Appeal No. 1997-2041
Application No. 08/337,131
We maintain that the disclosure of Hosokawa `872 is completely
lacking with respect to setting forth the order of formation of
the floating gate and the source/drain regions.
Claims 1-5, 10 and 11 have been further rejected as being
unpatentable over Hosokawa `874. This patent is likewise
stated by the examiner to meet the step of forming the floating
gate subsequent to the formation of the source/drain regions.
To the extent of what is disclosed in Hosokawa `874, this
patent appears to be no more than cumulative to the disclosure
in Hosokawa `872. We find no teaching in Hosokawa `874 of the
order of the steps as defined in claims 1-5, 10 and 11, nor do
we find any suggestion that this order of steps would produce
an unexpected result. We note that the patent to Chen and the
teachings of Wolf fail to overcome the deficiencies pointed to
in Hosokawa `872 and Hosokawa `874.
II. Secondary Considerations
The appellant’s response to the examiner’s rejection is
twofold. In addition to presenting the arguments addressed
above, appellant’s rely upon the declaration submitted pursuant
to the provisions of 37 CFR § 1.132. In considering this
evidence, we are mindful of our obligation to weigh the entire
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