Appeal No. 2005-0900
Application No. 10/098,588
Representative claim 2 is reproduced as follows:
2. A local dry etching apparatus for removing
unevenness on a surface of a semiconductor wafer,
comprising:
a nozzle from which a gas including an
activated species produced by a plasma is injected
locally to the surface of the semiconductor wafer; and
a wafer table supporting the semiconductor
wafer concentrically thereon, a radius of the wafer table
being larger than a radius of the semiconductor wafer,
wherein a difference between the radius of the
semiconductor wafer and the radius of the wafer table is
10 to 40 percent of a half value width of an etching rate
distribution peak of the gas injected from the nozzle.
The examiner relies on the following references:
Yanagisawa et al. (Yanagisawa) 5,980,769 Nov. 09, 1999
Shinozuka et al. (Shinozuka) 6,136,213 Oct. 24, 2000
Claims 2, 3, 8 and 9 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C.
§ 112, second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to
particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter
which appellants regard as the invention. Claims 2, 3, 8 and
9 also stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a). As evidence of
obviousness the examiner offers Yanagisawa in view of Shinozuka.
2
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