Patent ID: 8273582

Claim:
A method, comprising: providing a substrate; forming a trench, comprising: depositing a trench layer on the substrate; and forming the trench in the trench layer; forming a plurality of thin-film components of a device in the trench, wherein the plurality of thin-film components comprises at least a magnetic thin-film component, comprising: depositing the plurality of thin-film components in the trench and on the trench layer; and processing the deposited thin-film components by removing a portion of the deposited layers on the trench layer such that the thin-film components within the trench have a desired thickness, wherein the device is a magnetic-random-access memory cell that comprises a magnetic tunnel junction that comprises a tunnel junction layer positioned between a free magnetic layer and a fixed magnetic layer, the substrate comprises the fixed magnetic layer and the tunnel junction layer; and wherein the trench layer is comprised of a dielectric material; and wherein the stack of thin-film components within the trench comprises the free magnetic layer.