Patent · US Expired

Method of patterning a magnetic tunnel junction stack for a magneto-resistive random access memory

US7211446B2 · kind B2 · utility

22Cited by

17References

18Claims

0Family size

Assignees

International Business Machines Corporation · US
Infineon Technologies AG · DE

Inventors

Michael C. Gaidis · Yorktown Heights, US
David W. Abraham · New York, US
Stephen L. Brown · Detroit, US
Arunava Gupta · Valley Cottage, US
Chanro Park · Clifton Park, US
Wolfgang Raberg · Sauerlach, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Jun 11, 2004
Grant date	May 1, 2007
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Sep 19, 2024

Classification

Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
CPC primaryH10N50/01
WIPO fieldComputer technology
WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method of patterning a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack is provided. According to such method, an MTJ stack is formed having a free layer, a pinned layer and a tunnel barrier layer disposed between the free layer and the pinned layer. A first area of the MTJ stack is masked while the free layer of the MTJ is exposed in a second area. The free layer is then rendered electrically and magnetically inactive in the second area.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.