Electroplating chamber leakage plating warning method and system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12573019-B2
Application number	US-202218720388-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 24, 2022
Priority date	Dec 14, 2021
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

An electroplating chamber leakage plating warning method and system are disclosed. The method includes: positioning the electroplated wafer ( 100 ) at a detection location (S 100 ); setting a target detection area (S 200 ) of the wafer ( 100 ); operating an image sensor ( 400 ) to detect the target detection area (S 300 ) of the wafer ( 100 ), and determining whether there is unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area of the wafer ( 100 ) (S 400 ); if the determination result indicates the presence of unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area of the wafer ( 100 ), indicating a leakage plating occurrence in the electroplating chamber processing the wafer ( 100 ), then an alarm command is issued; if the determination result indicates that there is no unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area of the wafer ( 100 ), indicating no leakage plating occurrence in the electroplating chamber processing the wafer ( 100 ), then no alarm command is issued. By using a detection device to automatically perform leakage plating detection on the wafer ( 100 ), it can replace manual inspection of the electroplating conditions of the wafer ( 100 ), promptly detect leakage plating issues on the wafer ( 100 ), and issue an alarm, facilitating the handling of the electroplating chamber by the staff.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electroplating chamber leakage plating warning method, comprising:
positioning an electroplated wafer on a fixture at a detection location; setting a target detection area of the wafer; detecting the target detection area of the wafer, and determining whether there is unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area; if the determination result is that there is unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area of the wafer, indicating that a leakage plating occurs in the electroplating chamber processing that wafer, then an alarm command is issued; if the determination result is that there is no unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area of the wafer, indicating that no leakage plating occurs in the electroplating chamber processing that wafer, then no alarm command is issued.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the fixture at the detection location includes:
a separately set installation fixture; or a wafer chuck inside a cleaning chamber used for the wafer cleaning process.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of detecting the target detection area of the wafer, and determining whether there is unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area further includes:
pre-setting a gray value threshold for an image sensor to issue the alarm command; the image sensor collects the image of the target detection area of the wafer, generates a target image, and sends the target image to a processor; the processor receives the target image, performs grayscale processing on the target image, generates gray value data information of the target image, compares the gray value data information with the preset gray value threshold, and generates a comparison result; if the comparison result is that the gray value is within the gray value threshold range, then the result indicates that there is no unwanted metal deposition; if the comparison result is that the gray value exceeds the gray value threshold, then the result indicates that there is unwanted metal deposition.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the target detection area of the wafer is set as: a circular ring area extending 1.0-2.0 mm from the periphery of the wafer towards the center of the wafer.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein during the process of detecting the target detection area on the wafer, the wafer and the image sensor rotate relative to each other.

6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the relative rotation speed between the wafer and the image sensor is not more than 50 rpm.

7 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the image sensor includes a camera for collecting the target image.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein when the determination result is that a leakage plating occurs in the electroplating chamber, and after issuing the alarm command, the method further includes switching the operational state of the electroplating chamber processing that wafer to a maintenance-required state, prohibiting wafers to be electroplated from entering this electroplating chamber.

9 . An electroplating chamber leakage plating warning system, comprising:
a wafer positioning device, used to position the electroplated wafer at the detection location; a detection device, used to detect the target detection area of the wafer, determining whether there is unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area of the wafer; an alarm device, used to issue an alarm command when the determination result indicates the presence of unwanted metal deposition in the target detection area of the wafer.

Assignees

• Acm Research Shanghai Inc

Inventors

• Wu Meng
• Jia Zhaowei
• Lu Chenhua
• Qin Ling
• Cao Quan
• Yang Hongchao
• Wang Jian
• Wang Hui

Classifications

• H10P72/0616 Primary

  Monitoring of warpages, curvatures, damages, defects or the like · CPC title

• G06T2207/30148

  Semiconductor; IC; Wafer · CPC title

• G06T2207/30136

  Metal · CPC title

• H10P74/00

  Testing or measuring during manufacture or treatment of wafers, substrates or devices · CPC title

• H10P72/0404

  for general liquid treatment, e.g. etching followed by cleaning · CPC title