Appeal No. 1999-2712 Page 6
Application No. 08/165,082
dielectric, result in capacitors that have relatively high leakage current, fatigue significantly and generally
have undesirable electrical properties.” Appellants’ solution (specification, page 2) is that “[t]he present
invention solves the above problems by providing BST thin films in which the grain size is much smaller
than the thickness of the film. . . . Thus the grain size in the BST thin films according to the invention is
2.5 to 5 times smaller than the surface film thickness. This small grain size results in capacitors with
much improved electrical properties.”
Appellants state (brief, page 8) that “the primary considerations that Appellants wish to place
before the Board are whether the combined references teach the claimed invention, whether there is
suggestion or motivation to combine the Brandmayr er al. ‘829 patent with the other references, . . .
whether the Brandmayr et al ‘829 patent is nonanalogous art because it is in the field of bulk ceramics”
and that (reply brief, pages 1 and 2) “if the Brandmayr reference is in fact considered by those skilled in
the art, it would teach them away from the claimed invention because the process conditions that are
used to make the Brandmayr materials are destructive to integrated circuit wiring layers.”
Specifically, appellants assert (brief, page 9) that Brandmayr relates to bulk ceramic capacitors
with high dielectric constants and that the combination of Koyama with Brandmayr teaches nothing
more than a large bulk monolithic capacitor connected to an integrated circuit. According to appellants
(brief, page 10) “[t]he problem with making this modification, apart from a lack of suggestion or
motivation for those skilled in the art to perform the modification, is that the process conditions which
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