Appeal 97-1618
Application 08/368,078
removal of "a portion of the first wafer from the rounded edge
into a portion of the first wafer *** so that the second major
surface of the first wafer is supported by the first major
surface of the second wafer ***." The meaning of "portion"
becomes clear upon consultation of the specification: "[t]he
grinding at edge 18 must remove substantially all of the
portion of the active [first] wafer 12 that is not supported
by or not bonded to base [second] wafer 10" (specification,
page 3, lines 30-32). The Nomura process also removes a
considerable portion of the second wafer such that "the
diameter of the second wafer" does not remain "essentially the
same" as required by claim 1. Accordingly, Nomura does not
provide sufficient evidence upon which to support the
obviousness of limitation of claim 1 which requires removal of
"a portion of the first wafer from the rounded edge into a
portion of the first wafer *** so that the second major
surface of the first wafer is supported by the first major
surface of the second wafer *** [and] the diameter of the
second wafer remains essentially the same."
Claims 2 and 3 depend from claim 1. If the broad subject
matter of claim 1 has not been shown to have been obvious over
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