Appeal No. 96-1584
Application 08/066,697
neither reference alone discloses the claimed structure. Results
obtained from appellant's specific construction appear to be
nothing more than those which would have been expected by the
artisan. Expected results are evidence of obviousness. In re
Skoner, 517 F.2d 947, 950, 186 USPQ 80, 82 (CCPA 1975).
The fact that Muramatsu does not state that voltage on its
trench material 20 during device operation is insufficient to
cause the avalanche-generation in question is not deemed
controlling here. There is no disclosure in Muramatsu that its
apparatus suffers from such degradation nor has appellant
submitted any evidence to establish that as a fact. Appellant
acknowledges at page 3, lines 16-22, of its specification that
avalanche-generation of electron/hole pairs occurs only under
certain conditions, such as when the amount of voltage applied to
the device substrate is of sufficient magnitude to produce a
strong electric field.
CLAIMS 2, 3, 7, 11, 12 and 16
We are of the opinion that the rejection of these claims
under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as obvious over Muramatsu, Piotrowski and
Taylor cannot be sustained and we will reverse the rejection.
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