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Demande n°:
The examination is being carried out on the following application documents
Description, Pages
1-19
as published
Claims, Numbers
1-19
filed in electronic form on
26-05-2022
Drawings, Sheets
1
as published
Reference is made to the following documents; the numbering will be adhered to in the
rest of the procedure.
D1
CN 105 779 956 B (UNIV SOUTHEAST)
2 February 2018 (2018-02-02)
D2
Hao Hu ET AL: "Vapour-based processing of hole-conductor-free CH 3 NH
3 Pbl 3 perovskite/C 60 fullerene planar solar cells”,
RSC Advances,
vol. 4, no. 55, 19 June 2014 (2014-06-19), page 28964, XP055213208,
DOI: 10.1039/C4RA03820G
D3
Hao Hu ET AL: "Electronic Supplementary Information Vapour-based
processing of hole-conductor-free CH 3 NH 3 Pbl 3 perovskite/C 60
fullerene planar solar cells",
, 3 July 2014 (2014-07-03), pages 1-3, XP055213210,
Retrieved from the Internet:
URL:http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/ra/c4/c4ra03820g/c4ra03820g1.pdf
[retrieved on 2015-09-14]
D4
US 2017/148579 A1 (SNAITH HENRY J [GB] ET AL) 25 May 2017
(2017-05-25)
D5
Mattox Donald: "Vacuum Evaporation and Vacuum Deposition",
, 1 January 2010 (2010-01-01), XP093005240,
[retrieved on 2022-12-06]
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D6
US 2018/005764 A1 (JONES TIMOTHY WILLIAM [AU] ET AL) 4 January
2018 (2018-01-04)
D7
US 2018/248118 A1
(2018-08-30)
(KWOK
HOI SING
[CN] ET AL) 30 August 2018
Hao Hu ET AL: "Electronic Supplementary Information Vapour-based processing of
hole-conductor-free CH 3 NH 3 Pbl 3 perovskite/C 60 fullerene planar solar cells" (D3)
was found during the search and its content was found relevant for considering unity of
invention based on the present set of Claims. Concerning unity of invention a single
general inventive concept (Article 82 EPC) cannot be seen because in view of the
disclosure of D3 there are no same or corresponding special technical features as
required by (Rule 44(1) EPC) for the following reasons:
A: Disclosure of D3:
D3 discloses a process for depositing a perovskite comprising:
- providing a PBI2 material in a crucible in a chamber and evaporating Pbl2
(see D3, page 1)
- pressure during deposition is 5E-3 Torr
- in a second step a crucible with MAl is provided and heated to allow reaction
of the deposited PbI2 in-situ with MAL.
- the reaction takes place in a reactor, wherein after the process the substrate is
taken out of the reactor.
Document D3 do not disclose a pressure of less than or equal 5X10° Torr.
The application is silent about a technical effect of this feature. The objective technical
effect of a reduced pressure is a lower contamination of the deposit based on the
contamination by residual gases (see D5, p. 195). Problem to be solved can thus be
regarded as how to improve the purity of the deposit material.
Document D5 is a handbook for PVD processes, wherein in the case of vacuum
evaporation a pressure regime of 107 Torr should be applied for a low contamination of
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the deposit (see D5, §6.1). Thus, the skilled person is encouraged starting from D3 to
chose a lower pressure in the claimed regime to solve the stated problem. Further, the
skilled person is encouraged to apply a lower pressure in light of the disclosure of D4,
which discloses a pressure of 5X10 mbar for the evaporation of the same material.
Therefore, it is obvious to apply a pressure of less than or equal 5X10° Torr to solve the
stated problem.
B: Special technical features vis-a-vis D1
Claim 1 is not inventive in the sense of Art. 56 EPC and the subject matter of this claim,
therefore does not constitute an inventive solution to a technical problem, and there is
no special technical feature.
The special technical features of other dependent and independent Claims are features
of the following differences to D3:
Claim 2 differs form D3 in vaporizing a lead target by an electron beam. The technical
effect of this difference for the given material system is not known in light of the
application. The problem to be solved can be regarded as providing an alternative
heating method for the to be evaporated Pb target.
