Appeal No. 2003-1286 4
Application No. 08/898,187
3. The appellant has not contested the examiner’s findings. Indeed, the appellant has
principally characterized the Soclof patent by stating that, “[t]he dimensions of silicon
active regions produced on the substrate in the cited Soclof patent are not directly stated.”
See Brief, page 4. Accordingly, we accept the finding by the examiner of rows of silicon
embedded in a silicon oxide substrate as fact.
Indeed, as indicated above, the only issue raised by the appellant in the Brief, is
directed to the size of the transistor active region. See Brief, pages 4 through 6. In this
respect Soclof discloses that, “the active region may be completely contained with the
surface of area of 3d X 5d or 15d2 wherein d is only a few micrometers or less.” See
column 2, lines 21-26. We find that Soclof further states that, “[t]he principles of the
present invention are compatible with use of the Perkin Elmer Projection Printer equipment
for 2 micron dimensions, the 10:1 stepper for 1 micron rated dimensions, and electron
beam or X-ray lithography for under 1 micron dimensions.” See column 4, lines 13-19.
Based upon the above findings, we conclude that Soclof suggests that the silicon rows may
have a width dimension of 1 micron or less as required by the claimed subject matter.
In this respect, the inventor has submitted a declaration under 37 CFR § 1.132
purporting to demonstrate that Soclof, “fails to set forth a prima facie case of obviousness.”
See declaration, dated February 13, 2002, paragraph 8, pages 1 and 2. The declarant
has stated therein that, “[n]either Socloff ‘226 or Soclof ‘331 disclose methods that one
skilled in the art at the time of their filing could adapt to x-ray lithography to reduce the
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