Appeal No. 2004-0633
Application No. 10/011,198
Appellants admit that Ito does address a component analogous to
Cronin’s stud-up and that both references address how such a
structure extends upward from an interconnect. Brief, page 10.
Appellants also state that both Ito and Cronin taught the
benefits of a damascene process used to form an interconnect.
Hence, appellants acknowledge the similarities in the processes
between Ito and Cronin. As stated by the examiner at the bottom
of page 6 of the answer, Ito provides an alternative way of
connecting two interconnects by utilizing a plug. Appellants
have not argued that incorporation of this alternative way of
connecting two interconnects cannot be accomplished in Cronin in
view of the suggestions found in Ito.
In view of the above, we therefore affirm the 35 U.S.C.
§ 103 of claims 34, 35, and 36 as being obvious over Cronin view
of Ito and Yu.
IV. The 35 U.S.C. § 103 rejection of claims 38, 39, 56, 57, and
58 as being obvious over Cronin in view of Yu
The examiner’s position in this rejection is set forth on
pages 7-8 of the answer.
Appellants’ position is the same as discussed above with
regard to Cronin and Yu. See pages 9-13 of the brief. Again,
appellants do not dispute the examiner’s findings with regard to
Cronin. Appellants simply argue alleged conflicts between
Cronin and Yu.
We emphasize that such conflicts are not material with
regard to how the examiner combined the teachings of these
references. Yu teaches that it is generally known in the art
that a memory cell of a random access memory utilizes
interconnects to connect to underlying field effect transistors.
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