Appeal No. 95-3637
Application 07/968,736
As argued by the appellants, the sole difference between
the subject matter of independent claims 1 and 9, and that
disclosed by Lee is that both the select and floating gates of
the claimed invention are "formed from polysilicon sidewalls,"
not just the select gate.
The appellants state (Br. at 4):
The term "sidewall" has been used in the application
consistent with standard terminology in the art to
refer to a generally vertical member that is the
residue of a conformal layer after horizontal
portions have been etched in an anisotropic process.
However, the appellants fall short of asserting that the
term "sidewall" has an established meaning in the art that can
"only" have the meaning urged by the appellants and which
makes unreasonable "any other" interpretation. That the term
"sidewall" may frequently or usually take on the meaning urged
by the appellants does not mean it has no other reasonable
interpretation. Here, the appellants’ specification does not
specially define the term but merely uses it descriptively.
Other meanings are not excluded by the specification.
Even if the appellants had asserted that the term
"sidewall" has an established meaning in the art that can
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