Appeal No. 2004-0798
Application No. 09/929,849
It is important to emphasize that the initial burden of
establishing a prima facie case of obviousness rests on the
examiner. In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445, 24 USPQ2d 1443,
1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
To support the rejections, the examiner relies primarily on
a combination of three references, namely Rogers as a principal
reference and Verley and Murthy as teaching references to fill
the gaps between the claimed invention and Rogers. Rogers
describes a process for forming solid vias or electrical
connections from the top plane of a substrate to the bottom
plane of the substrate. (Column 1, lines 6-8.) Specifically,
Rogers teaches a process including the steps of: coating the
substrate with a water soluble polymer to protect the surface
from debris generated during a subsequent laser drilling step;
focusing a carbon dioxide laser operated at 30 watts on a 50
micron spot to perforate a location on which a via is to be
centered; drilling a circular pattern around the perforation to
create holes 26 of desired diameter; removing the polymer
coating along with the debris generated by the laser; scraping
away any residual alumina remaining at the perimeter of each
hole; metallizing both sides of the substrate by sputtering a
seed layer 27 in order to achieve continuous metallization
inside the hole; masking the top and bottom surfaces with dry
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