The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 12, 2022
Filed:
Jan. 17, 2020
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Tai-Yen Peng, Hsinchu, TW;
Hui-Hsien Wei, Taoyuan, TW;
Han-Ting Lin, Hsinchu, TW;
Sin-Yi Yang, Taichung, TW;
Yu-Shu Chen, Hsinchu, TW;
An-Shen Chang, Jubei, TW;
Qiang Fu, Hsinchu, TW;
Chen-Jung Wang, Hsinchu, TW;
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsinchu, TW;
Abstract
In an embodiment, a method includes: forming a first inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer over a semiconductor substrate; forming a bottom electrode layer over the first IMD layer; forming a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) film stack over the bottom electrode layer; forming a first top electrode layer over the MTJ film stack; forming a protective mask covering a first region of the first top electrode layer, a second region of the first top electrode layer being uncovered by the protective mask; forming a second top electrode layer over the protective mask and the first top electrode layer; and patterning the second top electrode layer, the first top electrode layer, the MTJ film stack, the bottom electrode layer, and the first IMD layer with an ion beam etching (IBE) process to form a MRAM cell, where the protective mask is etched during the IBE process.