US 5,492,605 A · Ion beam induced sputtered multilayered magnetic structures

Abstract

An ion beam sputter deposition system and method for the fabrication of multilayered thin film structures is described. Selected combinations of ion beam gases and energies matched to the selected target materials optimize the physical, magnetic and electrical properties of the deposited thin film layers. Matching the ion beam gas atomic mass to the target material atomic mass provides thin metal films having densities and resistivities very close to their bulk property values. Utilizing low ion beam energies in combination with high-mass ion beam gases results in the deposited thin films having low internal stress. The ratio of the ion beam gas mass to the target material mass is shown to be the determining factor for achieving the desired thin film properties in the described ion beam sputtering system. Both the mass of the ion beam sputtering gas and the energy of the ion beam is controlled as a function of the target material to provide single-layered and multilayered structures wherein selected properties of each layer are optimized to provide a specific function for each layer in the resulting structure.

Claims36

Dependent claims

A method for fabrication of a multilayered magnetoresistive sensor structure utilizing an ion beam sputter deposition process, comprising the steps of:

forming a soft magnetic layer on a substrate by sputtering a soft magnetic layer target material of a specified atomic mass using a first ion beam sputtering gas of a specified atomic mass, said first ion beam sputtering gas atomic mass and the soft magnetic layer target material atomic mass being in a first ratio of a predetermined value;
forming a spacer layer over said soft magnetic layer by sputtering a spacer layer target material of a specified atomic mass using a second ion beam sputtering gas of a specified atomic mass, said second ion beam sputtering gas atomic mass and the spacer layer target material atomic mass being in a second ratio of a predetermined value;
and
forming a magnetoresistive layer over said spacer layer by sputtering a magnetoresistive layer target material of a specified atomic mass using a third ion beam sputtering gas of a specified atomic mass, said third ion beam sputtering gas atomic mass and the magnetoresistive layer target material atomic mass being in a third ratio of a predetermined value.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Ion beam induced sputtered multilayered magnetic structures

Life of this patent

Ion beam induced sputtered multilayered magnetic structures

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims36