Appeal No. 2006-0473
Application 10/430,558
underlining issue in this appeal inherently relates to product-
by-process limitations relating to this dual damascene feature.
Without evidences from the appellants to the contrary, the final
structure produced by dual damascene is still a via or a trench
filled with a metal.
Even the column 1 discussion of Lim indicates that it was
known in the art that a single copper layer may be deposited in
both a via and a connective line trench as depicted in prior art
figures 1 through 3 of that reference. Most simply expressed at
column 2, lines 43 through 46 of Lim, is a method of forming dual
damascene interconnects whereby the first copper layer of the
vias can be used as a seed layer for the subsequent deposition of
a second copper layer into the upper interconnect trenches. This
is emphasized in the remaining portions of the Summary of The
Invention, for example, in two respects. The paragraph bridging
columns 2 and 3 relates to the first embodiment shown in figure 4
through 14 of Lim where it is emphasized at lines 17 through 21
of column 3 that a single deposition of copper is also a part of
Lim’s invention. The same may be said of the second embodiment
in figures 18 through 23, which is summarized in the paragraph
beginning at the middle of column 3, with emphasis on similar
statement made at lines 56 through 60 indicating again that a
single deposition of copper is made. These statements clearly
make the teachings of Lim in a dual damascene environment, as
argued by the examiner.
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