Novellus Systems Incorporated

Lam Research Corporation

Shantinath Ghongadi

Zhian He

Jingbin Feng

Kousik Ganesan

Frederick Dean Wilmot

Manish Ranjan

Jonathan David Reid

Bryan L Buckalew

Ashwin Ramesh

Tariq Majid

Cian Sweeney

Quan Ma

Steven T Mayer

Robert Rash

Tighe A Spurlin

Robert Marshall Stowell

Seshasayee Varadarajan

Douglas Hill

Jeff Hawkins

Quang Nguyen

Ludan Huang

Hyungjun Hur

Rezaul Karim

R Marshall Stowell

Lee J Brogan

James E Duncan

Bryan Pennington

Andrew John McKerrow

Yuichi Takada

Clifford Raymond Berry

Brian Evans

Andrew James Pfau

David W Porter

Haiying Fu

Matthew S Thorum

Mark J Willey

Jian Zhou

Aaron LaBrie

Charles Lorenzo Merrill

Gerramine S Manuguid

James R Zibrida

Hyosang S Lee

Doyeon Kim

Vinay Prabhakar

Douglas Koeller

Burton Williams

Yu Ding

Methods and electroplating systems for controlling plating electrolyte concentration on an electrochemical plating apparatus for substrates are disclosed. A method involves: (a) providing an electroplating solution to an electroplating system; (b) electroplating the metal onto the substrate while the substrate is held in a cathode chamber of an electroplating cell of electroplating system; (c) supplying the make-up solution to the electroplating system via a make-up solution inlet; and (d) supplying the secondary electroplating solution to the electroplating system via a secondary electroplating solution inlet. The secondary electroplating solution includes some or all components of the electroplating solution. At least one component of the secondary electroplating solution has a concentration that significantly deviates from its target concentration.

Controlling plating electrolyte concentration on an electrochemical plating apparatus

In one embodiment, the disclosed apparatus is an in-situ, closed-loop bubble and foam detection and reduction system that includes a liquid-level sensor to determine a volume of a liquid in a fluid reservoir, a mass-detection device to determine a mass of the fluid reservoir and any liquid contained within the fluid reservoir, a processor electrically coupled to the liquid-level sensor and the mass-detection device to determine an actual volume of the liquid within the fluid reservoir, and a showerhead coupled to the processor and positioned above the fluid reservoir. The showerhead is activated by the processor when a volume of the liquid determined by the liquid-level sensor exceeds the actual volume of the liquid by a predetermined amount. Other apparatuses and methods are disclosed.

In-situ sensor-fusion with artificial intelligence

An electrochemical deposition system includes: an electrochemical deposition chamber including an electrolyte for electrochemical deposition; a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate and including a first cathode that is electrically connected to the substrate; a first actuator configured to adjust a vertical position of the substrate holder within the electrochemical deposition chamber; an anode submerged in the electrolyte; a second cathode arranged between the first cathode and the anode; a first optical probe configured to measure a first reflectivity of the substrate at a first distance from a center of the substrate while the substrate is submerged within the electrolyte during the electrochemical deposition; and a controller configured to, based on the first reflectivity, selectively adjust at least one of power applied to the first cathode, power applied to the second cathode, power applied to the anode, and the vertical position of the substrate holder.

Electrochemical deposition system including optical probes

Disclosed are cup assemblies for holding, sealing, and providing electrical power to a semiconductor substrate during electroplating which may include a cup bottom element having a main body portion and a moment arm, an elastomeric sealing element disposed on the moment arm, and an electrical contact element disposed on the elastomeric sealing element. The main body portion may be such that it does not substantially flex when a substrate is pressed against the moment arm, and it may be rigidly affixed to another feature of the cup structure. The ratio of the average vertical thickness of the main body portion to that of the moment arm may be greater than about 5. The electrical contact element may have a substantially flat but flexible contact portion disposed upon a substantially horizontal portion of the sealing element. The elastomeric sealing element may be integrated with the cup bottom element during manufacturing.

Lipseals and contact elements for semiconductor electroplating apparatuses

In some examples, a Vacuum Pre-treatment Module (VPM) metrology system is provided for measuring a sheet resistance of a layer on a substrate. The system may comprise an eddy sensor including a sender sensor and a receiver sensor defining a gap between them for accepting an edge of a substrate to be tested. A sensor controller receives measurement signals from the eddy sensor. A data processor processes the measurement signals and generates sheet resistance values for the layer on the substrate.

Systems and methods for in-situ measurement of sheet resistance on substrates

Various embodiments herein relate to methods and apparatus for electroplating metal onto substrates. In various cases, a reference electrode may be modified to promote improved electroplating results. The modifications may relate to one or more of the reference electrode's shape, position, relative conductivity compared to the electrolyte, or other design feature. In some particular examples the reference electrode may be dynamically changeable, for example having a changeable shape and/or position. In a particular example the reference electrode may be made of multiple segments. The techniques described herein may be combined as desired for individual applications.

Control of current density in an electroplating apparatus

Methods and apparatus for determining whether a substrate includes an unacceptably high amount of oxide on its surface are described. The substrate is typically a substrate that is to be electroplated. The determination may be made directly in an electroplating apparatus, during an initial portion of an electroplating process. The determination may involve immersing the substrate in electrolyte with a particular applied voltage or applied current provided during or soon after immersion, and recording a current response or voltage response over this same timeframe. The applied current or applied voltage may be zero or non-zero. By comparing the current response or voltage response to a threshold current, threshold voltage, or threshold time, it can be determined whether the substrate included an unacceptably high amount of oxide on its surface. The threshold current, threshold voltage, and/or threshold time may be selected based on a calibration procedure.

Monitoring surface oxide on seed layers during electroplating

Methods described herein manage wafer entry into an electrolyte so that air entrapment due to initial impact of the wafer and/or wafer holder with the electrolyte is reduced and the wafer is moved in such a way that an electrolyte wetting wave front is maintained throughout immersion of the wafer also minimizing air entrapment.

Wetting wave front control for reduced air entrapment during wafer entry into electroplating bath

In one aspect, an apparatus includes a plating cell, a degassing device configured to remove oxygen from the plating solution prior to the plating solution flowing into the plating cell; an oxidation station configured to increase an oxidizing strength of the plating solution after the plating solution flows out of the plating cell; and a controller. The controller includes program instructions for causing a process that includes operations of: reducing an oxygen concentration of the plating solution where the plating solution contains a plating accelerator; then, contacting a wafer substrate with the plating solution having reduced oxygen concentration and electroplating a metal such that the electroplating causes a net conversion of the accelerator to a less-oxidized accelerator species within the plating cell; then increasing the oxidizing strength of the plating solution causing a net re-conversion of the less-oxidized accelerator species back to the accelerator outside the plating cell.

Configuration and method of operation of an electrodeposition system for improved process stability and performance

Disclosed are methods of preparing a semiconductor substrate having a metal seed layer for a subsequent electroplating operation. In some embodiments, the methods may include contacting the surface of the semiconductor substrate with a plasma to treat the surface by reducing metal oxides thereon and thereafter measuring a post-plasma-contact color signal from said surface, the color signal having one or more color components. The methods may then further include estimating the extent of the oxide reduction due to the plasma treatment based on the post-plasma contact color signal. In some embodiments, estimating the extent of the oxide reduction due to the plasma treatment is done based on the b* component of the post-plasma contact color signal. Also disclosed are plasma treatment apparatuses which may implement the foregoing methods.

Methods and apparatuses for estimating on-wafer oxide layer reduction effectiveness via color sensing

Growing community of inventors

Tigard, OR, United States of America

Shantinath Ghongadi