Appeal No. 2005-1458
Application No. 09/732,799 Page 7
film that is doped with boron in an amount between 1-4,000 parts
per million (reply brief, page 2).
Anthony teaches that single diamond crystals may be grown
and that the thermal conductivity of isotopically pure diamond
may be as high as 33 W/cm-K. See, e.g., column 3, lines 7-28 of
Anthony. Anthony teaches that boron can be added to the diamond
in an atomic percent amount of between 1-4000 ppm with the most
preferred films containing less than 100 parts per million of
impurities and intentional additives.3 See, e.g., column 6, line
58 through column 7, line 1 and column 2, line 68 through column
7, line 1 of Anthony. In this regard, it is well settled that
when ranges recited in a claim overlap with ranges disclosed in
the prior art, a prima facie case of obviousness typically exists
and the burden of proof is shifted to the applicants to show that
the claimed invention would not have been obvious. In re
Peterson, 315 F.3d 1325, 1329-30, 65 USPQ2d 1379, 1382-83 (Fed.
Cir. 2003); In re Geisler, 116 F.3d 1465, 1469, 43 USPQ2d 1362,
3 Also, given that the diamond of Anthony is doped with
boron, it would reasonably be expected that the boron doped
diamond of Anthony would possess the claimed functional
characteristic of being a p-type semiconductor. Compare page 3,
lines 1-4 of appellants’ specification wherein appellants
acknowledge that boron doping of diamond results in the doped
diamond being a p-type semiconductor.
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