Appeal No. 2006-0877
Application No. 09/894,230
lowered by the irradiation of a charge beam (see column 5, lines 53-62). As such, if the
Examiner's exchange of the order of layers of Sato were achieved the resulting structure would
not meet the requirements as specified by Sato. Accordingly, we agree with Appellants'
argument (Brief, page 7) that the suggested modification would render Sato unsatisfactory for
its intended purpose.
In view of the foregoing, the Examiner has failed to establish a prima facie case of
obviousness to support the stated rejections. The Federal Circuit has held that "[i]t is
impermissible to use the claimed invention as an instruction manual or 'template' to piece
together the teachings of the prior art so that the claimed invention is rendered obvious." In re
Fritch, 972 F.2d 1260, 1266, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1784 (Fed. Cir. 1992). Consequently, the
rejections of the Examiner are reversed.
generally). Appellants have also not argued that the developed/hardened
portion of a silicon-containing photoresist layer does not function as an
etch mask as suggested by the Examiner.
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