Method of fabricating an improved thin film device having a small element with well defined corners

Abstract

The novel method of fabrication of the present invention allows conventional or other lithography machines to produce very small well defined thin film structures or elements. The present invention provides a method to produce well defined elements, including sensors or read heads well below 0.1 microns, even when using conventional photolithography processes. The presently preferred method for forming the thin film device of the present invention includes depositing and exposing resist so as to define a first thin resist stripe. A portion of the resist is removed leaving a first thin strip covering a portion of the first material layer. The uncovered portion of the first material layer is removed to leave a first material strip. A second resist layer is deposited and exposed so as to define a second thin stripe intersecting the first material strip. A portion of the second resist layer is removed so as to leave a second thin strip of resist covering a portion of the first material strip. The uncovered portion of the first material strip is removed leaving the small thin film element. Typically, the second thin strip of resist is formed perpendicular to the first material strip thereby providing a very small thin film element having planar surfaces with precisely defined squared corners. A feature of the present invention is that it provides a small magneto-resistive read head having a planar sensing surface with abutting planar side walls orthogonal to the sensing surface thereby providing a well defined small sensor element.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.