Appeal No. 2006-1870 Παγε 12
Application No. 10/100,901
portion of the particles are released from the abrasive pad
during polishing. It is further disclosed (col. 13, lines 44 and
45) that as the pad releases particles, the pad wears away.
With regard to claim 9, James discloses that the particles
of the polishing layer includes alumina, silica, etc. or a
combination thereof. It is additionally disclosed (col. 5, lines
32-38) that the abrasive may be alumina or silica, etc.
From all of the above, we find that James anticipates at
least claims 1 and 9. In the alternative, assuming, arguendo,
that the polishing apparatus of James would not inherently be
used to polish the back side of a semiconductor wafer, we find
from the disclosure of James of polishing semiconductors or
integrated circuits, that an artisan would have been motivated by
James’ disclosure to use the polishing apparatus of James for
polishing the back side of semiconductor wafers.
OBSERVATIONS AND REMARKS
Because we are primarily a board of review, we have only applied
the James reference to claims 1 and 9. We leave it to the
examiner to determine whether James should be applied to any or
all of the remaining claims on appeal.
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