Appeal No. 1997-2041
Application No. 08/337,131
The Guterman patent is from the same field of endeavor as
the instant application and the patent to Mazzali. The
Guterman patent informs us (column 2, lines 36 through 40 and
column 3, lines 66 through 68) that, long before the invention
by the appellant, in the art of EPROM’s, it was known to use a
monocrystalline silicon material for the substrate and it was
also known to form the source/drain regions prior to the
formation of the floating gate layer.
The patent to Woo is also from the same field of endeavor
as the instant application and the disclosures of Mazzali and
Guterman. Woo teaches (column 4, line 8) that others in the
art recognized using monocrystalline silicon for the material
of the substrate. Furthermore, Woo suggests (paragraph
bridging columns 3 and 4) to the artisan that it is immaterial
whether the floating gate layer is formed before or after the
source/drain regions.
Thus, applying the test for obviousness from a combined5
consideration of the applied teachings, this panel of the Board
determines that it would have been obvious to one having
The test for obviousness is what the combined teachings of references5
would have suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art. See In re Young,
927 F.2d 588, 591, 18 USPQ2d 1089, 1091 (Fed. Cir. 1991) and In re Keller, 642
F.2d 413, 425, 208 USPQ 871, 881 (CCPA 1981).
19
Page: Previous 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007