Patent ID: 7134182

Claim:
A method to form an embedded micro-pedestal in a conductive layer, having a first top surface, comprising: depositing on said top surface a layer of sputter resistant insulating material; forming a first stripe-shaped photoresist mask on said insulating layer and then etching all exposed portions of said insulating layer thereby forming a preliminary hard mask; removing said first photoresist mask and then forming, on said top surface and preliminary hard mask, a second stripe-shaped photoresist mask, that is orthogonally and symmetrically disposed relative to said preliminary hard mask, and then selectively etching all exposed portions of said insulating layer thereby forming a final hard mask; by means of ion milling, removing an amount of the layer wherever said first top surface is exposed, thereby forming said micro-pedestal and a second top surface; then, through electroless deposition, selectively depositing a layer of embedding material on said second top surface and on all sidewalls of said micro-pedestal; and removing said final hard mask.