Appeal No. 2006-0629 Παγε 6
Application No. 10/668,021
device. The examiner asserts (answer, pages 3 and 4) that a
conditioner is inherently a CMP device that is used to treat the
polishing pad, and that the conditioner must be a “pressure
related component.” As evidence of inherency, the examiner turns
to Berman for a disclosure that the CMP process is controlled by
a process called conditioning, and that during conditioning, the
conditioner is brought into contact with the surface of the pad.
The examiner points to Lin (col. 3, lines 20-33) for a disclosure
that “it is desirable to engage the conditioner 12 against the
surface of the pad 16 with a known and repeatable force, and also
with a force that is known and preferably uniform across the
conditioner 12.”
From our review of Lin, we agree with appellants that the
invention is directed to detecting pressure distribution on a
wafer surface by employing pressure sensitive films on located on
various pressure components such as a wafer carrier, polishing
pad, and mechanical arm members of a CMP machine (col. 1, lines
12-16). As shown in figure 3B, pressure sensitive film PSF2 is
located between wafer 30 and polishing pad 34. Lin further
discloses (col. 3, lines 37-42) that “in addition, the pressure
components applied in the embodiment of the present invention
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