Appeal No. 1998-1102
Application No. 08/761,883
suggested by the Examiner does not make the modification
obvious unless the prior art suggested the desirability of the
modification. In re Fritch, 972 F. 2d 1260, 1266 n.14, 23
USPQ2d 1780, 1783-84 n.14 (Fed. Cir. 1992). We are left to
speculate why the skilled artisan would turn to the teachings
of Manning in which, in both described embodiments, the glass
insulating layer contacts the polysilicon resistor, in order
to modify the structure of Cederbaum which, rather than having
insulator contact with a polysilicon resistor, provides a
barrier layer therebetween. The only reason we can discern is
improper hindsight reconstruction of Appellant’s claimed
invention. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner’s
obviousness rejection of claims 15-22 based on the combination
of Cederbaum and Manning.
Lastly, we have considered the McArthur reference added
by the Examiner to the combination of Cederbaum and Manning in
a separate 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection of dependent claim 17.
It is apparent from the Examiner’s analysis (Answer, page 5),
however, that McArthur is relied upon solely to address the
specific recited boron and phosphorus weight limitations. We
find nothing, however, in the disclosure of McArthur which
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