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  Plating apparatus, plating cup and cathode ringUSPTO Application #: 20070080057Title: Plating apparatus, plating cup and cathode ring Abstract: A plating apparatus (10) provided with: a plating vessel (61a to 61d) having a cylindrical side wall (361) for containing a plating liquid; a substrate holding mechanism (74a to 74d) for generally horizontally holding a generally round substrate (W) to be treated; a cathode ring (80) provided in the substrate holding mechanism and having substantially the same inner diameter as the plating vessel for sealing a peripheral edge portion of a lower surface of the substrate, the cathode ring having a cathode (83) to be brought into contact with the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism; and a rotative driving mechanism (45) for rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism together with the cathode ring; wherein the plating vessel has an upper edge portion complementary in configuration to a portion of the cathode ring opposed to the plating vessel so that the lower surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism can approach the plating vessel so as to be substantially flush with the upper edge of the plating vessel without interference between the upper edge portion of the plating vessel and the cathode ring. (end of abstract) Agent: Ostrolenk Faber Gerb & Soffen - New York, NY, US Inventors: Yasuhiro MIZOHATA, Hideaki MATSUBARA, Masahiro MIYAGI, Ryuichi HAYAMA USPTO Applicaton #: 20070080057 - Class: 204198000 (USPTO) Related Patent Categories: Chemistry: Electrical And Wave Energy, Apparatus, Electrolytic, Object Protection, Work Conveyer The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070080057. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a plating apparatus for plating a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer with copper. [0003] 2. Description of Related Art [0004] In the production of a semiconductor device, a plating process is often performed for plating one surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to simply as "wafer"). Plating apparatuses for the plating of the wafer are required to perform complicated process steps and to provide a high-quality metal film (for example, having a highly uniform thickness) by the plating. Since the semiconductor wafer is formed with fine holes and grooves, it is necessary to fill the fine holes and grooves with copper by the plating. [0005] An exemplary plating apparatus for the copper plating of the semiconductor wafer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,433 B1. [0006] However, none of the conventional plating apparatuses are satisfactory in the quality of a film formed by the plating, operability, productivity and the like. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide a plating apparatus which is capable of properly performing a plating process. [0008] It is another object of the present invention to provide a plating apparatus which features easier operation. [0009] It is further another object of the present invention to provide a plating apparatus which features higher productivity. [0010] It is still another object of the present invention to provide a plating cup which ensures that a plating process can properly be performed. [0011] It is further another object of the present invention to provide a cathode ring which ensures that a plating process can properly be performed. [0012] A plating apparatus (10) according to the present invention comprises: a plating vessel (61a to 61d) having a cylindrical side wall (361) for containing a plating liquid; a substrate holding mechanism (74a to 74d) for generally horizontally holding a generally round substrate (W) to be treated; a cathode ring (80) provided in the substrate holding mechanism and having substantially the same inner diameter as the plating vessel for sealing a peripheral edge portion of a lower surface of the substrate, the cathode ring having a cathode (83) to be brought into contact with the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism; and a rotative driving mechanism (45) for rotating the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism together with the cathode ring; wherein the plating vessel has an upper edge portion complementary in configuration to a portion of the cathode ring opposed to the plating vessel so that the lower surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism can approach the plating vessel so as to be substantially flush with an upper edge of the plating vessel without interference between the upper edge portion of the plating vessel and the cathode ring. The components represented by the parenthesized alphanumeric characters are equivalent to those to be described in the following embodiment. However, it should be understood that the present invention be not limited to the embodiment. This definition is also applied to the following description. [0013] With this arrangement, the plating liquid is contained in the plating vessel, and the lower surface of the to-be-treated substrate can be brought into contact with the plating liquid with the substrate being generally horizontally held by the substrate holding mechanism. The substrate may have a diameter greater than the inner diameter of