Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

Justin Jia-Jen Hwu

Thao Pham

Sukhbir Singh Dulay

Thomas L Leong

Methods and systems for determining dimensions of a structure that has a re-entrant profile are disclosed. A method includes imaging at least a portion of a top surface of the structure. Subsequently, a second portion of the structure is imaged from a plurality of perspectives. A third portion of the structure is also imaged from a plurality of perspectives. A dimension of a bottom portion of the structure is determined based on the imaging.

Method and system for determining dimensions of a structure having a re-entrant profile

A method for measuring recession in a wafer undergoing an asymmetrical ion mill process. The method includes the formation of first and second reference features and possibly a dummy feature. The reference features are constructed such that the location of the midpoint between them is unaffected by the asymmetrical ion mill. By measuring the distance between a portion of the dummy feature and the midpoint between the reference features, the amount of recession of the dummy feature can be measured. The measurement can be used to calculate the relative location of the flare to the read sensor rear edge through overlay information. By keeping the angles of the sides of the features steep (ie. nearly parallel with the direction in which the ion mill is asymmetrical) the amount of material consumed on each of the reference features is substantially equal and the midpoint between the reference features is substantially stationary.

Method for manufacturing a magnetic write head

A method of making and using thin film calibration features is described. To fabricate a calibration standard according to the invention raised features are first formed from an electrically conductive material with a selected atomic number. A conformal thin film layer is deposited over the exposed sidewalls of the raised features. The sidewall material is selected to have a different atomic number and is preferably an nonconductive such as silicon dioxide or alumina. After the nonconductive material deposition, a controlled directional RIE process is used to remove the insulator layer deposited on the top and bottom surface of the lines and trenches. The remaining voids between the sidewalls of the raised features are filled with a conductive material. The wafer is then planarized with chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) to expose the nonconductive sidewall material on the surface. The nonconductive sidewall material will be fine lines embedded in conductive material.

Method of fabricating thin film calibration features for electron/ion beam image based metrology

CMP process control array groups are fabricated upon the surface of the wafer for viewing through an optical microscope. The array groups include a plurality of test arrays, where each array includes a plurality of projecting test features. Each of the projecting test features are formed with the same projecting height and have a hard upper surface layer, such as diamond-like-carbon (DLC). All of the projecting test features within an array are formed with the same diameter, and the diameter of projecting test features of a particular array differs from the diameter of projecting test features in another array. The diameters are chosen such that the DLC surface is removed in specifically designed time increments, such as 5 seconds, from array to array, where projecting test features with the DLC surface removed appear as bright white, while the arrays with test features that retain some DLC surface are significantly darker.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Justin Jia-Jen Hwu