Claim 5 differs form D3 in vaporizing a lead target by applying a cathodic arc at a
pressure in the range from 10 to 1072 Torr. The technical effect of this difference for
the given material system is not known in light of the application. The problem to be
solved can be regarded as providing an alternative vaporization method for the to be
evaporated Pb target.
Claim 6 differs form D3 in vaporizing a lead target by applying pulsed laser deposition.
The technical effect of this difference for the given material system is not known in light
of the application. The problem to be solved can be regarded as providing an alternative
vaporization method for the to be evaporated Pb target.
Claim 7 differs form D3 in depositing a lead target by sublimation at a pressure of 200
mTorr. The technical effect of this difference for the given material system is not known
in light of the application. The problem to be solved can be regarded as providing an
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alternative vaporization method for the to be evaporated Pb target.
Claim 8 differs form D3 in depositing a lead target by applying a current and ionizing the
lead salt precursor at a pressure of at least 102 Torr. The technical effect of this
difference for the given material system is not known in light of the application. The
problem to be solved can be regarded as providing an alternative vaporization method
for the to be evaporated Pb target.
Claim 9 differs form D3 in depositing a lead target by performing metalorganic vapor
phase epitaxy with a pressure in between 5 Torr and 760 Torr and further backfilling the
the chamber with vapor of a second salt precursor. The technical effect of this difference
for the given material system is not known in light of the application. The problem to be
solved can be regarded as providing an alternative vaporization method for the to be
evaporated Pb target.
C: Comparison of special technical features
The above special technical features are different, i.e. they are not the same.
The special technical features of these groups, relate to different technical effects or
known technical effects; i.e. different or known technical problems are solved
respectively. Therefore the different special technical features are also not
corresponding.
D: Conclusion of possible inventions in view of D3:
Hence, the following separate groups of Claims relate to possible inventions that are not
so linked as to form a single general inventive concept:
1. Claims 1, partially 14+19; claims 2-4
2. Claim 5
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3. Claim 6
4. Claims 7, 11-13, partially 10
5. Claims 8, 15, partially 16+19
6. Claims 9, 17, 18, partially 16+19
(claims 2-4 were assigned to the first group, as extra search effort is considered
unnecessary)
In accordance with Rule 164(1) EPC the supplementary search report has been drawn
up in those parts of the application which relate to the invention, or group of inventions,
first mentioned in the Claims.
The applicant is invited to limit the application to the invention covered by the European
supplementary search report.
The subject - matter to be excised may be made the subject of one or more divisional
applications. The divisional applications must be filed with the European Patent Office in
Munich, The Hague or Berlin and shall be in the language of the proceedings relating to
the present application (cf. Article 76(1) and Rule 36(2) EPC). The time limit for filing
divisional applications (Rule 36(1) EPC) must be observed.
1
The application does not meet the requirements of Article 84 EPC, because
claim 1 is not clear.
11
Claim 1 is not supported by the description as required by Article 84 EPC, as its
scope is broader than justified by the description and drawings. Claim 1 defines
a lead target as a source material. The description discloses that for a PVD
process a Pbl2 target is applied (see p. 3, I. 12). The term "Pb target" is a
target consisting of Pb , excluding other materials. This established
interpretation for the skilled person is contradicted by the subject matter of claim
2 and the description and should be clarified. Furthermore, the term "salt
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precursor" encompasses every material such as LiCl, or large organic salts,
thus the scope of claim 1 is broader than justified and also amounts to a result
to be achieved as the materials for achieving a perovskite structure is unclear.
2
Novelty
241
Document D1 discloses a process for depositing a perovskite comprising:
- providing a PBI2 target and deposit PbI2 film on a substrate by either PLD or
sputtering (see examples 1,2; whole document) in a first step
- pressure during deposition is 10E-3 Pa
- in a second step deposited film is exposed to MAI methylammoniumiodide to
react with Pbl2 to form perovskite layer (see examples)
- the reaction takes place in a furnace with heating of MAI salt, thus backfilling
the furnace chamber
Document D1 does not disclose the feature of performing both steps in one
reactor.
2.2
Document D2 with annex D3 or D3 alone discloses a process for depositing a
perovskite comprising:
- providing a PBI2 material in a crucible in a chamber and evaporating Pbl2
(see D3, page 1)
- pressure during deposition is 5E-3 Torr
- in a second step a crucible with MAl is provided and heated to allow reaction
of the deposited PbI2 in-situ with MAI.
