Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.v.

International Business Machines Corporation

Hgst Netherlands, B.v.

Thao Pham

Son Van Nguyen

Richard Hsiao

Justin Jia-Jen Hwu

Sukhbir Singh Dulay

Quang Le

David John Seagle

Aron Pentek

Neil Leslie Robertson

Yi Zheng

Petrus Antonius Van Der Heijden

Hongquan Jiang

Guomin Mao

Yiping Hsiao

Thomas Edward Dinan, Jr

Hicham Moulay Sougrati

Eugene Yuexing Zhao

Richard Thomas Campbell

A scissor type magnetic sensor having an improved back edge bias structure. The back edge bias structure extends beyond the sides of the sensor stack for improved bias moment and is formed on a flat topography that provide for improved magnetic biasing. The sensor is formed by a method that includes first defining a sensor width and then depositing a multi-layer insulation layer that includes a dielectric layer that is resistant to ion milling and the depositing a fill layer over the dielectric layer that is removable by ion milling. After the multi-layer insulation layer has been deposited the back edge (i.e. stripe height) of the sensor is formed by masking and ion milling. This ion milling removes portions of the non-magnetic, electrically insulating fill layer that extend beyond the stripe height and beyond the sides of the sensor, leaving the dielectric layer there-beneath.

Scissor sensor with back edge bias structure and novel dielectric layer

A method for manufacturing a magnetic sensor that allows the sensor to be constructed with a very narrow track width and with smooth, well defined side walls. A tri-layer mask structure is deposited over a series of sensor layers. The tri-layer mask structure includes an under-layer, a Si containing hard mask deposited over the under-layer and a photoresist layer deposited over the Si containing hard mask. The photoresist layer is photolithographically patterned to define a photoresist mask. A first reactive ion etching is performed to transfer the image of the photoresist mask onto the Si containing hard mask. The first reactive ion etching is performed in a chemistry that includes CF, CHF, O, and He. A second reactive ion etching is then performed in an oxygen chemistry to transfer the image of the Si containing hard mask onto the under-layer, and an ion milling is performed to define the sensor.

Method for manufacturing a magnetoresistive sensor

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

A method is provided of smoothing the perturbations on a surface, in particular the surface of a magnetic head slider, the method comprising several steps. At least one air-bearing surface to be smoothed is exposed to an ion species generated from a defined source to form a beam of incident radiation. The beam has a linear axis emanating from the source and thus forms an angle of incident radiation with respect to the surface to be smoothed. The at least one surface is smoothed by exposing the surface(s) to be smoothed to the beam of incident radiation, where the angle of incident radiation is less than 90&deg; relative to a vertical axis drawn perpendicular to the surface to be smoothed. To make a corrosion resistant magnetic head slider, the method further comprises coating the smoothed surface with a layer of amorphous carbon.

Method of improving the reliability of magnetic head sensors by ion milling smoothing

The method for controlling the depth of polishing during a CMP process involves the deposition of a polishing stop layer at an appropriate point in the device fabrication process. The stop layer is comprised of a substance that is substantially more resistant to polishing with a particular polishing slurry that is utilized in the CMP process than a polishable material layer. Preferred stop layer materials of the present invention are tantalum and diamond-like carbon (DLC), and the polishable layer may consist of alumina. In one embodiment of the present invention the stop layer is deposited directly onto the top surface of components to be protected during the CMP process. A polishable layer is thereafter deposited upon the stop layer, and the CMP polishing step removes the polishable material layer down to the portions of the stop layer that are deposited upon the top surfaces of the components. The stop layer is thereafter removed from the top surface of the components. In this embodiment, the fabricated height of the components is preserved.

Chemical mechanical polishing thickness control in magnetic head fabrication

An etch barrier to be used in a photolithograph process is disclosed. A silicon rich etch barrier is deposited on a substrate using a low energy deposition technique. A diamond like carbon layer is deposited on the silicon rich etch barrier. Photoresist is then placed on this etch barrier DLC combination. To form photolithographic features, successive steps of oxygen and flourine reactive ion etching is used.

Method of manufacturing high aspect ratio photolithographic features

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Thao Pham