Appeal No. 96-1508
Application No. 08/112,445
plurality of cross sections. The guard wall includes at least
one sidewall spacer along the main section and a filling
material.
Taking Anantha with Kawasaki, these references deal not
with a physical “guard wall” structure but, rather, with a
guard ring 6 in Anantha which is diffused into epitaxial layer
2 in order to improve electrical performance of a Schottky
barrier diode or with a guard ring region 3 in Kawasaki which
also appears to constitute a diffused region which aids in the
electrical performance of a Schottky barrier diode. Neither
of these “diffused” regions is seen to be equivalent to, or
obvious variations of, the physically separate “guard wall” of
the instant claimed invention. The “structures” are
completely different and it is indeed difficult to see how a
skilled artisan would have arrived at the instant claimed
subject matter from any combination of Anantha and Kawasaki.
Similarly, with regard to the Yasunari, Lee and Mihara
references, these references also do not teach or suggest any
“guard wall,” as set forth in the instant claims. The guard
ring contact region 23 and the guard ring region 25 of
Yasunari, identified by the examiner as corresponding to the
5
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