Appeal No. 2006-1545
Application 10/254,326
not require that first and second semiconductor materials are
polycrystalline or amorphous (Br9 n.1), but the materials must
form a heterojunction device and must be joined to first and
second conductors and a state change element.
We look at the examiner's arguments that deal with the
physical combinability of Zhang and Shimogaki.
The examiner states (EA4-5):
First, note that the rejection shows that Zhang is modified
by Shimogaki et al. and that modified device would include a
polycrystalline heterojunction device. Note that Zhang
shows a method of forming the structure which depends on
forming the poly material in holes. However, there is an
extensive literature and a large number of patents that show
that polycrystalline silicon can be formed into essentially
single crystal structure using catalysts and laser
annealing. [T]he process involves forming an amorphous
silicon layer, depositing a catalytic element, heat treating
to crystallize and then laser annealing the structure to
form near perfect single crystal material. Thus it is well
within the state of the art to turn the Zhang devices into
single crystal devices.
That is, the examiner says that the proposed modification of
Zhang by Shimogaki includes a polycrystalline heterojunction
device even though Shimogaki is not a polycrystalline device.
The examiner then states that it was known how to turn the Zhang
polycrystalline devices into single crystal devices, evidently to
be compatible with Shimogaki.
Appellant argues that the examiner has not cited any art
teaching the techniques, the techniques are not cited in either
reference, and no one could be certain of their success (RBr3).
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