Ex Parte Cantell et al - Page 3



          Appeal No. 2005-0293                                                        
          Application No. 09/727,139                                                  


          Xiang et al.             6,211,044 B1        Apr. 03, 2001                  
               (Xiang)                      (filed Apr. 12, 1999)                    
          Nakajima                6,235,627 B1        May  22, 2001                  
                                                (filed Jun. 24, 1998)                 
               Claims 1 through 3, 9, 10, and 18 on appeal stand rejected             
          under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Xiang in view of              
          Nakajima.  (Examiner’s answer mailed Aug. 25, 2003, paper 13,               
          pages 3-4.)  In addition, claim 4 on appeal stands rejected                 
          under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Xiang in view of              
          Nakajima and further in view of Then.  (Id. at 4.)  Also, claims            
          5 through 13, 16, and 19 through 22 on appeal stand rejected                
          under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over Xiang in view of              
          Nakajima and further in view of Jeng.  (Id. at 4-6.)  Further,              
          claim 17 on appeal stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as              
          unpatentable over Xiang in view of Nakajima and further in view             
          of Ramachandran.  (Id. at 6.)                                               
               We reverse these rejections.                                           
               Xiang, the principal prior art reference on which the                  
          examiner’s rejections are based, discloses a method for                     
          fabricating a semiconductor device having feature sizes that are            
          independent of lithographic limitations.  (Column 2, lines 38-              
          40.)  Xiang teaches that the method includes the steps of:                  

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