130).
Yamada does not teach a charge accumulation/transfer layer that is provided on the photoelectric conversion layer, and accumulates and transfers the electric charge, an electrode provided on the photoelectric conversion layer on a side opposite to the charge accumulation/transfer layer. Shiomi teaches a charge accumulation/transfer layer (semiconductor layer 13) that is provided on the photoelectric conversion layer (photoelectric conversion layer 14), and accumulates and transfers the electric charge, an electrode (accumulation electrode 11B) provided on the photoelectric conversion layer (14) on a side opposite to the charge accumulation/transfer layer (13) (Para 40). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have provided a semiconductor layer and accumulation electrode as taught by Shiomi to the pixel of Yamada, to reduce the occurrence of dark currents (Para 8 of Shiomi).
As to claim 2, Yamada teaches wherein a plurality of the pixels (14a and 14b) is arranged, and the operating voltage supply section (60) supplies the first operating voltage (V2) to all of the plurality of pixels (14a and 14b) arranged (Para 130-135).
As to claim 3, Yamada teaches wherein the operating voltage supply section (60) supplies the first operating voltage (V2) to a part of a plurality of pixels arranged, and supplies the second operating voltage (V1) to another part of the plurality of pixels arranged (Para 130-135).
As to claim 4, Yamada teaches wherein the second operating voltage (V1) is lower than the first operating voltage (V2) (Para 130).
As to claim 5, Yamada teaches wherein the operating voltage supply section (60) supplies one of the first operating voltage (V2) and the second operating voltage (V1) to the charge accumulation electrode (pixel electrode 50) (Para 87 and 130).
As to claim 6, Shiomi teaches wherein the charge accumulation electrode (11B) is provided electrically independently for each pixel (Para 40).
As to claim 7, Yamada teaches wherein the operating voltage supply section (60) supplies one of the first operating voltage (V1) and the second operating voltage (V2) to the electrode (auxiliary electrode 61) (Para 87).
As to claim 8, Shiomi teaches wherein the electrode (15) is provided electrically independently (separately formed) for every plurality of the pixels selected by scanning (Para 42).
As to claim 9, Yamada teaches wherein the operating voltage supply section (60) is constructed to include a voltage generator that generates the first operating voltage (V2) and the second operating voltage (V1), a voltage supply section that supplies, to the pixel, one of the first operating voltage (V2) and the second operating voltage (V1) generated by the voltage generator, and a voltage selector (switches Sw1 and Sw2) that selects one of the first operating voltage (V2) and the second operating voltage (V1) to be supplied to the pixel by the voltage supply section (60) (Para 130).
As to claim 10, Yamada teaches wherein the photoelectric conversion layer (51) is formed by an organic material (organic material) or an inorganic material (inorganic material) (Para 105).
As to claim 11, Shiomi teaches wherein the charge accumulation/transfer layer (13)is formed by one or more materials selected from among IGZO, IGSiO, and IAZO (Para 51).
As to claim 12, Shiomi teaches wherein the charge accumulation electrode (11b) is formed by a material including IZO or ITO (Para 43).
As to claim 13, Shiomi teaches wherein the electrode (15) is formed by a material including IZO or ITO (Para 43).
As to claim 14, Shiomi teaches wherein an inorganic photoelectric converter (inorganic photoelectric conversion element) is provided, with a color filter (color filter 22) interposed therebetween, on the charge accumulation electrode (15) on a side opposite to the photoelectric conversion layer (14) (Para 64 and 194).
As to claim 15, Shiomi teaches wherein an optical lens (on-chip lens 23) is provided on the electrode (15) on a side opposite to the photoelectric conversion layer 14) (Para 64).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER K PETERSON whose telephone number is (571)270-1704. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 7AM-4PM.
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/CHRISTOPHER K PETERSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2637 7/24/2026
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