Appeal No. 2005-2284
Application No. 09/748,589
individual integrated circuits would be replaced with a monolithic
structure in which memory cell layers are deposited, patterned, and
etched without using any bonding material between the memory cell
layers. This, argue appellants, would require transforming Leedy’s
post-manufacturing assembly process in which individual integrated
circuits are stacked and bonded together to an “in situ”
manufacturing process that forms a three-dimensional monolithic
structure, and “such a modification would require a substantial
reconstruction and redesign to Leedy’s memory array and
manufacturing process and, thereby, would change the basic
operating principle disclosed in Leedy” (brief-page 7).
Additionally, appellants argue that Leedy “teaches away” from
the examiner’s proposed combination because Leedy distinguishes his
stacked memory structure from a monolithic structure (brief-page
7).
We have reviewed the evidence before us, including the
disclosures of the applied references and the arguments of
appellants and the examiner, and we conclude from such a review
that the examiner has presented a prima facie case of obviousness
with regard to the subject matter of independent claims 126 and 130
6
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