Appeal No. 97-1625
Application No. 08/415,900
is seen in the description of Figure 2 on page 10 of the
specification:
It is important for inorganic protective coating
37 to cover sidewalls 29 as well as upper surface 31
when cavity 27 is exposed to a media that etches the
material that pressure sensor 26 is made of. This is
because pressure sensor sensitivity and linearity are
determined by the thickness of diaphragm 33, length 39,
and the location of transducer 34 with respect to the
edge of diaphragm 33 and any changes in these factors
can impact device performance.
According to the examiner, Adams shows the basic
construction of the device, Hegner teaches placing a inorganic
protective film on the entire portion of the sensor surface
exposed to the medium whose pressure is being sensed, and Knecht
discloses a sensor constructed with a cavity having sidewalls and
an upper surface. It is the examiner’s position that it would
have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify
the Adams sensor to the type disclosed by Knecht, and to coat the
walls and the upper surface of the cavity in which the sensor is
installed with an inorganic coating, in view of the teachings of
the latter two references (Answer, page 6). The primary argument
advanced by the appellants is that none of these references
disclose or teach coating the plurality of sidewalls and the
upper surface of the cavity with an inorganic coating. To this,
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Last modified: November 3, 2007