Patent ID: 8542526

Claim:
A method of making a magnetic random access memory cell comprising: a. forming a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) on top of a wafer; b. depositing oxide on top of the MTJ; c. depositing a photo-resist layer on top of the oxide layer; d. forming a trench in the photo-resist layer and oxide layer, the trench having a width that is substantially the same as that of the MTJ; e. removing the photo-resist layer; f. depositing a hard mask layer on top of the oxide layer in the trench; g. planarizing the wafer to remove the portion of the hard mask layer that is not in the trench, and to substantially level the top of oxide layer and the hard layer on the wafer; and h. etching the remaining oxide layer; and i. etching the MTJ to remove the portion of the MTJ which is not covered by the hard mask layer.