Appeal No. 2005-0323 Page 6
Application No. 09/577,835
vertically stacked above an oxide spacer, at an intermediate
point, as shown in figure 9. The examiner adds (answer, page 4)
that Gardner does not teach that the spacer structures extend
from a bottom to over a top of the continuously vertical
sidewalls. To overcome this deficiency of Gardner, the examiner
turns to Mogami for a teaching of a spacer structure extending
from a bottom to over the top of the continuously vertical
sidewalls of a gate electrode stack, as shown in figure 8F. The
motivation provided by the examiner (id.) is that the
modification would have been obvious to an artisan in order to
prevent a short circuit between the source/drain regions and the
gate electrode stack.
Appellants assert (brief, page 4) that the examiner has
failed to establish a prima facie case of obviousness. It is
argued (brief, page 5) that as shown in figure 9, the composite
spacer fails to extend continuously from a bottom to a top of
said continuously vertical sidewall of metal silicide layer 122.
Appellants acknowledge (brief, page 6) that in Mogami, the oxide
sidewall is higher than the top of the gate electrode stack,
which electrically isolates the gate electrode from the
source/drain regions, which is advantageous in preventing short
circuits between the gate electrode stack and the source/drain
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007