Appeal No. 97-3530
Application No. 08/418,122
the “barrier layer,” as claimed, again, Armstrong fails to
teach or suggest the claimed deposit of aluminum on a barrier
layer, said deposit beginning during the temperature raising
step.
While a barrier layer may have been well known in the
art, as apparently contended by the examiner in referring to
admitted prior art, we find no reason, and certainly no reason
clearly articulated by the examiner, as to why the skilled
artisan would have combined the statements of admitted prior
art in the instant specification with the Armstrong disclosure
in such a manner as to arrive at the instant claimed invention
wherein aluminum is begun to be deposited on a barrier layer
during a temperature raising step. Wolf, applied as a
standard text to show that there is inherent heating during an
aluminum sputter deposition process, is of no help in this
regard. The claimed temperature raising step entails raising
the temperature from below approximately 350 degrees
Centigrade to a value between approximately 400 and 500
degrees Centigrade. The sputter deposition first step in
Armstrong is done at a temperature below 200 degrees
Centigrade (column 3, lines 12-13 of Armstrong). Thus, we
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