Abstract: A method for fabricating an isolation layer in a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate, forming a trench over the substrate, forming a liner nitride layer and a liner oxide layer along a surface of the trench, forming an insulation layer having an etch selectivity ratio different from that of the liner oxide layer over the liner oxide layer, forming a spin on dielectric (SOD) oxide layer to fill a portion of the trench over the insulation layer, and forming a high density plasma (HDP) oxide layer for filling the remaining a portion of the trench.

Abstract: A method of controlling a flying height of a magnetic head of a hard disk drive includes calculating a corrected flying on demand (FOD) voltage to correct a difference between a measured flying height measured by applying a burn-in FOD voltage corresponding to a target flying height and a burn-in flying height in a reference FOD voltage profile corresponding to the burn-in FOD voltage, using the reference FOD voltage profile, in the reference FOD voltage profile that is a profile of a second signal for calculating the flying height of the magnetic head with respect to a first signal for calculating an FOD voltage that allows an end of the magnetic head to thermally expand and protrude when applied to a heater included in the magnetic head, and applying an applied FOD voltage obtained by applying the corrected FOD voltage, to the burn-in FOD voltage, to control the flying height of the magnetic head.

Abstract: A method for forming a storage node contact plug in a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes: forming an inter-layer insulation layer over a substrate having a conductive plug; etching a portion of the inter-layer insulation layer using at least line type storage node contact masks as an etch mask to form a first contact hole with sloping sidewalls; etching another portion of the inter-layer insulation layer underneath the first contact hole to form a second contact hole exposing the conductive plug, the second contact hole having substantially vertical sidewalls; and filling the first and second storage node contact holes to form a storage node contact plug.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming a fuse over a substrate, the fuse having a barrier layer, a metal layer, and an anti-reflective layer stacked, selectively removing the anti-reflective layer, forming an insulation layer over a whole surface of the resultant structure including the fuse, and performing repair-etching such that part of the insulation layer remains above the fuse.

Abstract: An apparatus and method of setting up a bit error rate (BER) criterion and an apparatus and method of performing a burn-in test using the method of setting up the BER criterion. The method of setting the BER criterion includes measuring temperatures of hard disc drives (HDDs), and changing a BER criterion in which, if the measured temperature of the HDD is higher than an optimum temperature for a burn-in test, a new BER criterion having a value greater than the BER criterion of the optimum temperature is set up, and, if the measured temperature of the HDD is lower than an optimum temperature for a burn-in test, a new BER criterion having a value less than the BER criterion of the optimum temperature is set up.

Abstract: A method of controlling a flying height of a magnetic head of a hard disk drive apparatus includes producing a reference FOD (flying on demand) voltage profile defining a relationship between the flying height of the magnetic head and an FOD voltage at a measured temperature, wherein an end of the magnetic head thermally expands and protrudes when the FOD voltage is applied to a heater included in the magnetic head and setting the reference FOD voltage profile that is corrected using a reference maximum flying height of the magnetic head that is preset at room temperature, as an applied FOD voltage profile to control the flying height of the magnetic head.

Abstract: A method for fabricating an isolation layer in a semiconductor device includes providing a substrate, forming a trench over the substrate, forming a liner nitride layer and a liner oxide layer along a surface of the trench, forming an insulation layer having an etch selectivity ratio different from that of the liner oxide layer over the liner oxide layer, forming a spin on dielectric (SOD) oxide layer to fill a portion of the trench over the insulation layer, and forming a high density plasma (HDP) oxide layer for filling the remaining a portion of the trench.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a semiconductor device having a recess gate includes forming a first recess pattern by etching the substrate and a sidewall protection layer on sidewalls of the first recess pattern, forming a second recess pattern having a greater width than the first recess pattern by etching a certain portion of the substrate below a bottom portion of the first recess pattern, and forming a gate electrode filling the first and the second recess patterns.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a storage node contact in a semiconductor device includes forming a landing plug over a substrate, forming a first insulation layer over the landing plug, forming a bit line pattern over the first insulation layer, forming a second insulation layer over the bit line pattern, forming a mask pattern for forming a storage node contact over the second insulation layer, etching the second and first insulation layers until the landing plug is exposed to form a storage node contact hole including a portion having a rounded profile, filling a conductive material in the storage node contact hole to form a contact plug, and forming a storage node over the contact plug.

Abstract: The invention includes a testing method which may be applied to at least one writer in a disk drive during the self-test phase to generate write parameters, focused on the Over Shoot Control (OSC) of the write current parameter to improve the reliability of write operations by that writer. The Minimum OSC is used for write operations in normal temperatures. The Optimum OSC is used for a first lower temperature range, preferably between essentially 15 degrees Centigrade and essentially 5 degrees Centigrade. The Maximum OSC is preferred below essentially 5 degrees Centigrade. The Minimum OSC should preferably guarantee both an Adjacent Track Write (ATW) criteria, as well as guarantee a Write Induced Instability (WII) criteria. The invention includes the write parameter collection, as well as the disk drive containing the generated write parameter collection.

