Appeal No. 2000-1164 Page 6
Application No. 08/899,176
The examiner has found that Eitoku describes a method for
scrubbing (cleaning) a wafer wherein DI water and an ion doping
chemical (HF or NH4OH) that dissociates in water are used for
scrubbing the wafer surface. See pages 5 and 6 of the answer and
pages 32-34 of Eitoku. Moreover, the examiner has found that the
resistivity of the solution resulting from the simultaneous use
of DI water and the ion forming chemical (HF or NH4OH) that is
used in scrubbing a wafer in Eitoku would be less than 18 X 106
ohm-cm as required by representative appealed claim 8. The
examiner (answer, pages 5, 10 and 11) determined the relative
resistivity of the scrubbing solution of Eitoku based on
appellants’ acknowledgment (specification, page 3, lines 11-21
and page 10, lines 16-19) that the resistivity of DI water
without chemicals (ions) added would be about 18 X 106 ohm-cm or
more. Concerning this matter, the examiner essentially maintains
that the DI water solution having ionizable chemicals added
thereto as taught by Eitoku would be more conductive due to the
presence of the ions and, consequently, the resistivity value
thereof would be less than the 18 X 106 ohm-cm resistivity for a
regular DI water. We agree.
In a case such as this, it is incumbent upon appellants to
prove that the prior art scrubbing method does not in fact
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