Appeal No. 2005-0339
Application No. 09/376,039
Appellants submit at page 7 of the principal brief that
"[c]laims 1, 2, 4-19 and 21-28 stand or fall together."
Accordingly, all the appealed claims stand or fall together with
claim 1.
We have thoroughly reviewed each of appellants' arguments
for patentability. However, we are in complete agreement with
the examiner that the claimed method would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in the art within the meaning of § 103 in
view of the applied prior art. Accordingly, we will sustain the
examiner's rejection for essentially those reasons expressed in
the Answer.
Lee, like appellants, discloses a method of making an
integrated circuit comprising the claimed steps of forming a
conductive layer having conductive lines with gaps therebetween
on a semiconductor substrate, depositing an FSG layer in the gaps
and over the conductive layer to form peaks of non-uniform
height, and depositing an undoped oxide layer on the FSG layer.
Lee does not teach polishing the FSG layer before depositing the
undoped oxide layer thereon. However, Usami teaches filling the
spaces between the conductive lines on a substrate with FSG
layers and polishing the second FSG layer to produce peaks of
uniform height before coating the undoped oxide layer on the
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