Appeal No. 96-2594
Application 08/312,395
Further, the claim requires that the stacked capacitor be formed “within said through hole...”
The stacked capacitor, comprising elements 13, 14 and 15 in Moriuchi, may be said to be formed in
the contact hole but it is quite clear from Figure 23, for example, of Moriuchi that the stacked capacitor
is not formed “within said through hole,” as claimed.
The examiner’s comment, at the top of page 4 of the answer, regarding the capacitor lying in
the contact hole as “irrelevant, since nothing in the claim prohibits such a structure,” is not well founded.
Independent claim 1 clearly calls for the capacitor to be “within said through hole...” The capacitor in
Moriuchi, while arguably being in the contact hole, is clearly not in the through hole.
The examiner then attempts to explain this discrepancy away by concluding that “if the second
insulator 19 did not have a through hole, the capacitor would not be allowed to fan out as is does”
[answer-page 4]. In an alternative explanation, the examiner concludes that it would have been obvious
“to use such a structure for the fan-out portion of the capacitor...” [answer-page 4]. We, like appellant,
are at a loss as to what the examiner intends by a “fan-out” portion of a capacitor. This does not
appear to be a technical term of art and the examiner has provided
5
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007