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:
Jun. 09, 2009
Filed:
Jul. 03, 2007
Applicant:
Lin Yang, Fremont, CA (US);
Inventor:
Lin Yang, Fremont, CA (US);
Assignees:
Headway Technologies, Inc., Milpitas, CA (US);
Applied Spintronics, Inc., Milpitas, CA (US);
Attorneys:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H01L 29/76 (2006.01); H01L 29/94 (2006.01); H01L 31/062 (2006.01); H01L 31/113 (2006.01); H01L 31/119 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Following CMP, a magnetic tunnel junction stack may protrude through the oxide that surrounds it, making it susceptible to possible shorting to its sidewalls. The present invention overcomes this problem by depositing silicon nitride spacers on these sidewalls prior to oxide deposition and CMP. So, even though the stack may protrude through the top surface of the oxide after CMP, the spacers serve to prevent possible later shorting to the stack.