Interference No. 105,113
the plating systems of Figure 16 and 17, reproduced below, which represent an LT-210™
electrochemical plating system from Semitool as modified by the inventors to include an
annealing station 615 in Figure 16 and 630 in Figure 17 (id. at 27, ll. 18-22).12 Numerals 610
designate one or more rinsing/drying stations and one or more electroplating stations (id. at 28,
ll. 1-4).
12 Mr. Ritzdorf testified that "[a]t the time that the Equinox® plating system developed [by
Semitool] in 1996 and 1997, it was not obvious or recognized as beneficial to utilize an
annealing station in combination with electrolytic deposition of copper. While it may have been
known, as Cheung argues, that CVD might be used on the same platform with annealing, no one
had previously suggested an annealing chamber in combination with electrolytic deposition of
copper on the same platform." Ritzdorf Decl. (RX 1009) ¶ 30.
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