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US 8,394,280 B1Granted
Resist pattern protection technique for double patterning application
AssigneeWestern Digital (Fremont), LLC
InventorsDujiang Wan, Hai Sun, Hongping Yuan, Ling Wang, Xianzhong Zeng
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Abstract
Methods of patterning a material are disclosed. A first resist pattern is formed on a field. A protective layer is formed over the first resist pattern and at least a portion of the field. A second resist pattern is formed over a portion of the protective layer. A portion of a material to be patterned deposited adjacent to the first and second resist patterns is removed.
Claims9
A method of patterning a hard mask, the method comprising:
- forming a first resist pattern over a field;
- depositing a protective layer over the first resist pattern and at least a first portion of the field;
- forming a second resist pattern over at least a portion of the protective layer, the protective layer protecting the first resist pattern from a patterning process used to form the second resist pattern;
- depositing a hard mask material over the first and second resist patterns and at least a second portion of the field not covered by the first and second resist patterns;
- and
- forming a patterned hard mask by removing a portion of the hard mask material deposited over the first and second resist patterns,
- wherein the field comprises an aluminum oxide (Al2O3) layer to be etched via the patterned hard mask, and the Al2O3 layer is part of a writer structure associated with a perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) write head.
4 more elements
A method of patterning a hard mask, the method comprising:
- forming a first resist pattern over a field;
- depositing a protective layer over the first resist pattern and at least a first portion of the field;
- forming a second resist pattern over at least a portion of the protective layer, the protective layer protecting the first resist pattern from a patterning process used to form the second resist pattern;
- depositing a hard mask material over the first and second resist patterns and at least a second portion of the field not covered by the first and second resist patterns;
- and
- forming a patterned hard mask by removing a portion of the hard mask material deposited over the first and second resist patterns,
- wherein the removing comprises performing a lift off operation, the lift-off operation comprises subjecting the first and second resist patterns to a wet etching operation, and the removing further comprises performing an ion milling operation to expose sides of the first and second resist patterns prior to subjecting the first and second resist patterns to the wet etching operation.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.