Appeal No. 2001-2042
Application No. 09/025,006
REJECTIONS
1) Claims 17,18, and 23-33 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over the combined
teachings of Kaschmitter and Kwo; and
2) Claims 17, 18, and 23-33 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over the combined
teachings of Kaschmitter, Kwo and the admitted prior art.
OPINION
We have carefully reviewed the arguments presented by both the examiner and the
appellants in support of their respective positions. In so doing, we find ourselves in agreement
with the appellants that the examiner has not established a prima facie case of obviousness
within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 103. Accordingly, we reverse the examiner’s Section 103
rejections and remand this application to the examiner for appropriate action consistent with our
instructions below. Our reasons for this determination follow.
The examiner correctly finds that Kaschmitter discloses a low temperature plastic
substrate wherein the plastic substitute is incapable of withstanding sustained processing
temperatures of higher than about180oC. coated with an insulating layer of SiO2. See the
Answer, page 2, together with Kaschmitter, column 2. Although Kaschmitter indicates that this
substrate can be used to form thin-film devices, inclusive of thin film transistors, it does not
specify employing the claimed silicon layer, gate dielectric layer, gate metal layer, oxide layer
and metal contacts. See, e.g., column 2, lines 47-52 in conjunction with column 1, lines 25-30.
To remedy these deficiencies, the examiner asserts that such features are well known thin-
film transistor features2 as shown by Kwo. See the Answer, pages 3, 4 and 10. The dispositive
2 The examiner cannot take official notice of these asserted technical facts since they are
directed to “specific ‘knowledge’ of the prior art, which might be peculiar to a particular art”. In
re Ahlert, 424 F.2d 1088, 1091, 165 USPQ 418, 420 (CCPA 1970). That is, we determine that
the so-called “well known thin film transistor features” are directed to specific prior art
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