Appeal No. 1997-3338
Application No. 08/402,252
In each of the rejections stated in the answer, the
examiner has identified Koyanagi or Scovell as the closest
prior art reference. The appellants, however, have pointed
out that Koyanagi and Scovell do not teach or suggest
chemical-mechanical polishing or plasma etchback of the metal
layer outside the contact openings to form a metal plug, as
recited in the appealed claims (appeal brief, page 4).
To remedy the deficiencies of Koyanagi and Scovell, the
examiner has relied upon Tsang, Shappir, Lee, Sun, and Sandhu.
Specifically, the examiner has repeatedly stated:
It would have been obvious to on[e] of ordinary
skill in the art at the time the invention was made
to modify the above references’ teachings as taught
by Sun et al., Lee et al., and Sandhu et al. because
such use of planarized plugs by CMP [chemical-
mechanical polishing] or etchback and the claimed
deposition processes and materials are conventional
and obvious as evidenced by Sun et al., Lee et al.,
and Sandhu et al. to enable the formation of a
planarized plug for
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