Appeal No. 2005-0199
Application No. 10/102,574
1. A method comprising:
impinging a metal surface of a semiconductor die with an infrared (IR) beam
employing an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) technique;
measuring the IR beam as reflected by the metal surface by measuring an
interferogram of the metal surface, and performing a Fourier transform on the
interferogram; and
determining whether the metal surface is contaminated based on the IR beam
as reflected by the metal surface.
The reference relied on by the examiner are:
Watanabe et al. (Watanabe) 6,433,877 Aug. 13, 2002
(effective filing date Apr. 2, 1999)
Takoudis et al. (Takoudis) 2002/0180991 Dec. 5, 2002
(filed Apr. 30, 2001)
Watanabe et al. (Watanabe) 2 348 490 Oct. 4, 2000
(UK Patent Application)
Claims 1, 4 through 8 and 11 through 14 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Watanabe ‘877 in view of Takoudis and Watanabe ‘490.
Reference is made to the brief and the answer for the respective positions of the
appellants and the examiner.
OPINION
For all of the reasons expressed by the appellants, and for the additional reasons set forth
infra, we will reverse the obviousness rejection of claims 1, 4 through 8 and 11 through 14.
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