Appeal No. 2004-0574
Serial No. 09/259,145
OPINION
We reverse the aforementioned rejections. We need to
address only the independent claims, i.e., claims 25, 33, 39
and 46.
Each of the appellants’ independent claims requires a
substantially dopant-free, uninterrupted diffusion barrier layer
which extends over a first surface and an opposing second surface
of a semiconductor substrate and encapsulates the semiconductor
substrate.
Tada discloses an intermediate structure in the formation of
an isolation structure for a semiconductor device, comprising a
semiconductor substrate (100) which is free of field oxide, has a
first surface and an opposing second surface, and has on the
first surface a p-type area (5) within an n-well (2) and an
n-type area (6) within a p-well (3) (col. 6, lines 3-26;
figure 2(c)). Selective oxidation is carried out using silicon
nitride as a mask to form field oxide (9) (col. 6, lines 30-31;
figure 3(a)). Tada does not disclose how the silicon nitride is
deposited.
Koike discloses a method for making a semiconductor device
wherein a gettering layer is formed to prevent deterioration of
electrical characteristics of the device caused by metal impurity
contamination (col. 1, lines 6-10). The gettering layer is a
3
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007