Appeal No. 2001-2388
Application 09/151,948
point A than at point B, and states that “[f]or sharp display,
high speed, and good performance, it is critical that the liquid
crystal maintain a constant gap between the top and bottom
substrates.”1
The appellant obtains this constant gap by use of the dual
damascene technique in which a trench (29) and a via opening (27)
are formed in an insulating layer (26), a metal layer (40) is
formed over and within the trench and the via opening (figure 4),
and the metal layer above the surface of the insulating layer is
polished away to form a planarized surface having below it a
metal-filled trench (44), i.e., a metal pixel, and a metal-filled
via opening (42) that connects the metal pixel to an underlying
semiconductor device (14, 16) (figure 5). A passivation
layer (34 and 36), a liquid crystal layer (52) and a top
substrate (56) are formed over the planarized surface. As shown
in figure 6, the thickness of the liquid crystal layer is the
same above and between the metal pixels.
1 The examiner has not established that the disclosed
criticality of the constant gap pertains to the acknowledged
prior art rather than being a discovery by the appellant.
4
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