Appeal No. 1998-2308
Application No. 08/379,868
Kügler describes a method of coating at least one object with
at least one layer, wherein an ohmically conductive target is
sputtered in a glow discharge, which is electrically supplied by a DC
signal and a superimposed AC signal. (Column 3, lines 62-66.)
Kügler further teaches that the sputtered particles react with a gas
in a space between the target and the object and that the layer
deposition process is controlled in the unstable transition mode
between the metallic and reactive modes, whereby the deposited layer
is electrically less conductive than the target material. (Column 3,
line 66 to column 4, line 5.) According to Kügler, the method may
further comprise a post-reaction step “[i]f the obtained reaction
rate ( is not yet sufficient.” (Column 13, lines 8-9.)
Although Kügler teaches that the sputtered layer can either be
post-reacted in chamber 10 (column 13, lines 9-11) or that “[i]t is
possible and often preferred to couple” the chamber 10 (Fig. 2) in-
line with a “post-reaction” chamber (column 13, lines
25-29), the examiner has not pointed to any teaching in Kügler of “a
chamber having throughout an atmosphere comprising a mixture of
reactive and inert gases and having a sputtering station and an
oxidizing station spaced apart within said chamber” as required by
appealed claim 1 or 19.
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