Patent ID: 8962493
Filing Date: 2015-02-24
Classification: G11C,H01L

Abstract:
1. A manufacturing method to form a memory device, comprising: forming a dielectric layer adjacent to a magnetic stack; forming an opening in the dielectric layer; forming a first layer adjacent to a sidewall of the opening to reduce a lateral extent of the opening; applying a hard mask material adjacent to the first layer to form a pillar disposed in the opening of the dielectric layer, wherein the hard mask material is electrically conductive, and the pillar having a lateral boundary that circumscribes the pillar; removing the first layer to expose the lateral boundary of the pillar; and using the pillar as a hard mask, and subsequent to removing the first layer, patterning the magnetic stack to form a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) cell such that the lateral boundary of the pillar is substantially aligned with a full extent of a lateral boundary of the MRAM cell that circumscribes the MRAM cell.