Qualcomm Assigned Patent

Qualcomm, Inc., San Diego, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,981,502) developed by Chen, Wei-Chuan, and Kang, Seung H., San Diego, CA, for a “fabricating a magnetic tunnel junction storage element.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods for forming a magnetic tunnel junction, (MTJ) storage element and MTJ storage elements formed are disclosed. The MTJ storage element includes a MTJ stack having a pinned layer stack, a barrier layer and a free layer. An adjusting layer is formed on the free layer, such that the free layer is protected from process related damages. A top electrode is formed on the adjusting layer and the adjusting layer and the free layer are etched utilizing the top electrode as a mask. A spacer layer is then formed, encapsulating the top electrode, the adjusting layer and the free layer. The spacer layer and the remaining portions of the MTJ stack are etched. A protective covering layer is deposited over the spacer layer and the MTJ stack..“

The patent application was filed on March 29, 2010 (12/748,750).