Methods and systems for electroplating wafers

Abstract

Improved methods and systems for electroplating wafers are described herein. The method includes the acts of introducing a wafer which is coupled to an electrode into an electroplating cell having a counter electrode; maintaining a flow of a plating solution through the cell for electroplating the wafer; removing the wafer from the cell; stopping the flow of the plating solution through the cell; maintaining a volume of plating solution within the cell sufficient to keep the counter electrode submerged during stoppage of flow; removing the plating solution within the cell; and repeating the above steps for a subsequent wafer. By stopping the flow of plating solution after completion of plating one or more wafers, a consumption rate of additives enhancing electroplating properties is reduced, a production rate of breakdown products produced during electroplating is reduced, plating solution useable life is increased, and a need for plating solution analysis is reduced.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] This invention relates generally to methods and systems for electroplating substrates, such as those utilized for damascene electroplating of write coils in magnetic heads. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] The demand for manufacturing semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) devices, such as computer chips with high circuit speed, high-packing density, and low power dissipation, requires the downward scaling of feature sizes in ultra-large-scale integration (ULSI) and very-large-scale integration (VLSI) structures. The trend to smaller chip sizes and increased circuit density requires the miniaturization of interconnect features which severely penalizes the overall performance of the structure because of increasing interconnect resistance and reliability concerns such as fabrication of the interconnects and electromigration. Magnetic heads with inductive write coils also feature miniaturization requireme...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] By stopping the flow of plating solution after completion of plating one or more wafers, a consumption rate of additives enhancing electroplating properties is reduced, a production rate of breakdown products produced during electroplating is reduced, plating solution useable life is increased, and a need for plating solution analysis is reduced.

Problems solved by technology

The trend to smaller chip sizes and increased circuit density requires the miniaturization of interconnect features which severely penalizes the overall performance of the structure because of increasing interconnect resistance and reliability concerns such as fabrication of the interconnects and electromigration.

Both of these requirements result in a large amount of time and labor for plating solution analysis and control.

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