REACTIVE ION BEAM ETCHING METHOD AND A THIN FILM HEAD FABRICATED USING THE METHOD

A reactive ion beam etching method which employs an oxidizing agent in a plasma contained in an ion source to control carbonaceous deposit (e.g., polymer) formation within the ion source and on the substrate. During operation of an ion source, after operating the ion source with a plasma having a carbonaceous deposit forming species, a plasma containing an oxidizing agent (species) is generated within the ion source. Preferably, within the ion source a plasma is maintained essentially continuously between the time that the carbonaceous deposit forming species is present and the time that the oxidizing agent is present. A reactive ion beam extracted from an ion source containing a plasma having an oxidizing species may be impinged onto a sample substrate to remove (i.e., etch) any carbonaceous material deposits (e.g., polymers) formed on the sample, such as may be formed from previous reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) processing steps using an ion beam having species which may form carbonaceous (e.g., polymer) deposits on the sample substrate structure. Preferably, a reactive ion beam containing an oxidizing species is incident upon the sample at an angle which enhances the selectivity of the carbonaceous deposit (e.g., polymer) etching relative to other materials upon which the ion beam impinges. A thin film magnetic head is fabricated according to a pole trimming process which employs RIBE with an oxidizing species to remove any carbonaceous material (e.g., polymer) deposits formed during a previous fluorocarbon based RIBE step.