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. 07, 2009
Filed:
Dec. 02, 2002
Gregory Breyta, San Jose, CA (US);
Mark Whitney Hart, San Jose, CA (US);
Bulent Nihat Kurdi, San Jose, CA (US);
Dennis Richard Mckean, Milpitas, CA (US);
Alfred Floyd Renaldo, San Jose, CA (US);
Douglas Johnson Werner, Fremont, CA (US);
Gregory Breyta, San Jose, CA (US);
Mark Whitney Hart, San Jose, CA (US);
Bulent Nihat Kurdi, San Jose, CA (US);
Dennis Richard McKean, Milpitas, CA (US);
Alfred Floyd Renaldo, San Jose, CA (US);
Douglas Johnson Werner, Fremont, CA (US);
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, NL;
Abstract
A read sensor for a magneto resistive head is formed through the use of a bilayer lift-off mask. According to one embodiment, a release layer is formed on top of a sensor layer. A silicon-containing resist layer is formed over the release layer. The resist layer is patterned according to the desired dimensions of the read sensor. Then, plasma etching, such as oxygen plasma etching, is used to remove the portion of the release layer that is exposed by removal of resist material. The release layer may be etched to undercut the patterned resist layer, or may entirely removed beneath the patterned resist layer to provide a bridge of the resist material. In either case, isotropic plasma etching, anisotropic plasma etching, or some combination thereof may be applied.