Appeal No. 2001-2510 Page 2
Application No. 09/001,350
pedestal with a top surface to support a wafer and a magnet coupled to said etch
chamber and configured to provide a continuous magnetic field directed at and in a
direction normal to said top surface of said wafer pedestal;
placing said wafer on said pedestal; and
exposing said wafer surface to a sputter etch.
The examiner relies upon the following reference as evidence of obviousness:
Taki et al. (Taki) 5,733,405 March 31, 1998
Appellants' claimed invention is directed to a method of sputter etching wherein a
magnet provides a continuous magnetic field that is directed normal to the top surface
of a pedestal which supports the wafer being etched.
Appealed claims 7-10 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Taki. Claims 11 and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Taki in view of the admitted prior art.
Appellants submit at page 5 of the principal brief that they "wish rejected claims
7-12 to stand or fall together on this Appeal." Accordingly, all the appealed claims
stand or fall together with claim 7, and we will limit our consideration to the examiner's
rejection of claim 7.
We have throughly reviewed each of appellants' arguments for patentability.
However, we are in complete agreement with the examiner that the claimed subject
matter would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art within the meaning of
§ 103 in view of the applied prior art. Accordingly, we will sustain the examiner's
rejections for essentially those reasons expressed in the Answer and we add the
following for emphasis only.
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