Appeal No. 2000-0732
Application No. 08/741,799
time the epitaxial layer 13 is grown. Since, in the
examiner’s analysis, the top surface of epitaxial layer 13 is
the top surface of the semiconductor body, it cannot be said
that this embedded layer 11 is implanted “through a top
portion of the semiconductor body,” as claimed.
Now, at column 6, lines 23-24, of Kato, it is recited
that “[t]he N+ embedded layer 11 can also be formed by ion
implantation at high energy...” and this might imply that the
layer is implanted through another layer (e.g., epitaxial
layer 12) into substrate 10. However, it may just as well
mean that, just as before, layer 11 is formed in substrate 10
before the epitaxial layer 13 is grown but that layer 11 is
formed by implanting, at high energy, into the surface of
substrate 10. This latter choice is the more likely one since
Kato does not indicate any deviance from the prior disclosure
of growing the epitaxial layer 13 after the formation of layer
11 within substrate 10. In any event, if Kato is ambiguous on
this point, to find that layer 11 is implanted through the
epitaxial layer, i.e., through a top portion of the
semiconductor body, as claimed, we would need to resort to
speculation. An ambiguous reference will not support a
6–
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007