Appeal No. 1998-0088
Application 08/622,327
novelty in claimed subject matter may, in fact, be an inherent
characteristic of the prior art, it possesses the authority to
require the applicant to prove that the subject matter shown to be in
the prior art does not possess the characteristic relied on). While
not argued by the examiner, we note that even if Fujii's description
of layer 14 as a "tunneling" layer and reference to "electron
injection" at column 1, line 49 can be understood to mean that
electrons are injected from drain 13 through tunneling layer 14 to
floating gate 181 (Fig. 1G; col. 4, ll. 45-46), it does not follow
that the injected electrons inherently are "avalanche" carriers, as
required by claim 15. In fact, such a conclusion is contrary to
appellants' disclosure. In Appellants' Figure 1 embodiment, the
drain avalanche hot carrier injection region 10 is located within the
channel region 35 and adjacent to the junction of the channel region
and drain 7. Thus, a drain avalanche hot carrier injection region
developing in the corresponding location in Fujii's device would not
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