Appeal No. 97-4091
Application 08/382,701
covered by the silicon carbide, and another
layer of silicon carbide would be over the
aluminum electrodes as the claimed invention.
Even assuming that it would have been obvious to one with
ordinary skill in the art to duplicate Yonezawa’s layers 14-17
together with the electrodes 19a" and 19b" on top of the already
existing SiO layer 17, no metal wiring would be "covered" by any
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silicon carbide layer in the sense that migration of metal atoms
between adjacent electrodes through dielectric would be stopped.
The examiner nowhere explained how this occurs and we do not find
that it does. It is not enough to meet the claimed "covering"
feature simply by having a remotely overlapping relationship
between a silicon carbide layer and a metal electrode.
In any event, we are unpersuaded by the examiner’s
conclusory statement that it would have been obvious to one with
ordinary skill in the art to duplicate Yonezawa’s layers 14-17 on
top of the already existing layers 14-17.
The examiner cited St. Regis Paper Co. v. Bermis Co.,
549 F.2d 833, 838, 193 USPQ 8, 11 (7th Cir. 1977), for the
proposition that mere duplication of the essential parts of a
device involves only routine skill in the art. However, we do
not read that case as setting forth any such per se rule. More
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