Appeal No. 2006-0264
Application No. 10/217,064
independent of adjusting of concentrations of other process-bath
components.
The examiner relies upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Araki et al. (Araki) 4,353,933 Oct. 12, 1982
van der Putten 5,527,734 Jun. 18, 1996
Zirino et al. (Zirino) 4,058,446 Nov. 15, 1977
Fakler et al. (Fakler) 6,086,956 Jul. 11, 2000
Yamakawa et al. (Yamakawa) 4,970,571 Nov. 13, 1990
Ying et al. (Ying) 4,789,484 Dec. 6, 1988
Appellants' claimed invention is directed to a method for
depositing an adhesion-promoting layer on the metallic layer of a
chip. The adhesion-promoting layer is deposited by using a wet
multi-component process bath which comprises an inhibitor, such
as lead. The method analyzes the concentration of lead during
the process and adjusts the concentration to a constant value.
The adjustment is independent of adjustments to concentrations of
other components of the bath. Appealed claim 10 additionally
recites that the sequence of adding first, second and third
regenerating solutions serves to decouple the regulation of the
lead concentration from the regulation of the concentration of
the other bath components.
Appealed claim 10 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112,
second paragraph. Also, the appealed claims stand rejected under
35 U.S.C. § 103 as follows:
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