Ex Parte Herman et al

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Feb 27, 2014

11855459 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 27, 2014)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
____________________

BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
____________________

Ex parte GREGORY HERMAN, PETER MARDLLOVICH,
and RANDY HOFFMAN
____________________

Appeal 2011-010603
Application 11/855,459
Technology Center 2800
____________________

Before CHARLES F. WARREN, CATHERINE Q. TIMM, and
GEORGE C. BEST, Administrative Patent Judges.

TIMM, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL

STATEMENT OF CASE
Appellants seek review of the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 22-
33 and 46-59. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. §§ 6(b) and 134.
We REVERSE.
Appeal 2011-010603
Application 11/855,459

2
The claims are directed to a semiconductor device (see, e.g., claims
22, 32, and 46). Claim 22 is illustrative:
22. A semiconductor device, comprising:
a semiconductor material having a surface;
first and second electrodes formed directly on said
semiconductor material in a spaced apart relation to and without
overlapping one another over said surface and electrically
coupled to said semiconductor material; and
an insulator covering said semiconductor material in the
space between said first and second electrodes and extending
over said first electrode but not over said second electrode.
(Claims App’x at Br. 15.)
The Examiner rejects claims 22, 23, 29, 32, 33, 46-48, 58, and 59
under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated by Ito1 and rejects claims 22-33 and
46-59 under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as obvious over Ito in view of Ohkawara2
and Budd.3
In the Final Rejection, the Examiner finds that:
[I]n FIG. 5 of Ito, source electrode (11) and drain electrode (12)
are both formed directly on the semiconductor without
overlapping one another. In addition, Ito shows an insulator (9)
which covers the semiconductor material in the space between
the electrodes and extending over electrode (11) but not over
the second electrode (12), as claimed.
(Final Rej. 2.)
However, as pointed out by Appellants, reference numerals 11 and 12
are identified by Ito as polysilicon contact plugs, not electrodes (Br. 7).

1 Ito, US 2003/0141528 A1, pub. Jul. 31, 2003.
2 Ohkawara et al., US 2001/0012076 A1, pub. Aug. 9, 2001.
3 Budd et al., US 6,014,189, patented Jan. 11, 2000.
Appeal 2011-010603
Application 11/855,459

3
In the Answer, the Examiner modifies the grounds of rejection, stating
that:
[T]he FIG. 5 embodiment of Ito, cited as a representative
example only, shows numerous source and drain regions 3 and
53 along with conductive plugs 51, (10/11) and 12 which
constitute electrodes which provide electrical bias to these
regions. In addition, Ito shows an insulator layer 9 which
covers the space between the electrodes and extends over at
least one of the electrodes, e.g. the multilayered electrode
10/11, but does not extend over the other electrodes 12 and 51.
(Ans. 3.)
In response to Appellants’ argument that plugs 11 and 12 are not
electrodes, the Examiner states that:
Ito describes the regions (3) and (53) in FIG. 5 of the reference
as “drain source regions” [0137]. In addition, Ito also describes
plugs 10/11, 12 and 51 as “contact plugs” [0137] which are
“electrically connected” to the respective drain source regions
[0138], [0139] and [0140]. This description meets the accepted
definition of a semiconductor “electrode”.
(Ans. 7.)
However, the Examiner neither provides nor cites a definition for
“electrode.”
According to Merriam-Webster, “electrode” is used to refer to “an
element in a semiconductor device (as a transistor) that emits or collects
electrons or holes or controls their movements.” (http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/electrode (last accessed Feb. 24, 2014).)
Appellants use the word “electrode” when discussing the source and
drain electrodes and gate electrode of a field effect transistor (see, e.g., Spec.
¶¶ 0001, 0014, 0016, and 0019).
Appeal 2011-010603
Application 11/855,459

4
The device shown in Ito’s Figure 5 includes drain source regions that
appear to be analogous to the source and drain electrodes of Appellants’
device (compare Ito, Fig. 5 and ¶ 0137 with Appellants’ Fig. 5 and ¶ 0019).
Contact plugs 11, 12, and 51 are described by Ito as electrically connecting
the drain source regions to bit line 10 and first node electrodes 6 and 56 (Ito
¶¶ 0137-141). The first node electrodes serve as the common lower
electrode of four capacitors (Ito ¶ 0137).
The Examiner has not established that the contact plugs 11 and 12,
which are described by Ito as electrical connectors, are “electrodes” as that
word would have been understood in the semiconductor art and as would be
consistent with the usage of the term in the Specification. To the extent the
Examiner is relying upon the combination of the plugs with the drain source
regions as meeting the requirements of “electrodes,” we note that it is not
reasonable to interpret these combinations of separate elements as
electrodes. The plugs are different structures from, and have different
functions than, the sources and drains of the transistors.
Because the deficiency pervades all of the rejections, we do not
sustain any of the rejections.

DECISION
The Examiner’s decision is reversed.

REVERSED

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