Appeal No. 2001-0228
Application No. 09/116,612
plasma etch method employing an etchant gas
composition which upon plasma activation forms a
chlorine containing species, Kolar does specifically
discloses [sic, disclose] that the sequential etch
of the tri-layer can be carried out using a plasma
etching process to etch all layers (col 3, lines 17-
18) [page 6 of Answer, last paragraph].
Our reading of Kolar does not correspond to the
examiner's understanding. Specifically, Kolar discloses that
"[t]he sequential etch can be carried out using a plasma
etching process to etch all layers, or alternatively, the
etching can be carried out by a combination of plasma etching
and liquid chemical etching" (column 3, lines 17-22). In our
view, a reasonable interpretation of the Kolar disclosure is
that the operation can be carried out either by plasma
etching, alone, or in combination with liquid chemical
etching, but not that the plasma etching can be performed via
a single plasma etching step, as required by the appealed
claims. As recognized by the examiner, although Huang employs
only plasma etching, the operation entails three sequential
plasma etching steps. Hence, there is simply no teaching or
suggestion in either reference to perform the etching
operation with a single plasma etch method. In addition, we
also note that Kolar does not disclose etching a composite
-4-
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007