Appeal No. 2001-1812
Application No. 08/854,008
the applied prior art contains no teaching or suggestion that the
respective techniques of the primary and secondary references are
individually insufficient to achieve the desired results or that
the achievement of such results would have been enhanced by
combining these techniques in the manner proposed by the
examiner. Indeed, there is merit in the appellants’ argument
that the sustained self-sputtering techniques of Asamaki and
Posadowski do not exhibit the problems which are taught by at
least some of the primary references as being solved via the
“grids” disclosed therein.
For example, the control plates or “grid” of Shiraishi and
the sustained self-sputtering technique of Asamaki both direct
the flow of sputtering atoms so that contact holes in substrates
are effectively filled. Based on the disclosures of these
references, an artisan with ordinary skill would have considered
Shiraishi’s “grid” and Asamaki’s self-sputtering technique to be
individually effective in obtaining this desired result and thus
would not have considered combining these features as the
examiner urges because such a combination seemingly would be
redundant. Similarly, the mesh type control electrode or “grid”
of Hazuki performs the function of capturing secondary electrons
to prevent them from reaching and adversely affecting the
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