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:
Dec. 05, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 23, 1998
Michael J Jennison, Broomfield, CO (US);
Wei Pan, Goleta, CA (US);
Matsushita-Kotobuki Electronics Industries, Ltd., Saijo, JP;
Abstract
A top surface imaging technique for top pole tip width control in a magnetoresistive ('MR') or giant magnetoresistive ('GMR') read/write head is disclosed in which a multi-layer structure is employed to define the thick photoresist during processing resulting in much improved dimensional control. To this end, a relatively thin upper photoresist layer is patterned with much improved resolution, an intermediate metal or ceramic layer is then defined utilizing the upper photoresist layer as a reactive ion etching ('RIE') mask, with the intermediate layer then being used as an etching mask to define the bottom-most thick photoresist layer in a second RIE process. As a consequence, a much improved sub-micron pole tip width along with a high aspect ratio and vertical profile is provided together with much improved critical dimension control.