Patent ID: 8563225

Claim:
A method of forming a hard mask in a semiconductor device which is self-aligned with a magnetic structure formed in the device, the method comprising the steps of: forming a hard mask material layer on an upper surface of a magnetic stack in the magnetic structure; forming an anti-reflective coating (ARC) layer on at least a portion of an upper surface of the hard mask material layer, the ARC layer being selected to be removable by a wet etch; forming a photoresist layer on at least a portion of an upper surface of the ARC layer; removing at least a portion of the photoresist layer and a part of the ARC layer under the removed portion of the photoresist layer to thereby expose part of the hard mask material layer under the removed part of the ARC layer; etching the hard mask material layer to remove the exposed part of the hard mask material layer; performing a wet strip to remove a remaining portions of the ARC layer and a remaining portion of the photoresist layer in a same processing step without interference to the magnetic stack; and forming an etch stop layer on at least the portion of the upper surface of the hard mask material layer under the ARC layer, wherein a thickness of the etch stop layer is greater than a thickness of the hard mask material layer, and wherein the hard mask material layer comprises a conductive material.