Appeal No. 1997-3335 Page 5
Application No. 08/315,454
claimed invention, would select the elements from the cited prior art references for combination in the
manner claimed.” In re Rouffet, 149 F.3d 1350, 1357, 47 USPQ2d 1453, 1458 (Fed.Cir. 1998).
Claim 1 recites a method of forming a barium and/or strontium titanate dielectric film on a
microelectronic device. In essence, the process involves forming a precursor solution, depositing one
or more layers of the solution on a microelectronic device, densifying the layers to form a precursor film
and annealing the film in an oxygen-containing atmosphere. The precursor solution is formed by
combining three ingredients; a boron compound, a titanium compound, and a precursor. The precursor
can be a barium compound. The boron is required to be present in the precursor solution in a molar
ratio of boron to titanium of 0.001 to 0.1.
The Examiner has applied a prior art reference, Lipeles, which teaches a metallo-organic
solution deposition (MOSD) process for forming thick, transparent, crystalline films from ferroelectric
oxides such as barium titanate, BaTiO (col. 1, lines 14-21). The MOSD process includes steps of (a)
3
combining metallo-organic starting materials to form a coating solution; (b) depositing the solution on a
substrate by spin casting or dip coating, removing solvent by low temperature drying and
drying/densifying by rapid heating at about 400°C to leave an amorphous film; and (c) after several
layers are built up, annealing at about 535 to 800°C to form a crystallized oxide film (col. 2, lines 30-
62). In order to make barium titanate, one of ordinary skill in the art would presumably combine a
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