Western Digital (fremont), Inc.

Lily Yao

Ming Jiang

Guanghong Luo

Ronghui Zhou

Masahiro Osugi

Lien-Chang Wang

Ming Mao

Ge Yi

Yan Chen

Dujiang Wan

Donghong Li

Wei Gao

Yunfei Li

Yanfeng Chen

Wai-Ming Johnson Kan

Lijie Zhao

Degang Cheng

A method of fabricating a magnetic device includes forming a sensor having a pinned layer and a free layer. A first reactive ion etch of a sensor stack patterns a hard mask layer with a photoresist image to form a first hard mask. Then a second reactive ion etch is performed to form an extended pinned layer. The method also includes depositing an insulating layer after the second reactive ion etch to protect exposed edges of the sensor stack, and then providing a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) stop layer on the insulating layer. Subsequently, a CMP of the sensor stack is performed to remove a portion of the insulating layer. The resulting structure is substantially free of residue on the back edges of the sensor.

Method to fabricate tunneling magnetic recording heads with extended pinned layer

A method for fabricating a magnetic recording transducer is described. The magnetic recording transducer has an underlayer and at least one layer on the underlayer. The layer(s) are capable of including an aperture that exposes a portion of the underlayer. The method includes providing a neutralized aqueous solution having a chemical buffer therein. The chemical buffer forms a nonionic full film corrosion inhibitor. The method also includes exposing a portion of the magnetic recording transducer including the layer(s) to the neutralized aqueous solution including the chemical buffer. In one aspect this exposure occurs through a chemical mechanical planarization.

Method for providing a magnetic recording transducer using a chemical buffer

Methods for manufacturing electronic lapping guides (ELGs) for writer heads that closely track the pole formation of the writer heads are provided. Once such method includes forming an ELG adjacent to a writer head that is subjected to substantially all of the sub-processing actions associated with the pole formation of the writer head, lapping the pole material, measuring a resistance of the ELG during the lapping, comparing the measured resistance with a target resistance, and terminating the lapping based on the comparison of the measured resistance with the target resistance.

Methods for manufacturing electronic lapping guides for writer heads that closely track pole formation of the writer heads

A method fabricates a magnetic transducer having air-bearing surface (ABS) location and an intermediate layer having a trench therein. The trench has a shape and location corresponding to a main pole. The method includes depositing at least one main pole layer. A portion of the main pole layer(s) is in the trench. A refill layer is provided on the main pole layer(s). The main pole layer(s) may not be patterned after being provided and before the refill layer is provided. At least the refill layer is planarized. A full-film metal planarization is performed for at least one of the refill layer and the at least one main pole layer. The full-film metal planarization may include a bulk ion mill and/or ion beam scan.

Method for fabricating a magnetic writer using a full-film metal planarization

A method fabricates a magnetic transducer having a nonmagnetic layer and an ABS location corresponding to an ABS. A pole trench is provided in the nonmagnetic layer. The pole trench has a pole tip region and a yoke region. At least one pole material is provided. The pole material(s) have an external protrusion that is above and external to the pole trench. A hard mask that covers at least the external protrusion is provided. A portion of the nonmagnetic layer adjacent to the pole trench is removed to form a side shield trench. At least one side shield material is provided. A portion of the side shield material(s) are adjacent to the hard mask and fill at least a portion of the side shield trench. The side shield material(s) and the pole material(s) are planarized to form at least one side shield and a main pole.

Method for providing a magnetic recording transducer using a combined main pole and side shield CMP for a wraparound shield scheme

Embodiments of the present invention relate to reducing the size variation on a wafer fabrication. In some embodiments, at least a portion the backfill material over features larger than a threshold size is etched or milled to provide backfill protrusions over those features. The backfill protrusions are configured to reduce the size variation across the fabrication. Embodiments of the invention may be used in fabrication of many types of devices, such as tapered wave guides (TWG), near-field transducers (NFT), MEMS devices, EAMR optical devices, optical structures, bio-optical devices, micro-fluidic devices, and magnetic writers.

Process for CMP with large feature size variation

A read sensor for a read transducer is fabricated. The read transducer has field and device regions. A read sensor stack is deposited. A mask covering part of the stack corresponding to the read sensor is provided. The read sensor having inboard and outboard junction angles is defined from the stack in a track width direction. A critical junction (CJ) focused ion beam scan (FIBS) polishing that removes part of the read sensor based on the junction angles is performed. A hard bias structure is deposited and the transducer planarized. A remaining portion of the mask is removed. A stripe height mask covering part of the read sensor and hard bias structure in a stripe height direction is provided. The read sensor stripe height is defined. A tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) FIBS polishing that removes part of the stack in the field region is performed. An insulating layer is provided.

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Hayward, CA, United States of America

Lily Yao