Appeal No. 1999-0886
Application No. 08/722,738
transistor, as taught by Momi, in the device of appellants’ claimed invention which relies on
the generation of channel carriers which get transferred to the capacitor in order to
program the device.
Appellants argue that Nakamura discloses a capacitor which “is a ferroelectric
storage non-volatile memory device by itself. It stores either a logic one or a logic 0 in
accordance with the polarity of a programming voltage applied across the electrodes of
the capacitor” [reply brief-page 3]. As pointed out by appellants, Nakamura discloses, at
column 1, lines 9-10, that the device stores information using a residual dielectric
polarization of a ferroelectric substance. It is not, like the instant claimed invention, a
device which is programmed by transferring charge to it.
The examiner employs Momi merely for its disclosure of an LDD structure and its
elimination of injection of hot electrons into the gate oxide to stop soft leak. Thus, the
examiner has provided no evidence, by either of the applied references, of the capacitor of
the instant claimed invention which is “adapted to store charge produced in the channel
region in response to a logic state programming voltage applied between one of the
source and drain regions and the gate electrode.”
We hold that the examiner has not presented a prima facie case of obviousness
with regard to the instant claimed subject matter and, to whatever extent that such a
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