Appeal 2006-2671
Application 09/508,572
of the substrate board, as the Examiner argues.3 There is no limitation in
claim 14 specifying the thickness of the other metallic layer or its
relationship to the depth of the depression accommodating the components
of the integrated circuit. Claim 15, dependent on claim 14, specifies that the
layer specified in claim 14 has an electric potential that is different to any
extent from that of the ceramic body and the metallic skin layer.
We find Merchant would have disclosed to one of ordinary skill in
this art semiconductor integrated circuit devices having, inter alia, aluminum
or aluminum alloy conductive interconnect layers in contacts or vias
(Merchant, e.g., col. 1, ll. 13-32, and col. 2, ll. 58-62). Merchant
acknowledges it was known that the thickness of aluminum alloy conductive
layers in contact or via openings is uneven, resulting in “thinner regions”
(id., col. 1, ll. 50-57). Merchant further acknowledges it was known that
aluminum alloys would not reflow and properly fill the contact or via if
oxidized, and addresses the problem by protecting the metal from oxidation
with a protective layer during manufacture (id., e.g., col. 2, ll. 2-46).
Merchant’s semiconductor device includes a substrate having a recess
at least a portion of which is covered over with a conductive metal layer that
fills “at least a portion of the recess,” and a metal protective layer on the
conductive layer that is “at least partially diffused in the conductive layer”
(Merchant, col. 2, ll. 31-38). Merchant discloses an embodiment in which
“the aluminum or aluminum alloy layer fills at least the portion of the recess
and forms a contact,” wherein the at least partially filled recess is “a via that
3 In addition to the dictionary reference cited by the Examiner (see above p.
6), see, e.g., on and proximity, The American Heritage Dictionary Of The
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