Metal plating apparatus and method using solenoid coil

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9809897-B2
Application number	US-201313801081-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2013
Priority date	Mar 13, 2013
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A metal plating apparatus includes a chemical bath chamber, an anode disposed at a bottom portion of the chemical bath chamber, and a cathode disposed at a top portion of the chemical bath chamber. A solenoid coil is disposed within the chemical bath chamber between the anode and the cathode. The solenoid coil is arranged to apply a magnetic field during a metal plating process in a direction from the anode to the cathode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A metal plating apparatus, comprising:
a chemical bath chamber;
an anode disposed at a bottom portion of the chemical bath chamber;
a cathode disposed at a top portion of the chemical bath chamber;
an anode chamber disposed within the chemical bath chamber, wherein the anode chamber has a side wall that surrounds the anode, an upper surface of the anode chamber contacting the side wall and being disposed between the anode and a metal block overlying the anode chamber and underlying the cathode, the side wall extending from the anode and ending at an upper surface of the anode chamber;
a solenoid coil, wherein the solenoid coil is disposed within the chemical bath chamber between the anode and the cathode, and wherein the solenoid coil is at least partially submerged in a liquid chemical bath, wherein a virtual line that is parallel to a major surface of the anode sequentially passes through a side wall of the chemical bath chamber, the liquid chemical bath, the solenoid coil, the liquid chemical bath, the anode, the liquid chemical bath, the solenoid coil, the liquid chemical bath, and the side wall of the chemical bath chamber; and
a coil frame that provides a waterproof enclosure of the solenoid coil within the chemical bath chamber, the liquid chemical bath extending along an inner side wall and an outer side wall of the coil frame;
wherein the solenoid coil is arranged to apply a magnetic field during a metal plating process in a direction from the anode to the cathode.

2. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a mesh cover over the anode chamber.

3. The metal plating apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the mesh cover comprises hydrophilic polyethylene.

4. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the metal block has at least one hole to allow movement of an electrolyte in the chemical bath chamber through the at least one hole.

5. The metal plating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the metal block comprises iron, nickel, iron-aluminum alloy, cobalt, low carbon steel, or any combination thereof.

6. The metal plating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the permeability of the metal block is at least 100 H/m.

7. The metal plating apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the metal block is coated with polytetrafluoroethylene.

8. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the coil frame comprises polyoxymethylene (POM).

9. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a power supply coupled to the anode and the cathode.

10. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the liquid chemical bath comprises a copper sulphate (CuSO 4 ) solution.

11. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the chemical bath chamber comprises polytetrafluoroethylene.

12. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the solenoid coil comprises copper.

13. A metal plating apparatus, comprising:
a chemical bath chamber;
an anode disposed at a bottom portion of the chemical bath chamber;
a cathode disposed at a top portion of the chemical bath chamber,
a solenoid coil, wherein the solenoid coil is disposed within the chemical bath chamber between the anode and the cathode;
an anode chamber disposed within the chemical bath chamber and inside the solenoid coil, wherein the anode chamber has a side wall that surrounds the anode, the side wall extending from the anode and ending at an upper surface of the anode chamber, the upper surface disposed between the anode and the cathode, the upper surface comprising a mesh cover extending across the anode chamber from a first side of the anode chamber to an opposite side of the anode chamber, wherein a side wall of the mesh cover is aligned with the side wall of the anode chamber; and
a magnetically conductive metal block disposed over the upper surface of the anode chamber and between the upper surface of the anode chamber and the cathode, wherein the metal block has at least one hole to allow movement of an electrolyte in the chemical bath chamber through the at least one hole,
wherein the solenoid coil is arranged to apply a magnetic field during a metal plating process in a direction from the anode to the cathode.

14. The metal plating apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the solenoid coil is completely submerged in a liquid chemical bath.

15. A metal plating apparatus, comprising:
a chemical bath chamber;
a positively charged electrode disposed at a bottom portion of the chemical bath chamber;
a wafer disposed at a top portion of the chemical bath chamber in a manner that a plating side of the wafer faces the positively charged electrode, the wafer functioning as a negatively charged electrode;
an electromagnet disposed within the chemical bath chamber between the positively charged electrode and the wafer; and
an electrode chamber disposed within the chemical bath chamber, wherein the electrode chamber has a side wall that surrounds the positively charged electrode, an outer surface of the side wall that faces away from the electromagnet being completely covered by a liquid chemical bath, an upper surface of the electrode chamber contacting the side wall and being disposed between the positively charged electrode and a metal block overlying the electrode chamber and underlying the wafer, wherein the side wall ends at the upper surface of the electrode chamber;
wherein the electromagnet is arranged to apply a magnetic field during a metal plating process in a direction from the positively charged electrode to the wafer.

16. The metal plating apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the metal block has at least one hole to allow movement of the liquid chemical bath in the chemical bath chamber through the at least one hole.

17. The metal plating apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a coil frame that provides a waterproof enclosure of the electromagnet within the chemical bath chamber, the liquid chemical bath extending along an inner side wall and an outer side wall of the coil frame.

18. The metal plating apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inner side wall of the coil frame is opposite to the outer side wall of the coil frame, the liquid chemical bath extending between the outer side wall and the chemical bath chamber.

19. The metal plating apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the upper surface of the anode chamber is larger than an upper surface of the metal block in a plan view, and an edge of the upper surface of the anode chamber extends laterally beyond an edge of the upper surface of the metal block.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Chen Hsili
• Lin Kuan-Hsiao
• Yang Chung-Yen
• Yang Shao-Chien

Classifications

• C25D5/006

  Chemistry & Metallurgy · mapped topic

• C25D17/001 Primary

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

• C25D7/12

  Semiconductors · CPC title

• C25D17/10

  Electrodes {, e.g. composition, counter electrode} · CPC title

• C25D5/007

  Electroplating using magnetic fields, e.g. magnets · CPC title