Ex Parte Iizuka et al

Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Jan 31, 2011

11637147 (B.P.A.I. Jan. 31, 2011)

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
_____________

BEFORE THE BOARD OF PATENT APPEALS
AND INTERFERENCES
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Ex parte TOSHIHIRO IIZUKA, TOMOE YAMAMOTO, MAMI TODA,
and SHINTARO YAMAMICHI
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Appeal 2010-000398
Application 11/637,1471
Technology Center 2800
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Before JOHN C. MARTIN, ROBERT E. NAPPI, and THOMAS S. HAHN,
Administrative Patent Judges.

MARTIN, Administrative Patent Judge.

DECISION ON APPEAL2

1 The application on appeal identifies itself as a Divisional Application of
Application 10/170,813 (filed June 13, 2002). See January 31, 2008,
Amendment at 2. The ‘813 Application was the subject of Appeal No.
2009-005309. The Examiner was affirmed in a November 27, 2009,
Decision on Appeal, and that result was adhered to in a July 15, 2010,
Decision on Request for Rehearing.
2 The two-month time period for filing an appeal or commencing a civil
action, as recited in 37 C.F.R. § 1.304, or for filing a request for rehearing,
(Continued on next page.)
Appeal 2010-000398
Application 11/637,147

2
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
This is an appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s
rejection of claims 1-11, which are all of the pending claims.
An oral hearing was held on January 11, 2011.3
We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We affirm.

A. Appellants’ invention
Appellants’ invention is a semiconductor device that includes: (a) a
transistor having a gate electrode and having source/drain diffused layers
with a refractory metal silicide; and (b) an MIM (metal-insulator-metal)
capacitor structure having a capacitor dielectric film formed of at least one
material selected from the group consisting of ZrO2, HfO2, (Zrx, Hf1-x)O2
(0