Appeal No. 94-3910
Application No. 07/966,615
cells of said array." The examiner cites generally that
Sugiura teaches the claimed slots and notes elements 39a and
39 of Sugiura.
Sugiura teaches etching a gap in the field insulating
region 34 to form contact holes 39 “which expose the surface
portion of the Si substrate to the outside” [column 9, lines
52-56; Figure 11]. It appears from Figure 11 that Sugiura may
expose some portion of B2 which the examiner asserts is a
source/drain region. Presuming for the moment that Sugiura
teaches "a plurality of slots etched in said field insulating
regions, said slots exposing the surface of said source/drain
regions," it remains unclear whether the contact holes extend
(a) "the length of said source/drain regions," and (b) "at
least between two adjacent rows of memory cells of said array”
as recited in claim 21. Appellants specifically argue these
limitations in the brief, and the examiner fails to respond on
the ground that the claims are indefinite. Specifically, it
appears fairly clear that the examiner did not understand what
was meant by the phrase "extending the length" as is evidenced
by his rejection of claim 21 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second
paragraph addressed above. Moreover, the only argument
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