Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Typical thin film heads (TFH) process comparison with typical semiconductor processes. In general, TFH manufacturing is less demanding for defectivity and throughput requirements. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. TFH areal density growth projection. (Note: PMR, perpendicular magnetic recording; SMR, shingled magnetic recording; HAMR, heat assisted magnetic recording; CAGR, compounded annual growth rate). Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Theoretical reader sensor critical dimension (CD) as a function of areal density and bit aspect ratio (assumes RW ∼ 0.5 bit width). Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Reader width (RW) template CD uniformity bubble plot as measured on template in nanometers. Collected following Cr and quartz etch processing and prior to final dicing and polishing. The reported CD uniformity (CDU) was 0.75 nm (3σ). Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. STRP Template CD uniformity bubble plot as measured on template in nm. Collected following Cr and quartz etch processing and prior to final dicing and polishing. The reported CDU was 1.04 nm (3σ). Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. RW, stripe height (STRP), near field transducer (NFT) template image placement results measured in nanometers. RW and NFT templates were patterned on a newer generation EB writer than the STRP template. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Post imprint CD uniformity (1σ) demonstration with units in nanometers. The wafer mean distribution is bimodal, which increases the wafer to wafer (WTW) component of variance. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Post imprint CD uniformity (1σ) demonstration with a reduced dataset that includes only one of the distributions for wafer mean. The WTW component of variance is significantly reduced and the within field character dominates the sources of error. All units are in nanometers. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Postdescum etch CD uniformity (1σ) demonstration with units in nanometers. The pooled CDU degraded from postimprint from 0.6 nm→2.5 nm. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Descum etch trim step end point detection signal. Each trace represents a unique wafer and the RLT breakthrough is indicated at the second signal minima. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) resist and residual layer thickness uniformity (1σ) in nanometers. A single lot from the demonstration (HB0BC) was a significant outlier for wafer RLT mean and was removed for the purposes of calculating the statistics. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) comparison between wafers processed at RW layer with NIL versus an optical scanner process. Results are similar between the two patterning methods and most variation is dominated by factors other than the lithography process. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. MT50 comparison between wafers produced with an optical scanner versus NIL at RW photo layer. Results are similar between the two patterning methods and most variation is dominated by factors other than the lithography process. This demonstrates that the wafers processed with NIL have produced a functioning thin film head device. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Signal to noise ratio (SNR) comparison between wafers produced with an optical scanner versus NIL at RW photo layer. This demonstrates that the wafers processed with NIL have produced a functioning thin film head device. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. NIL→optical overlay performance in nanometers. Project goal for overlay was <25 nm. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. HB0AZ example RW→Zero layer overlay vector plot and noncorrectable residuals. The raw overlay μ+3σ=21.0/21.4 nm and the residual μ+3σ=14.9/10.0 nm. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. HB0AZ example noncorrectable residual for a composite average of all imprint fields at RW layer and a composite average of all optical fields at the zero layer. Improvements to the zero layer patterning are expected to allow for future overlay performance gains. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Example of exposure field stitching errors in a thin film head lapping bar due to a rotation of the reticle field. This creates a discontinuity in the registration of the devices at the field boundaries. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM

Date of download: 9/16/2016 Copyright © 2016 SPIE. All rights reserved. Example illustration comparing large NIL fields that would not require any stitching with smaller optical scanner field sizes. Figure Legend: From: Hard disk drive thin film head manufactured using nanoimprint lithography J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 2013;12(3): doi: /1.JMM