Appeal No. 2003-0636
Application No. 09/599,125
Accordingly, we concur with the examiner that it would have been
obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate
megasonic energy in the plating process of Lopatin in order to
achieve a highly uniform coating, while also reasonably expecting
that the megasonic energy would also provide additional cleaning
to the substrate. We are not persuaded by appellants' argument
that "Reynolds teaches that megasonic energy is used in
combination with other components to ensure uniform plating"
(page 4 of Reply Brief, second paragraph). We find that one of
ordinary skill in the art would have reasonably expected that the
use of megasonic energy even without the rotary wiper of Reynolds
would provide an improvement in coating uniformity. In any
event, the claims on appeal, due to the "comprising" language, do
not preclude the use of Reynolds' rotary wiper in addition to
megasonic energy.
As for the § 103 rejection based on the additional teaching
of Kobayashi, the reference provides the relevant teaching that
"[t]he typical process for preparing a nickel layer on the
substrate is a process for spraying or coating a chemical nickel
plating solution . . ." (column 1, lines 63-65). Accordingly,
there is factual basis for the examiner's conclusion that it was
obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art to apply a plating
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