Appeal No. 1997-3979
Application No. 08/586,365
device for the bipolar transistor. The MOS
transistors are recited as merely present and
are not claimed as shallow junction devices.
Claim 19 is written broadly enough that
the MOS transistor need not be part of
the bipolar transistor as a so-called BICMOS
structure but can be arbitrarily distant on
the substrate or chip. The Abstract, line 1,
of Doki recites "A method of forming a shallow
junction..." and so is intended as a general
method having general applicability. It will
then be understood by one of ordinary
skill in the art that other devices such
as conventional MOS transistor[s] can be present
since chips routinely have many thousands of
devices integrated on the same substrate.
[Answer at 3-4.]
We do not agree the term "a semiconductor device" in the
preamble of claim 19 implies a BiCMOS device, i.e., a device
in which a bipolar transistor and an MOS transistor are formed
on the same substrate. The term "semiconductor device" is not
defined in the application and therefore must be given its
broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with appellant's
disclosure as filed. See In re Morris, 127 F.3d 1048, 1054,
44 USPQ2d 1023, 1027 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (the PTO applies to the
verbiage of the proposed claims the broadest reasonable
meaning of the words in their ordinary usage as they would be
understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, taking into
account whatever enlightenment by way of definitions or
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