Appeal No. 1999-2712 Page 2
Application No. 08/165,082
BACKGROUND
The appellants’ invention relates to an integrated circuit (IC) including a capacitor having a layer
of barium strontium titanate (BST) interposed between the electrodes. Specifically, the layer of BST
has a thickness of less than 1000 nanometers and an average grain size smaller than 200 nanometers.
An understanding of the invention can be derived from a reading of exemplary claim 1, which is
reproduced as follows:
1. An integrated circuit including a capacitor comprising a pair of electrodes
and a layer of barium strontium titanate interposed between said pair of electrodes,
said layer of barium strontium titanate having a thickness of less than 1000 nanometersand
having an average grain size smaller than 200 nanometers.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the examiner in rejecting the appealed claims
are:
Brandmayr et al. (Brandmayr)3,862,829 Jan. 28, 1975
Wilson et al . (Wilson)1 4,699,084 Oct. 13, 1987
Miller et al. (Miller) 5,046,043 Sep. 03, 1991
Koyama et al., A Stacked Capacitor With (Ba Sr )TiO For 256M DRAM,
x 1-x 3
pp.823-826, (IEDM, Dec. 1991). (Koyama)
1 The examiner has cited the reference to Wilson for the first time in the examiner’s answer, but has not
specifically applied the reference against any of the claims. As appellants have presented arguments with respect
to the Wilson reference in the reply brief, we will consider the reference in order to completely consider on the
record the examiner’s basis for rejecting the claims.
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