Appeal No. 95-1009
Application 07/858,632
E. The New Ground of Rejection
Pursuant to our authority under 37 CFR § 1.196(b), we
enter a new ground of rejection of claim 5 under 35 U.S.C. §
103 as unpatentable over Olmer.
The method of claim 5 calls for the reshaping of the
filling material by effecting an additional deposition under
such conditions that the ratio of deposition rate to etching
rate is greater at a peripheral portion than at a central
portion of the substrate, with subsequent polishing.
Olmer discloses a reshaping of the filling material by
controlling the rate of deposition to the rate of removal so
as to give a minimum net deposition at the corners, i.e., more
filler is deposited at a peripheral portion than at a central
portion. See Olmer, column 2, lines 50-52, 58-60, column 5,
lines 6-12, column 6, lines 9-14, and Figures 2 and 3. Olmer
teaches that the reshaped surface is subsequently “planarized
in a known manner” (column 5, lines 62-64, and Figure 4) such
as by etching or grinding (column 5, line 66-column 6, line
5). As previously discussed, the polishing step of
appellants’ claimed method would have been encompassed by the
12
Page: Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007