Plating method and plating apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10641677-B2
Application number	US-201916391638-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2019
Priority date	Mar 27, 2012
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

A plating method includes holding a substrate with a substrate holder while bringing a sealing member into pressure contact with a peripheral portion of the substrate to form an enclosed internal space in the substrate holder; performing a first-stage leakage test of the substrate holder by producing a vacuum in the internal space and checking whether pressure in the internal space reaches a predetermined vacuum pressure within a certain period of time; and if the substrate holder has passed the first-stage leakage test, performing a second-stage leakage test of the substrate holder by closing off the internal space after producing the vacuum therein and checking whether a change in the pressure in the internal space reaches a predetermined value within a certain period of time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of checking leakage of a substrate holder, comprising:
supporting one surface of a substrate with a first holding member of the substrate holder, which is for use in plating of the substrate, while placing a second holding member of the substrate holder in contact with other surface of the substrate, with the other surface of the substrate exposed to an atmospheric pressure through an opening of the second holding member;
sealing a gap between the first holding member and the second holding member with a first protruding portion of the second holding member, and sealing a peripheral portion of the substrate with a second protruding portion of the second holding member, thereby forming an internal space in the substrate holder with the first holding member, the second holding member, and the substrate;
performing a first-stage leakage test of the substrate holder by producing a vacuum in the internal space, with the other surface of the substrate exposed to the atmospheric pressure, and checking whether pressure in the internal space reaches a predetermined vacuum pressure within a predetermined period of time to check a sealed state provided by the first protruding portion and the second protruding portion; and
performing a second-stage leakage test of the substrate holder, which has passed the first-stage leakage test, by closing off the internal space after producing the vacuum therein and checking whether a change in the pressure in the internal space reaches a predetermined value within a predetermined period of time to further check the sealed state provided by the first protruding portion and the second protruding portion.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein checking whether the change in the pressure in the internal space reaches the predetermined value within the predetermined period of time comprises:
producing a vacuum in a leak-free master container;
closing off the master container in which the vacuum is produced;
measuring pressure difference between the pressure in the internal space and pressure in the master container by a differential pressure sensor; and
checking whether the pressure difference reaches a predetermined value within a certain period of time.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
performing a third-stage leakage test of the substrate holder, which has passed the second-stage leakage test, by
locating a seal case so as to cover the surface, which is exposed through the opening, of the substrate held by the substrate holder,
sealing a gap between the first holding member of the substrate holder and the seal case, thereby forming a hermetic space between the substrate holder and the seal case,
supplying a tracer gas into the hermetic space while evacuating air from the internal space, and
checking whether the air evacuated from the internal space contains the tracer gas to further check the sealed state provided by the first protruding portion and the second protruding portion.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein:
the hermetic space is divided into a substrate-side hermetic space and a holder-side hermetic space by sealing a gap between the second holding member of the substrate holder and the seal case, the second protruding portion being located in the substrate-side hermetic space, and the first protruding portion being located in the holder-side hermetic space; and
the third-stage leakage test is performed on at least one of the substrate-side hermetic space and the holder-side hermetic space.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a semiconductor wafer.

Assignees

• Ebara Corp

Inventors

• Minami Yoshio
• Fujikata Jumpei
• Kishi Takashi

Classifications

• C25D17/06 Primary

  Suspending or supporting devices for articles to be coated · CPC title

• G01M3/3263

  using a differential pressure detector (G01M3/3245, G01M3/3272 take precedence) · CPC title

• C25D17/004 Primary

  Sealing devices · CPC title

• C25D17/001 Primary

  Apparatus specially adapted for electrolytic coating of wafers, e.g. semiconductors or solar cells · CPC title

• G01M3/26 Primary

  by measuring rate of loss or gain of fluid, e.g. by pressure-responsive devices, by flow detectors · CPC title