Method for reducing oxidation of electroplating chamber contacts and improving uniform electroplating of a substrate
First Claim
1. A method for electroplating a substrate, comprising the steps of:
- (a) immersing a contact for positioning the substrate into an electrolyte solution;
(b) applying a first current amount to the contact for plating only the contact with a metal layer;
(c) positioning the substrate with the plated contact in the electrolyte solution; and
(d) applying a second current amount to the substrate for forming a metal layer on the substrate.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for electroplating a silicon substrate in manufacturing a semiconductive device is provided. Electroplating process chamber contacts or fingers used in positioning a silicon substrate or wafer during an electroplating process are plated with a metal layer to prevent oxidation of the contacts. Oxidation of the contacts may result in increased and varying resistance of the contacts and thus nonuniform plating of the silicon wafer and possibly even deplating of a seed layer. A 20 mA/cm2 current is applied to the contacts which are immersed in an electrolyte solution before loading a silicon wafer. A silicon wafer is then loaded into the electroplating process chamber containing the electrolyte solution. The preplating of the contacts enables the formation of a uniform metal layer on the silicon substrate. Additionally, voltage then may be applied to the contacts after unloading the silicon wafer to reduce oxidation. This electroplating method reduces expensive maintenance time in replacing or cleaning electroplating chamber contacts. The method also does not require expensive and complex electronics to monitor and supply current to the contacts.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for electroplating a substrate, comprising the steps of:
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(a) immersing a contact for positioning the substrate into an electrolyte solution; (b) applying a first current amount to the contact for plating only the contact with a metal layer; (c) positioning the substrate with the plated contact in the electrolyte solution; and (d) applying a second current amount to the substrate for forming a metal layer on the substrate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for electroplating a silicon wafer with a copper layer using an electroplating process chamber having a plurality of contacts and containing a copper electrolyte solution, comprising the steps of:
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(a) immersing the plurality of contacts into the copper electrolyte solution; (b) applying an approximately 20 mA/cm2 current to the plurality of contacts for plating only the plurality of contacts with a layer of copper; (c) removing the plurality of copper plated contacts from the copper electrolyte solution; (d) positioning the silicon wafer on the plurality of copper plated contacts; (e) immersing the plurality of copper plated contacts and silicon wafer into the electrolyte solution; and
,(f) applying a current to the plurality of copper plated contacts for plating the silicon wafer with the layer of copper. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification