Appeal No. 2002-0697
Application No. 09/625,857
examiner with regard to the merits of this rejection.1
DISCUSSION
I. Grouping of claims
In the brief, the appellant states that “[t]he claims stand
or fall together” (page 4). In accordance with this statement
and pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.192(c)(7), we shall decide the appeal
as to the rejection before us on the basis of representative
claim 21 alone. Claims 22 through 32 shall stand or fall with
claim 21.
II. The merits
Okase, the examiner’s primary reference, discloses a thermal
treatment apparatus used in the fabrication of semiconductor
devices. The exemplary diffusion apparatus embodiments S and S1
respectively illustrated in Figures 1 and 7 include a process
tube 21 with a bottom opening 23, a reaction gas introduction
pipe 33 having a plurality of orifices 34, exhaust openings 25 in
1 In the final rejection (Paper No. 7), claims 21 through 32
also stood rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over U.S. Patent No. 5,207,573 to Miyagi et al. in
view of Shimada. As this rejection has not been restated or
otherwise mentioned in the answer, we assume it has been
withdrawn by the examiner. See Ex parte Emm, 118 USPQ 180, 181
(Bd. App. 1957).
3
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