Appeal No. 96-2085 Application No. 08/301,536 forming a third insulating layer overlying the second insulating layer; forming a fourth insulating layer overlying the third insulating layer; forming a first opening with vertical sidewalls over the fuse, the first opening extending through the third and fourth insulating layers and at least through a portion of the second insulating layer; said first opening exposing a portion of said second insulating layer over said fuse; said remaining portion of said second insulating layer having a thickness in the range of 100 to 15,000 angstroms; forming a protective layer over the fourth insulating layer, over at least the sidewalls of the first opening, and the exposed portion of the second insulating layer on the bottom of the opening; said protective layer is formed of silicon nitride having a thickness in the range of 3000 to 20,000 angstroms; and forming a second opening in the protective layer over the fuse thus exposing the remaining portion of said second insulating layer. In addition to the admitted prior art found in appellants' specification, the examiner relies upon the following references as evidence of obviousness: Takayama et al. (Takayama) 4,536,949 Aug. 27, 1985 Udo et al. (Udo) 4,628,590 Dec. 16, 1986 Motonami et al. (Motonami) 5,241,212 Aug. 31, 1993 Appellants' claimed invention is directed to a method of forming a silicon nitride protective layer over the sidewalls of a window in insulation layers and over a fuse before the fuse is cut by a laser. An opening is formed in the protective layer to allow the laser to cut the fuse. According to appellants, the -3-Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007