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Dry etch stop process for eliminating electrical shorting in mram device structures

A memory and magnetic junction technology, applied in circuits, semiconductor/solid-state device manufacturing, electrical components, etc., to solve problems such as the influence of MRAM structure outline and electrical short circuit

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-06-03
TEGAL CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0006] A disadvantage of current etching techniques is that MRAM structure profiles are susceptible to electrical shorts through thin tunnel junctions

Method used

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  • Dry etch stop process for eliminating electrical shorting in mram device structures
  • Dry etch stop process for eliminating electrical shorting in mram device structures
  • Dry etch stop process for eliminating electrical shorting in mram device structures

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Embodiment Construction

[0027] The present invention is based in part on the development of a patterning method for fabricating Magnetic Tunnel Junction (MTJ) devices for use in Magnetic Random Access Memory (MRAM) devices. As will be further described herein, a key aspect of the present invention is that the MTJ devices fabricated by the inventive process provide superior electrical isolation between the magnet layers in contact with the dielectric tunnel layer compared to the prior art.

[0028] A typical MRAM structure which contains MTJs is in figure 1 shown in . The MRAM structure is a composite stack of magnetic, conductive and insulating films on a substrate. exist figure 1 , shows the specific components of a typical MRAM structure and consists of a substrate 10, a barrier layer 12, a bottom contact (BM) layer 14, a multilayer fixed magnet structure consisting of layers of CoFe, Ru, NiFe, IrMn, PtMn, etc. 16. A dielectric tunnel layer 18 such as alumina or MgO, a switchable magnetic layer ...

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PUM

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Abstract

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication and particularly to fabricating magnetic tunnel junction devices. In particular, this invention relates to a method for using the dielectric layer in tunnel junctions as an etch stop layer to eliminate electrical shorting that can result from the patterning process.

Description

[0001] This application requires No. 60 / 783,157 filed on March 16, 2005, entitled "Dry etch stopprocess for eliminating electrical shorting in MRAM device structures (elimination of dry etch stop process for eliminating electrical shorting in MRAM device structures)" in the United States priority of the provisional application and is hereby incorporated by reference. technical field [0002] The present invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication, and in particular to fabrication of device structures comprising, for example, metal-insulator-metal layered thin film stacks for magnetic tunnel junction devices and memory devices. Background technique [0003] A metal-insulator-metal laminated film is used as a storage element in a memory device such as a magnetic random access memory (MRAM, magnetic random access memory). Memory elements used in MRAM technology are patterned structures of multiple layers of material and typically consist of a stack of different mat...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): H01L21/00
Inventor 罗伯特·迪蒂奇奥
Owner TEGAL CORP