METHOD FOR MAKING ULTRA-NARROW READ SENSOR AND READ TRANSDUCER DEVICE RESULTING THEREFROM
Disclosed are methods for making ultra-narrow track width (TW) read sensors, and read transducers incorporating such sensors. The methods utilize side-wall line patterning techniques to prepare ultra-narrow mill masks that can be used to prepare the ultra-narrow read sensors.
1 . An apparatus, comprising:
a read sensor comprising a patterned read sensor stack on a substrate, wherein the read sensor stack comprises a plurality of layers; and
a mill mask above the read sensor stack, wherein the mill mask is a line structure deposited via a side-wall line patterning technique.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mill mask comprises a material capable of conformal deposition.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mill mask comprises alumina.
4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mill mask comprises a line structure with a thickness within the range of about 3 to 35 nm.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mill mask comprises a line structure with a thickness within the range of about 5 to 20 nm.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mill mask has critical dimension uniformity of less than about 1 nm.
7 . A read sensor comprising a read junction between about 3 to 35 nm wide.
8 . The read sensor of claim 7 , wherein the read junction is between about 5 to 20 nm wide.
9 . The read sensor of claim 7 , wherein the read junction is between about 7 to 18 nm wide.