Plating apparatus

Abstract

A plating apparatus can form a plated film having a uniform thickness on a surface to be plated of a substrate without employing a complicated structure, such as a conduction detection means capable of detecting the state of conduction (contact state) of feeding contacts in contact with a conductive portion of the substrate. The plating apparatus includes a substrate holder having a plurality of feeding contacts for contact with a conductive portion provided in a surface of a substrate, wherein the substrate holder includes a feeding ring comprised of a single member and having the feeding contacts disposed at regular intervals along the circumferential direction, a plurality of substrate chucks for contact with the substrate in the vicinity of the contact portions of the feeding contacts with the conductive portion to support the substrate, and a substrate deflection preventing mechanism for preventing deflection of the substrate.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a plating apparatus for use in carrying out plating of a surface (front surface) to be plated of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, and more particularly to a plating apparatus that can form a plated film having a more uniform thickness on a surface to be plated of a substrate. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] With the recent progress toward higher integration of semiconductor devices, the circuit interconnects are becoming finer and the distance between adjacent interconnects is becoming smaller. Especially, when forming a circuit pattern by optical lithography with a line width of not more than 0.5 μm, it requires that surfaces on which pattern images are to be focused by a stepper be as flat as possible because depth of focus of an optical system is relatively small. It is therefore necessary to flatten a surface of a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafe...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a plating apparatus that can form a plated film with a uniform thickness on a substrate without the need for a complicated structure. The apparatus includes a substrate holder with a plurality of feeding contacts for contact with a conductive portion of the substrate. The substrate holder also includes a plating solution holding portion and substrate chucks for contact with the substrate in the vicinity of the contact points of the feeding contacts with the conductive portion of the substrate. The apparatus can equalize the pressures of the feeding contacts on the substrate and reduce variation in the thickness of the plated film on the peripheral portion of the substrate. The invention also provides a plating apparatus that can reduce the amount of plating solution needed and can form a plated film with a uniform thickness over the entire surface of the substrate.

Problems solved by technology

The conventional plating apparatus as shown in FIG. 6 necessitates a large amount of plating solution for a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, and thus entails the problem of diseconomy even if a plated film having a uniform thickness can be formed.

As apparent from FIG. 7, however, the peripheral portion of a substrate W lies on the outer side of the packing portion 43 of the frame 32 and does not contact the plating solution Q. This decreases the plating area of the substrate W, and thus lowers the efficiency in the use of substrate W.

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