Appeal No. 2001-0107
Application No. 09/143,505
material facts and must be documented on the record, lest the
‘haze of so-called expertise’ acquire insulation from
accountability. ‘Common knowledge and common sense,’ even if
assumed to derive from the agency’s expertise, do not substitute
for authority when the law requires authority.”)(citations
omitted).
In the present case, we agree with the examiner that Noguchi
discloses a system that meets every limitation of claim 1, but
for the presence of the buffer layer and the functional
properties required of the buffer layer. Kondo, however, stands
on a different footing. As we have described Kondo, supra, we
find that Kondo does not teach laser-induced crystallization of
an amorphous substrate: rather the crystallization results from
a subsequent thermal heating of the substrate. Thus, for the
purposes of the rejection on appeal, we find that the only
relevant teaching of Kondo that is that a mask may be used in
conjunction with a light source in order to expose a substrate to
a desired pattern of radiation. Moreover, we note that the
examiner has failed to direct our attention to any details or
teachings in Kondo regarding the size or placement of the mask
relative to the substrate. Nor has the examiner indicated where
Kondo discloses placing the substrate inside a chamber. Hence,
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