Appeal No. 96-2594
Application 08/312,395
Accordingly, we will not sustain the rejection of claims 1 through 6 under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103.
Independent claim 1 calls for, inter alia, a contact hole exposing a part of the diffusion region
and a through hole, having a larger diameter than the contact hole, exposing a part of the first interlayer
insulator “around said contact hole.” Therefore, although the claim is open-ended, by reciting
“comprising” in the preamble, it is not sufficient for the through hole 19c and the contact hole, shown to
the right of the through hole in Moriuchi’s Figure 23, for example, to be spaced apart. Although the
examiner might argue that both the through hole and contact hole in Moriuchi expose a part of the first
interlayer insulator and that through hole 19c has a larger diameter than the contact hole, the claim still3
calls for the through hole to expose a part of the first interlayer insulator at a particular location, that
location being “around said contact hole.” It is clear to us, from an inspection of Moriuchi (Figure 23,
for example) that Moriuchi’s through hole does not expose a part of the first interlayer insulator “around
said contact hole,” as claimed.
3It does not appear to us that the through hole 19c in Moriuchi’s Figure 23 goes through the
entire insulating layer 8.
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