Appeal No. 98-0278
Application No. 08535,680
Appellants request rehearing of our decision of
June 23, 1998, wherein we sustained the examiner's rejection
of claims 11-14 and 21 under the description requirement of
35 U.S.C. § 112, first paragraph, as well as the examiner's
rejection of claims 15-17 under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Appellants take issue with our agreement with the
examiner "that the original specification does not provide
descriptive support for applying positive pressure to the
backside of the semiconductor wafer while the wafer is in
contact with the polishing pad" (page 4 of Decision).
According to appellants, "claim 11 does not require the wafer
to be in contact with the polishing pad while positive
pressure is applied to the backside of the wafer" (page 2 of
Request). Although claim 11 recites placing the rotatable
polishing chuck . . . such that the front-side of the
semiconductor wafer is in contact with the polishing pad; and
using the rotatable polishing chuck to apply a positive
pressure on the backside of the semiconductor wafer . . .,"
appellants contend that the open-ended "comprising" phrase of
the claim leaves the claim open to additional steps between
the "placing" and "using" steps, "such as removing the
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