Appeal No. 2002-1148
Application 09/471,662
about 50 eV or less. Moreover, Kaufman indicates in his
declaration (pages 2-3) and supplemental declaration (page 2)
that sputtering using the ion source he invented and Ceasar uses
is impossible at an ion beam energy at or below about 50 eV
unless the target has a negative bias, and the examiner has
provided no evidence or reasoning to the contrary.
Nor has the examiner explained why King’s teaching of using
a target potential other than ground in combination with an ion
beam energy of 500-50,000 eV (col. 5, lines 31-46) would have
fairly suggested, to one of ordinary skill in the art, operation
at an ion beam energy of about 50 eV or less. The examiner
argues that King discloses 20-30 eV as the threshold level for
the onset of sputtering to occur (answer, pages 5 and 7). As
pointed out by Kaufman (declaration, page 4), this energy range
refers to the ions striking the substrate, not the target
(col. 4, lines 58-60).
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