Patent ID: 9559294
Date: 2017-01-31
CPC Classifications: H01L

Claim:
1. A method for manufacturing a magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM) cell, the method comprising: forming a MRAM stack comprising an anti-ferromagnetic layer, a pin layer, a barrier layer, and a free layer stacked in that order; forming a hard mask layer over the MRAM stack and masking a device region of the MRAM stack; performing a first etch to the barrier layer through regions of the free layer unmasked by the hard mask layer; forming a first sidewall spacer layer extending from over the barrier layer, along sidewalls of the remaining free layer and the hard mask layer, to a point below or about even with a top surface of the hard mask layer; performing a second etch to the anti-ferromagnetic layer through regions of the barrier and pin layers unmasked by the hard mask layer and the first sidewall spacer layer; and forming a second sidewall spacer layer extending from over the anti-ferromagnetic layer, along sidewalls of the remaining barrier and pin layers, to a point below or about even with the top surface of the hard mask layer, wherein forming the second sidewall spacer layer includes: