Appeal No. 2002-1640
Application No. 09/296,806
susceptor can be made of silicon carbide coated graphite,
silicon carbide, or quartz. See Johnsgard, columns 9 and 10.
Tietz teaches the use of quartz lift rods. See Figure 3A and
column 4, lines 45-48. Askeland teaches that graphite, a form
of carbon, is classified as a ceramic material. See pages 460
and 764-765 of Askeland.
However, as argued throughout the brief and reply brief by
appellants, the examiner does not point to any disclosure that
can be found in the applied art that teaches to select, from the
types of materials disclosed in the applied art, the particular
materials for the susceptor and the lift pin, such that the lift
pin is made of a base material lower in thermal conductivity
than the base material of the susceptor.
Hence, particularly with respect to the selection of carbon
as the pin material, or quartz as the pin material, such that
the base material of the pin is lower in thermal conductivity
than the base material of the susceptor, it is clear that the
examiner’s rejection is based on improper hindsight reasoning.
In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1075, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1600 (Fed. Cir.
1988) (“One cannot use hindsight reconstruction to pick and
choose among isolated disclosures in the prior art to deprecate
the claimed invention.”). We note that a selection must even be
made from the disclosure of Johnsgard alone to yield a base
material of the pin that is lower in thermal conductivity than
the base material of the susceptor.
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