Appeal No. 2004-0016
Application No. 09/496,081
We have carefully reviewed the respective positions advanced
by appellant and the examiner. In so doing, we find ourselves in
agreement with appellant that the examiner has failed to
establish a prima facie case of obviousness for the claimed
subject matter. Accordingly, we will not sustain the examiner's
rejections.
The examiner appreciates that "Gonzáles fails to teach a
bottom capacitor plate consisting essentially of amorphous TiN"
(page 4 of Answer, last paragraph). Instead, Gonzales discloses
a bottom capacitor plate comprising TiN and tungsten. However,
citing Lee's disclosure of a semiconductor device having an
amorphous TiN layer in a contact hole structure, the examiner
concludes that:
[I]t would have been an obvious modification to someone
with ordinary skill in the art, at the time of the
invention, to modify the structure as taught by
Gonzáles to include a bottom capacitor plate consisting
essentially of amorphous TiN, as suggested by Lee, in
order to improve the characteristics of the diffusion
barrier at a contact hole portion and prevent the
occurrence of defects such as cracks, as disclosed on
page 5, lines 22-31.
(Page 4 of Answer, last paragraph). We understand the examiner's
position that it would have been obvious to replace the bottom
capacitor plate of Gonzales, comprising TiN and tungsten, with a
bottom capacitor plate consisting essentially of only TiN.
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