Appeal No. 1997-3979
Application No. 08/586,365
Eklund's p-type region 61 with a peak doping concentration
within the p-type layer at less than 700 angstroms from its
upper surface.
Appellant makes several arguments against obviousness.
One is that the claimed device not Eklund's base region must
be "relatively thick" because it must accommodate the
thickness of the emitter region formed therein and that the
artisan therefore "would not have been motivated to reduce the
depth of the base region 61 to that of the claimed dimensions"
(Brief at 8). We agree with this argument, which the examiner
did not specifically address in the Answer. Although, as the
examiner correctly notes, Doki discloses a base region whose
peak doping concentration within the P-type layer is less than
700D from the upper surface (e.g., 340D as depicted in
Fig. 13B), Eklund's p-type layer 61 must be thick enough to
accommodate the emitter region 89, which is disclosed as
having a thickness of 140nm, or 1,400D. Therefore, using
Doki's technique to form Eklund's p-type region 61 would
appear to result in a p-type region having a peak doping
concentration located more than 1,400D from the surface of the
p-type region, which is greater than the 700D permitted by
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