Appeal No. 2001-1697 Page 6 Application No. 09/059,718 part per million (ppm) of the gaseous oxidizing atmosphere. See numbered paragraphs 10 and 13 at pages 6 and 7 of Yamasaki. While Fujishiro seemingly suggests that HCl and water may be employed in conventional amounts, such as 2.5 volume percent HCl in the gaseous mixture of Fujishiro for forming a silicon dioxide layer on a semiconductor device at relatively high temperatures of at least 850 /C, such an amount of water or other hydrogen compounds is contraindicated by the teachings of Yamasaki with respect to their process. Also, Yamasaki conducts the oxidation at temperatures of 400-700/C and the examiner has not explained how the teachings of Fujishiro regarding a higher temperature oxidation process would have been perceived as relevant to the Yamasaki process by one of ordinary skill in the art. Hence, the examiner’s assertion that one of ordinary skill in the art would have included HCl and water in the gaseous oxidizer of Yamasaki in amounts effective to increase oxidation rates while also taking into account the disadvantages of including as little as 1 ppm hydrogen containing compounds in the gas (answer, page 8) falls short in establishing that such a modification of Yamasaki would have been suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art based on the combined teachings of Yamasaki and Fujishiro. In this regard, the examiner has not established that FujishiroPage: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007