Appeal No. 1998-1578
Application No. 08/543,827
barrier layer thickness function as recited in appealed claims
1 and 14.
To account for this difference, the examiner relies on
Ho. However, we share the appellants’ view that the relied
upon portion of Ho’s teaching does not provide any teaching,
motivation or suggestion for one of ordinary skill in the art
to modify the method described in Larson so as to arrive at
the appellants’ claimed method.
Specifically, Ho describes a prior art process involving
the use of rapid thermal annealers (RTAs) for improving the
integrity of a barrier layer of titanium nitride sputtered
onto a substrate, wherein the substrate is processed in a RTA
at about 800EC to 900EC in nitrogen for 30 to 60 seconds.
(Column 3, lines 13-19.) However, Ho also teaches that this
prior art method is not “production worthy” and suffers from
many problems including “numerous equipment failures” and
“greater potential for warping substrates .” (Column 3, lines
26-49.) According to Ho, RTAs are primarily used in limited
production modes, such as research and development. (Column
3, lines 49-51.)
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