Appeal No. 2001-0607
Application No. 09/244,429
question to be determined is whether those concepts would have
suggested to the skilled artisan the modification called for by
the claims. In re Bascom, 230 F.2d 612, 109 USPQ 98 (CCPA 1956).
It is the examiner’s position [answer-pages 3-4] that
Yoshimi discloses a substrate 8, an insulating layer 12, a
floating gate electrode 13, a dielectric layer 14 and a control
gate electrode 15 of a thickness not greater than “200" [the
claims recite “800"] Angstroms but that Yoshimi does not show the
control gate electrode comprising a polysilicon layer with a
silicide layer overlay and a dielectric free of pitting. The
examiner relies on Prall’s Figure 1 for the teaching of a control
gate electrode with a polysilicon layer 16 overlaid with a
silicide layer 17 in order to decrease sheet resistance. The
examiner relies on Gluck for the teaching of forming dielectric
layers free of pitting so as not to decrease dielectric strength
(column 2, lines 5-6).
From these teachings, the examiner concludes that it would
have been obvious to make the control gate electrode with a
polysicilon layer overlaid with a silicide layer, as taught by
Prall, and to form dielectric layers free of pitting, as taught
by Gluck, in the device of Yoshimi in order to decrease sheet
-4–
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