Appeal No. 2004-0593
Application No. 09/606,688
31 USPQ2d 1666, 1670 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
The appellant urges that the examiner improperly equated
transistor type with “matching,” which is stated by the appellant
to mean specifically electrically and/or constructively balanced
to one another, as opposed to randomly picked. (Appeal Brief, page
6, lines 7-15). The appellant further urges that:
‘Matched’ has a very well known and established meaning in the
electronic art, i.e., it means that the two transistors are
specifically electrically and/or constructively balanced to one
another. Beyond established meaning, Appellant’s prior
prosecution arguments further made it clear that “matched”
means transistors electrically and/or constructively balanced
to one another. It takes special care and testing to achieve
matched transistors, even in the integrated circuit art. That
is, even transistors processed together on a same IC most
likely will not be matched, as it is well known that processing
variations exist even at short distances across an IC. Because
matched transistors are hard to achieve, they are more
expensive and thus are sold specially and used sparingly in the
art. They are the exception rather than the rule. The
Examiner’s Answer comment that ”it is considered in the art
that the transistors in an integrated circuit are “matched
transistors” unless otherwise specifically stated in the
reference” does not seem to have any basis in the art and does
not appreciate the difficulty/special-care needed to achieve
matched transistors. Such comments seem to take an opposite
stance, i.e., that all IC transistors are automatically
matched. Anyone skilled in the art, and even engineering
students, know that this is not the case. There are thousands
of patents directed to methods, constructions, etc. for
achieving matched transistors. (Reply Brief, page 2, line 28-
page 3, line 16).
This passage asserts many facts and conclusions; however, it is
devoid of a single reference, treatise, dictionary, or declaration
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