Appeal No. 1997-3635
Application No. 08/498,357
fails to provide any teachings related to different layer
thicknesses such that one of ordinary skill in the art would
have modified them in order to form the metal and the silicon
layers having thicknesses as claimed by Appellant.
Accordingly, we reverse the rejection of claims 3, 8, 15, and
16 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Wong.
With regard to the rejection of claims 1 through 3, 5, 8,
9, 11, 12, 14, 16, and 19 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Yu and
Japan '414, Appellant argues on pages 11 and 12 of the brief
that neither reference suggests the combination. Appellant
further points out that Japan '414 teaches a method for
preventing surface oxidation whereas Yu discloses the
formation of undesired native oxide layer during diffusion of
impurities. Appellant concludes that Yu’s diffusion step and
the method disclosed by Japan '414 cannot be combined since
they are related to oxide layers formed at different stages of
processing. Appellant further argues that the combination of
references does not teach a method for in-situ forming of a
composite silicon and metal layer having low resistivity.
The Examiner responds to Appellant’s arguments on page 7
of the answer by stating that the motivation for combining the
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