Appeal No. 2003-0512
Application 09/184,805
1. A method of chemical mechanical polishing a substrate
having a filler layer disposed on a stop layer, comprising:
chemical mechanical polishing the filler layer of the
substrate with a first slurry until the stop layer is partially
covered by the filler layer and partially exposed; and
chemical mechanical polishing the substrate with a second
slurry which has a lower selectivity than the first slurry until
the stop layer is substantially completely exposed.
The references relied upon by the examiner as evidence of
obviousness are:
Cadien et al. (Cadien) 5,340,370 Aug. 23, 1994
Landers et al. (Landers) 5,676,587 Oct. 14, 1997
In addition, the examiner relies upon Applicants’ Admitted
Prior Art (AAPA) in rejecting certain of the appealed claims. On
page 3-4 of the answer, the examiner has identified AAPA as
corresponding to the disclosure in appellants’ specification at
page 4, line 15, through page 6, line 9.
Claims 1, 20, 21 and 29 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 103(a) as being unpatentable over Cadien in view of Landers.
Claims 2-19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being
unpatentable over Cadien in view of Landers as applied in the
rejection of claim 1 et al., and further in view of AAPA.
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