Appeal No. 96-1848
Application 08/161,604
Haskell and Deleonibus
Haskell discloses a semiconductor device having a
polysilicon source contact 46s and polysilicon drain
contact 46d. Haskell discloses that "tungsten may be used
in place of polysilicon, such as for the source/drain
contacts" (col. 10, lines 30-31). As shown in figure 15b of
Haskell, the source and drain contacts have a field oxide
layer 28a, etch-stop silicon nitride layer 28b, and oxide
layer 28c on one side of the contact and a field oxide
layer 28a and an oxide 64 on the other side. The contact
"extend[s] through the series of dielectric layers" because
claim 31 does not define the series of layers or imply that
the layers must be all around the contact. Figure 15b does
not show an interconnect layer, but Haskell discloses that
"[c]ontacts may be made to the source 46s, drain 46d, and
control gate 58 by means well-known in the art" (col. 10,
lines 26-27). Deleonibus discloses that the interconnect
layer can be located on a contact, which may be tungsten
(col. 3, lines 42-45), in a non-overlapping manner as shown
in figure 8 where it is desired to reduce the width between
adjacent conductors to a minimum (col. 3, line 65 to col. 4,
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