Appeal No. 2006-1663
Application No. 09/871,883
Accordingly, we affirm the Examiner’s § 103(a) rejection of claims 23-24
and 28-29.
35 U.S.C. § 103(a) REJECTION: FARRAR IN VIEW OF OTSUKA
CLAIMS 30-31 (FIGURE 17 AND FIGURE 18)
Claim 30 is similar to claim 1, except that claim 30 further recites that “one
or more dielectric pillars [are] formed in said lower level wire, said lower
conductive liner on sides of said dielectric pillars” (Figure 17, reference numeral
365) and “said upper conductive liner [is] in contact with said lower core
conductor and also in contact with said lower conductive liner on the sides of said
dielectric pillars in liner-to-liner contact regions” (Figure 18, reference numerals
215, 225, 365).
Claim 31 is similar to claim 30, except that it further recites “said upper
level wire having . . . one or more vias integrally formed in the bottom of said
upper level wire” wherein each via has an upper core conductor and upper
conductive liner, the upper conductive liner is on the side and bottom of the upper
level wire and on the side and bottom of each via, such that upper conductive liner
on the bottom of at least a portion of said one or more vias is in contact with the
lower core conductor and at least a portion of said one or more vias is in contact
with said lower conducive liner on the sides of at least a portion of one or more
dielectric pillars. (Figure 18, reference numeral 210 is the “via”; Figure 17,
reference numerals 210 and 365).
The Examiner rejects claims 30-31 under § 103(a) over Farrar in view of
Otsuka. The Examiner states “Farrar shows all of the elements of the claims
except the dielectric pillars formed in the lower level wire.” (Answer 7). The
Examiner relies on Otsuka to teach placing insulating pillars (i.e., dielectric pillars)
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