Ex parte DOUGLAS - Page 2




                 Appeal No. 1997-1140                                                                                                                   
                 Application No. 08/175,865                                                                                                             


                 from the final rejection of claims 23-26 and 28-34.   Claims                                2                                          
                 27 and 35-37 are also pending in the application and have been                                                                         
                 allowed by the examiner.  See Paper No. 17.                                                                                            
                          Claims 23 and 30 are illustrative of the subject matter                                                                       
                 on appeal and have been reproduced below:3                                                                                             
                 23.  A method of etching a CaF  surface, comprising the steps                                                                          
                                                                       2                                                                                
                 of:                                                                                                                                    
                          (a) contacting said surface with water; and                                                                                   
                          (b) irradiating said surface with visible and/or                                                                              
                 ultraviolet radiant energy at an intensity sufficient to                                                                               
                 produce directional etching of said surface.                                                                                           
                 30.  A method of patterning a CaF  film deposited on a                                                                                 
                                                                            2                                                                           
                 substrate, said method comprising:                                                                                                     
                          (a) constructing a mask of patterned photoresist                                                                              
                 overlying said film, thereby dividing said film into exposed                                                                           
                 areas and covered areas;                                                                                                               
                          (b) contacting said exposed areas with water; and                                                                             
                          (c) directionally etching said CaF  film from said exposed                                                                    
                                                                                       2                                                                
                 areas using radiant energy at an intensity sufficient to                                                                               
                 produce directional etching of said film.                                                                                              
                          The rejections at issue in this appeal are based solely                                                                       

                          2The rejection of claim 31 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 was                                                                          
                 withdrawn by the examiner in the Answer.  See Answer, p. 2.                                                                            
                          3We note that an incorrect copy of claim 23 appears in the                                                                    
                 appendix to the brief.  A corrected copy of claim 23 has been                                                                          
                 reproduced in this Decision on Appeal.                                                                                                 
                                                                           2                                                                            





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