Appeal No. 96-0341
Application 08/005,760
3 was amended. In an Advisory Action (paper number 16), the
examiner indicated that the amendment had the effect of
overcoming the indefiniteness rejection of claim 3, and that
claim 3 was allowed. Accordingly, claims 1, 2 and 4 through 14
remain before us on appeal.
The disclosed invention relates to a power diode that has a
base zone that is divided into at least two diode regions. The
first region of the base zone is of a first predetermined
thickness, and is dimensioned for a given blocking voltage. The
second region of the base zone is of a second thickness that is
greater than the first predetermined thickness by at least a
factor of 1.4. The first diode region has a first area and a
first minority carrier lifetime, and the second diode region has
a second area and a second minority carrier lifetime. The diode
region areas are dimensioned such that a forward current flowing
through the first diode is greater than a forward current flowing
through the second diode by at least a factor of 2. According to
the disclosed and claimed invention, a greater amount of forward
current flows through the first diode region because it is
thinner than the second diode region.
Claim 1 is the only independent claim on appeal, and it
reads as follows:
2
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007