Appeal No. 1999-2712 Page 10
Application No. 08/165,082
(except for the high anneal temperature), and not the process of Koyama. This point has not been
raised by the examiner and we presume that the examiner accepts the “general processes” of appellants
invention relied upon in the Joshi Declaration as sufficiently similar to the “general processes” of
Koyama that modifying appellants’ process with the high annealing temperatures of Brandmayr’s
process would reflect modification of Koyama’s process with the high annealing temperatures of
Brandmayr’s process.
The examiner has cited the reference to Wilson (answer, page 5) to address “impossibility
arguments raised in the brief.” The examiner’s position (answer, page 7) is that Wilson teaches (col. 2,
lines 45-47) “pressures of up to and above 10,000 psi and temperatures of 750 C or more. This
reference is cited only to show that high temperatures and pressures are used in the semiconductor art,
as well as in the ceramics art.” Appellants respond (reply brief, page 2) by asserting that Wilson
“relates to the formation of solid, homogeneous bulk material, not integrated circuits. The solid,
homogeneous bulk material in Wilson is a HgTe or CdTe semiconductor material that perhaps is useful
as an integrated circuit substrate, but it is not an integrated circuit.”
We find that Wilson is directed (col. 1, lines 2 and 3) to an apparatus for producing high quality
epitaxially grown semiconductors, (col. 2, lines 45-47) grown in high pressure furnaces that are capable
of pressures above 10,000 psi and temperatures of 750EC or more. We find that Wilson is silent as to
the fabrication of integrated circuits, and we are in agreement with the examiner (answer, page 7) that
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