Appeal No. 2003-0270
Application 09/087,234
rejection of claims 7-9 under 35 U.S.C. § 112, second paragraph,
which was the sole rejection of claims 8 and 9, is withdrawn.
Hence, the claims before us are claims 4-6.
THE INVENTION
The appellants claim a dielectric structure wherein a
surface portion of a layer has collapsed pores. Claim 4 is
illustrative:
4. A dielectric structure, comprising:
(a) a layer of porous dielectric with average pore
diameter D;
(b) wherein the portion of said layer within a distance of
2D of a surface of said layer has collapsed pores.
THE REFERENCES
Gnade et al. (Gnade) 5,561,318 Oct. 1, 1996
Kondo et al. (Kondo) 5,635,301 Jun. 3, 1997
THE REJECTIONS
The claims stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as
follows: claim 4 over Kondo, and claims 4-6 over Gnade.
OPINION
We affirm the aforementioned rejections.
The appellants state that the claims stand or fall together
(brief, page 2). We therefore limit our discussion to one claim
to which each rejection applies, i.e., claim 4, which is the sole
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