Method of etching a magnetic material film stack using a hard mask

摘要

A method of etching a film stack that includes at least one layer of magnetic material comprises forming a high temperature mask on the film stack. The film stack is then etched. During the etching process, a residue is formed that comprises components of the high temperature mask. Since the residue and the high temperature mask comprise primarily the same material, the high temperature mask and the residue are simultaneously removed. The method may be used to form a film stack for use in a magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM) device.