Appeal No. 1997-3979
Application No. 08/586,365
otherwise that may be afforded by the written description
contained in the applicant's specification). In our view, the
term "semiconductor device" is broad enough to read on a
device containing a first integrated circuit chip which
contains bipolar transistors and a second integrated circuit
chip which contains MOS transistors. See TechEncylopedia at
http://www.techweb.com/encylopedia/defineterm?semiconductor
+device (June 30, 2000) (copy attached), which defines
"semiconductor device" to mean "[a]n elementary component,
such as a transistor, or a larger unit of electronic equipment
comprised of chips".
Nevertheless, we are unable to sustain the § 102
rejection, because Doki fails to disclose a single
semiconductor device, even in the broad "electronic equipment"
sense, which contains both bipolar and MOS transistors. The
examiner's argument that persons skilled in the art would have
understood that bipolar and MOS transistors can be integrated
on the same chip, even if broadened to mean that persons
skilled in the art would have understood that bipolar and MOS
chips can be used in the same piece of electronic equipment,
is unconvincing because the argument goes to obviousness under
-7-
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