Appeal No. 2004-0660
Application No. 10/120,116
it would have been obvious for the artisan to practice the
isolation trench forming method of Park during fabrication of
semiconductor structure in the form of a flash memory array in view
of Fukumoto’s teaching that the formation of such trenches during
fabrication of a flash memory array was known in the prior art.
Again, the Appellants’ contrary viewpoint lacks discernable merit.
For example, their argument that an artisan would have combined the
teachings of Park and Fukumoto in such a way as to “render the
operation of Park to perform its purpose unsatisfactory” (brief,
page 19) is unconvincing for reasons analogous to those discussed
above (e.g., an artisan would have been discouraged from so
combining these reference teachings precisely because such a
combination would have rendered the operation of Park
unsatisfactory).
In summary: we have not sustained either the § 112, first
paragraph, rejection or the § 103 rejection of claims 4 and 10;
however, we have sustained each of the § 103 rejections of the
remaining claims on appeal.
The decision of the Examiner is affirmed-in-part.
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