Appeal No. 96-0348
Application 08/145,268
The sole reference relied upon by the examiner is:
Tashiro 5,241,211 Aug. 31, 1993
Claims 1, 3, 7, and 9 stand rejected over Tashiro under
35 U.S.C. § 103. On this record, we reverse this rejection.
Opinion
Tashiro teaches a integrated circuit with a heat sink which
contains a thermally conductive polycrystalline silicon pillar
(234) extending from the top of a bonded SOI wafer through an
isolation layer (See Figure 2c). The pillar may also be silicon
carbide (235) (Figures 5 and 6). In either embodiment, the
pillar is electrically isolated by an oxide layer (233) which
surrounds the pillar.
The examiner recognizes that Tashiro does not show doping
for the polysilicon pillar but he asserts that it would have been
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to have doped the
polysilicon pillar of Tashiro "since it is well known in the art
to dope polysilicon and [such] does not change or effect thermal
conductivity." We cannot agree with the examiner's assertions.
The burden of establishing a prima facie case of obviousness
lies with the Patent and Trademark Office. In re Warner, 379
F.2d 1011, 1017, 154 USPQ 173, 178 (CCPA 1967). In order to
establish obviousness it is necessary to ascertain whether the
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