Appeal No. 2006-1663
Application No. 09/871,883
the Examiner does not indicate where Farrar discloses that the insulating and
conducting layers suffer from deleterious mechanical effects so as to require
Havemann’s teachings to remedy such deleterious effects. (Br. 9-11).
Appellants’ arguments are not persuasive. We agree with the Examiner’s
assessment of the conductivity of Havemann’s encapsulation layer 48 (i.e., upper
conductive liner). (Answer 10). We add that Havemann discloses that silicon
nitride is merely an example of the material that may be used as the encapsulation
material 48 (i.e., upper conductive liner), not that silicon nitride must be used as
the encapsulation material. (Havemann, col. 4, ll. 65-67, “Encapsulation layer 48
(e.g., 0.10 micron of silicon nitride) . . . .” emphasis added). Moreover, Havemann
discloses that if silicon nitride is used as the encapsulating material 48 then it
would have to be “selectively removed (e.g., from any bottom portion where the
conductor is to make electrical contact to via metal).” (Havemann, col. 4, ll.
13-16). Havemann also discloses that electrical contact is established between
conductor metal (i.e., upper core conductor) 52 and via metal (i.e., lower core
conductor) 39 in the embodiment shown in Figure 3G. (Havemann, col. 5, ll.
9-11). All of Havemann’s disclosures indicate that electrical contact is established
between conductor metal 52 and via metal 39, even if silicon nitride is used as the
encapsulation layer 48.
In order for electrical contact to be established between the conductor metal
52 (i.e., upper core conductor) and the via metal 39 (i.e., lower core conductor)
without the added step of “selectively” removing the silicon nitride when it is used
as the encapsulation layer (i.e., upper conductive liner) 48, one would have
obviously made encapsulation layer 48 (i.e., upper conductive liner) conductive.
While Havemann discloses silicon nitride as an example of encapsulation material
10
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