- the reaction takes place in a reactor, wherein after the process the substrate is
taken out of the reactor.
Document D2, D3 do not disclose a pressure of less than or equal 5X10° Torr.
2.3
Document D4 discloses a process for depositing a perovskite comprising:
- providing a PBI2 source and deposit PbI2 film on a substrate by evaporation
(see example 1, §254)
- pressure during deposition is 5X10 mbar
- in a second step deposited film is exposed to MAI methylammoniumiodide to
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react with Pbl2 to form perovskite layer
- the second reaction takes place in a separate reactor
Document D4 does not disclose the feature of performing both steps in one
reactor.
3
The present application does not meet the requirements of Article 52(1) EPC
because the subject-matter of claim 1, 2, 3, 14, 19 does not involve an inventive
step within the meaning of Article 56 EPC.
31
Document D3 is regarded as closest prior art with respect to claim 1.
The difference between the subject matter of claim 1 and what is disclosed in
D3 is a pressure of less than or equal 5X10° Torr.
The application is silent about a technical effect of this feature. The objective
technical effect of a reduced pressure is a lower contamination of the deposit
based on the contamination by residual gases (see D5, p. 195). Problem to be
solved can thus be regarded as how to improve the purity of the deposit
material.
Document D5 is a handbook for PVD processes, wherein in the case of vacuum
evaporation a pressure regime of 107 Torr should be applied for a low
contamination of the deposit (see D5, §6.1). Thus, the skilled person is
encouraged starting from D3 to chose a lower pressure in the claimed regime to
solve the stated problem. Further, the skilled person is encouraged to apply a
lower pressure in light of the disclosure of D4, which discloses a pressure of
5X10¢ mbar for the evaporation of the same material.
Therefore, it is obvious to apply a pressure of less than or equal 5X10°® Torr to
solve the stated problem.
The subject matter of claim 1 does not involve an inventive step in the sense of
Art. 56 EPC.
3.2
The subject matter of the following claims has been applied already for the
same purpose:
Claim 2:
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heating (see D6, §233)
Post treatment with hydrogen iodide vapor (see D7; §53)
For the skilled person it is obvious to apply the additional features. Therefore,
the subject matter of the claims does not involve an inventive step in the sense
of Art. 56 EPC.
3.3
The subject matter of claims 14 and 19 relating to the flow rate of introducing
gases into a reaction chamber and the deposition rate refer to standard
methods. The skilled person selects the claimed conditions without applying
inventive activity. Thus, the subject matter of the claims is not inventive.
34
The subject matter of claim 4 is not anticipated by a combination of documents
and appears to fulfill the requirements of Art. 56 EPC.
Concluding remarks
The applicant is invited to file amendments taking full account of the above
objections and the following points.
4.1
The claims should be drafted with:
in the two-part form, with the features known in combination from the most
relevant of D1-D6 in the preamble, according to Rule 43(1) EPC.
reference signs in parentheses should be inserted in all claims according to
Rule 43(7) EPC.
text should not be added in parentheses according to Rule 43(7) EPC, cf.
Guidelines C-lll, 4.19.
4.2
The
description:
must be brought into conformity with the new claims as required by Article 84
EPC. Care should be taken during revision, especially of the introductory portion
of the description and of any statements of problem or advantage, not to add
subject-matter which extends beyond the content of the application as originally
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filed (Article 123(2) EPC).
should acknowledge the prior art disclosed in D1-D6 according to Rule 42(1)(b)
EPC, cf. Guidelines C-Il, 4.3.
4.3
The
letter accompanying the amendments should:
specify the basis in the application as filed for the amendments according to
Article 123(2) EPC, cf. Guidelines H-1I, 1.
4.4
In order to facilitate the examination of the conformity of the amended
application with the requirements of Article 123(2) EPC, the applicant is
requested to clearly identify the amendments carried out, irrespective of
whether they concern amendments by addition, replacement or deletion, and to
indicate the passages of the application as filed on which these amendments
are based. If only handwritten amendments are submitted, this will be
considered a formal deficiency under Rules 49(8) and 50(1) EPC.
4.5
Amendments are not allowed to relate to unsearched subject matter which does
not combine with the originally claimed invention (Rule 137(5)).
EPO Form 1703 01.91TRI