Appeal No. 2000-0160
Application 08/595,150
composite of metal interconnects 6 and metal coating 34. Woo
teaches the etch stop layer 29 covering part of the edge of the
conductor 10 (col. 7, lines 40-46) and so teaches "covering said
electrically conducting edge surfaces."
Appellant argues that Woo's structure, because of the
exposed metal edge, will result in damaging interactions with the
chemicals used in via fill (Br5). It is argued that neither Woo
nor Kalnitsky recognize or address the problem of exploding vias
due to misalignment solved by Appellant, and neither of their
structures would solve the problem (Br7-8).
These arguments are not commensurate in scope with claim 19.
Claim 19 does not recite the specific metal for the metal layers
or recite any properties thereof, such as being chemically inert,
except that they form electrically conducting lines. Thus, the
claim does not recite a structure that will have an exploding via
problem. Moreover, claim 19 is to a structure and does not
recite how the via plug is formed and does not recite that the
via plug is formed by a Blanket Tungsten CVD process where
tungsten hexafluoride or hydrogen fluoride will react with the
exposed interconnect metal to have an exploding via problem.
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