Abstract: A method for forming a semiconductor device having a recess pattern with a rounded top corner is provided. The method includes forming an etch mask pattern including a patterned sacrificial layer and a patterned hard mask layer over a substrate; etching predetermined portions of exposed sidewalls of the patterned sacrificial layer to form an undercut; etching the substrate to a predetermined depth using the etch mask pattern as an etch mask to form a recess having top corners; and performing an isotropic etching process to round the top corners of the recess beneath the undercut.

Abstract: A method for forming a storage node contact plug in a semiconductor device is provided. The method includes: forming an inter-layer insulation layer over a substrate having a conductive plug; etching a portion of the inter-layer insulation layer using at least line type storage node contact masks as an etch mask to form a first contact hole with sloping sidewalls; etching another portion of the inter-layer insulation layer underneath the first contact hole to form a second contact hole exposing the conductive plug, the second contact hole having substantially vertical sidewalls; and filling the first and second storage node contact holes to form a storage node contact plug.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a semiconductor device with a deep opening is provided. The method includes: forming an insulation layer on a substrate; selectively etching the insulation layer to form first openings; enlarging areas of the first openings; forming anti-bowing spacers on sidewalls of the enlarged first openings; and etching portions of the insulation layer remaining beneath the enlarged first openings to form second openings.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a region in which a fuse is formed is provided. The method includes forming a first insulation layer over a substrate, forming a plurality of fuses over the first insulation layer, forming a second insulation layer to cover the fuses, forming an etch stop layer over the second insulation layer, forming a metal layer over a predetermined portion of the etch stop layer, forming a third insulation layer to cover the metal layer, performing a pad/repair process on the third insulation layer until the metal layer and the etch stop layer are exposed, and selectively removing the exposed portion of the etch stop layer and the second insulation layer.

Abstract: Provided are a method of improving a recording performance of a hard disk drive (HDD) by controlling write strength according to a flying height of a head and a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a computer-readable program suitable for the method. The method of controlling write strength of the HDD includes calculating the flying height of the head before starting a recording operation and controlling the write strength according to the calculated flying height. Accordingly, optimal writing can be performed by the write strength according to the head flying height.

Abstract: A method for fabricating a semiconductor device includes forming an inter-layer insulation layer on a substrate; forming openings in the inter-layer insulation layer; forming a metal barrier layer in the openings and on the inter-layer insulation layer; forming a first conductive layer on the metal barrier layer and filled in the openings; etching the first conductive layer to form interconnection layers in the openings and to expose portions of the metal barrier layer, the interconnection layers being inside the openings and at a depth from a top of the openings; etching the exposed portions of the metal barrier layer to obtain a sloped profile of the metal barrier layer at top lateral portions of the openings; forming a second conductive layer over the inter-layer insulation layer, the interconnection layers and the metal barrier layer with the sloped profile; and patterning the second conductive layer to form metal lines.

Abstract: Thermal pole tip protrusion is caused by materials in and around head slider expanding during write operations till they protrude, leading to contact with the rotating disk surface, altering the flying height and often wearing down part of the disk surface. While well known that read-write heads expand during writing, the inventors who recognized this situation's significance, particularly as flying height decreases and data rates increase, both required for high areal density disk drives. The inventors realized that they could detect the problem at the spin stand level by testing head gimbal assemblies to reliably, and inexpensively, predict the tendency for thermal pole tip protrusion. This leads to selection of head gimbal assemblies, which do not have the thermal pole tip protrusion tendency. The selected head gimbal assemblies have better reliability, as do actuators and disk drives made with the selected head gimbal assemblies.

Abstract: A reassigning method, medium, and apparatus for processing latent defects of a hard disc drive (HDD). The method of processing defects in an HDD may includes detecting latent defects that may develop into irrecoverable defects in the future, registering the detected latent defects in a temporary list, and replacing the latent defects registered in the temporary list by normal sectors when the HDD is in an idle state. Accordingly, performance and reliability of HDDs can be improved by such detecting of latent and reassigning the latent defects before they develop into actual defects.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for fabricating a gate electrode in a semiconductor device. The method includes the steps of: forming a plurality of trenches on a substrate in a cell region; sequentially forming a gate oxide layer, a polysilicon layer, a metal silicide layer and an insulation layer for a hard mask on the substrate; forming a mask pattern for forming the gate electrode on the insulation layer; forming a hard mask pattern by etching the insulation layer by using the mask pattern as an etch mask; removing the mask pattern; etching the metal silicide layer by using the hard mask pattern until the polysilicon layer is exposed in the peripheral region; etching the polysilicon layer by using a gas including chlorine (Cl2), nitrogen (N2) and helium (He) until the gate oxide layer is exposed in the peripheral region; and etching the polysilicon layer remained in the cell region.

Abstract: A hard disk drive that includes a heater to heat an internal cavity of the drive. The disk drive may also have a temperature sensor to sense the temperature of the internal cavity, and a control circuit to control the heater and maintain the disk drive cavity, to be no less than a threshold temperature. The threshold temperature may correspond to a point where the heads of the drive undergo a significant degradation of performance. Maintaining the disk drive cavity temperature at or above the threshold temperature insures that the heads will not degrade due to temperature.