Appeal No. 2005-0237
Application No. 10/165,861
surface of the substrate.” As plainly shown in Figure 4 of this
reference, the surface of substrate 2 is planarized and thus has
no features formed therein much less features of which the depth
is controlled by virtue of the organic coating 3.
For the above stated reasons, the examiner’s section 102
rejection of claims 1 and 2 as being anticipated by the IBM
reference cannot be sustained.
In his section 102 rejection based on the Bohannon patent,
the examiner finds that patentee’s “layer 6 [corresponds to the
here claimed etching delay layer and] is clearly used to control
the depth of the etch” (answer, page 5). A comparison of
Bohannon’s Figures 3 and 4 reveals that layer 6 is the same both
before the etching step (Figure 3) as well as after the etching
step (Figure 4). In light of this circumstance, it is apparent
that the thickness and location of this layer 6 has not been
chosen to control the depth of features formed in the surface of
the substrate as required by claim 1. Moreover, while we
appreciate that layers or areas 6 of Bohannon are removed via an
in situ wash as the final step in the etch process (see lines 38-
41 in column 2), the claim under review requires that the
previously mentioned features be formed “after said etching delay
layer is removed and the substrate is etched by said etching
4
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