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:
Aug. 05, 2014
Filed:
Dec. 13, 2012
Hgst Netherlands B.v., Amsterdam, NL;
Guomin Mao, San Jose, CA (US);
Aron Pentek, San Jose, CA (US);
Thao Pham, San Jose, CA (US);
Yi Zheng, San Ramon, CA (US);
HGST Netherlands B.V., Amsterdam, NL;
Abstract
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.