the cathode ring. In this case, the peripheral edge portion of the lower surface of the substrate can be sealed by the cathode ring. Since the inner diameter of the cathode ring is virtually equal to the inner diameter of the plating vessel, a surface area of the substrate exposed from the cathode ring has a round shape having a diameter virtually equal to the inner diameter of the plating vessel, and the exposed surface area of the substrate is brought into contact with the plating liquid in a plating process. [0014] With the lower surface of the substrate kept in contact with the plating liquid, an electrolytic plating process can be performed on the lower surface of the substrate by electrically energizing the substrate via the cathode. At this time, the substrate can be moved relative to the plating liquid by rotating the substrate by means of the rotative driving mechanism, whereby the uniformity of the plating is improved. [0015] The plating liquid maybe supplied into the plating vessel, for example, via a pipe connected to the bottom of the plating vessel. In this case, the plating process can be performed, while the plating liquid is continuously supplied into the plating vessel to overflow from the upper edge of the plating vessel. Thus, the surface of the plating liquid is kept raised slightly from the edge of the plating vessel (e.g., by about 2.5 mm). Since the upper edge portion of the plating vessel is complementary in configuration to the portion (lower portion) of the cathode ring opposed to the plating vessel, the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism can be brought into contact with the plating liquid raised from the edge of the plating vessel without interference between the upper edge portion of the plating vessel and the cathode ring. [0016] Further, the lower surface of the substrate held by the substrate holding mechanism can be brought into substantially flush relation with the upper edge of the plating vessel, so that a distance between the lower surface of the substrate and the upper edge of the plating vessel can be reduced (e.g., to 0.3 mm to 1.0 mm) in the plating process. In this case, the plating liquid continuously supplied into the plating vessel flows in the form of a laminar flow along the lower surface of the substrate to the peripheral edge of the substrate in the vicinity of the lower surface of the substrate, and then flows out of the plating vessel through a gap defined between the upper edge of the plating vessel and the lower surface of the substrate. [0017] Even if air bubbles are trapped between the substrate and the plating liquid, the air bubbles flow together with the plating liquid out of the plating vessel. The laminar flow of the plating liquid flowing along the lower surface of the substrate to the peripheral edge of the substrate and the absence of the air bubbles on the lower surface of the substrate make it possible to form a uniform film by the plating. That is, this plating apparatus can advantageously perform the plating process. [0018] The inventive plating apparatus may further comprise a first adjustment mechanism (230, 231, 233, 235, 238A, 238B) for generally aligning the center axis of the plating vessel with the rotation axis of the cathode ring. [0019] With this arrangement, the center axis of the plating vessel can virtually be aligned with the rotation axis of the cathode ring by the first adjustment mechanism. Where the rotation axis and center axis of the cathode ring coincide with each other, the interference between the plating vessel and the cathode ring can be prevented even if the cathode ring is slightly spaced from the upper edge of the plating vessel. This state is maintained even when the substrate is rotated by the rotative driving mechanism. [0020] In the inventive plating apparatus, the upper edge of the plating vessel is present within substantially the same plane. The apparatus may further comprise a second adjustment mechanism (238A, 238B) for positioning the upper edge of the plating vessel within a generally horizontal plane. [0021] With this arrangement, the upper edge of the plating vessel can be positioned within the generally horizontal plane by the second adjustment mechanism. Therefore, the substrate generally horizontally held by the substrate holding mechanism can be spaced a substantially constant distance from the upper edge of the plating vessel in adjacent relation. Thus, the substrate can circumferentially be spaced a sufficiently small distance from the upper edge of the plating vessel in non-contact adjacent relation. [0022] With the upper edge of the plating vessel positioned within the generally horizontal plane, the plating liquid continuously supplied into the plating vessel from the pipe connected to the bottom of the plating vessel overflows circumferentially uniformly from the upper edge of the plating vessel. Thus, the exposed area of the lower surface of the substrate can entirely be brought into contact with the plating liquid. Continue reading... Full patent description for Plating apparatus, plating cup and cathode ring Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Plating apparatus, plating cup and cathode ring patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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