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Dry Etching of MRAM Structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

S.J. Pearton ,
H. Cho ,
K.B. Jung ,
J.R. Childress ,
F. Sharifi  and
J. Marburger
S.J. Pearton
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
H. Cho
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and EngineeringUniversity of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
K.B. Jung
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center San Jose, CA 95120
J.R. Childress
Affiliation:
IBM Almaden Research Center San Jose, CA 95120
F. Sharifi
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
J. Marburger
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
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Abstract

A wide variety of GMR and CMR materials have been patterned by high density plasma etching in both corrosive (Cl2-based) and non-corrosive (CO/NH3) plasma chemistries. The former produce much higher etch rates but require careful in-situ or ex-situ, post-etch cleaning to prevent corrosion of the metallic multilayers. The former may have application for shallow etching of NiFe-based structures, but there is little chemical contribution to the etch mechanism and mask erosion can be a problem. The magnetic performance of patterned MRAM elements is stable over long periods (>1 year) after etching in Cl2 plasmas, provided a suitable cleaning protocol is followed. It is also clear that high ion energies during patterning of magnetic materials can have a significant influence on their coercivity. The effects of ion energy, ion flux and process temperature are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 614: Symposium F – Magnetic Materials, Structures & Processing for Information… , 2000 , F10.2.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

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References

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