Aspects disclosed include reducing or avoiding metal deposition from etching magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices. In one example, a width of a bottom electrode of an MTJ device is provided to be less than a width of the MTJ stack of the MTJ device. In this manner, etching of the bottom electrode may be reduced or avoided to reduce or avoid metal redeposition as a result of over-etching the MTJ device to avoid horizontal shorts between an adjacent device(s). In another example, a seed layer is embedded in a bottom electrode of the MTJ device. In this manner, the MTJ stack is reduced in height to reduce or avoid metal redeposition as a result of over-etching the MTJ device. In another example, an MTJ device includes an embedded seed layer in a bottom electrode which also has a width less than a width of the MTJ stack.