Electroplating equipment and electroplating method

Abstract

The present invention provides an electroplating device, comprising an anode and a cathode, a power supply and a control board. The power supply is electrically connected to the anode and the cathode. The control board is arranged between the anode and the cathode. The control board comprises an insulating grid plate and a plurality of magnetic components, and the plurality of magnetic components are uniformly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate. An electroplating method is also provided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an equipment and a method, and in particular to an electroplating equipment and an electroplating method. Background Art

[0002] Electroplating has been widely used in various fields. In addition to being a traditional surface treatment method, it is also used in the production of circuit boards, semiconductor chips, LED conductive substrates, and semiconductor packaging. However, electroplating often has the problem of uniform thickness of the metal coating.

[0003] For example, in the process of manufacturing circuit boards, the electric field lines between the anode and the cathode are often affected by the properties of the film layer on the substrate to be plated (such as insulation properties or other properties that affect the distribution of electric power) and turn when approaching the substrate to be plated, resulting in uneven distribution of the electric field line density. As a result, the metal coating formed on the substrate to be plated will have the problem of poor uniformity of electroplating thickness. Summary of the invention

[0004] The invention provides an electroplating device and an electroplating method, which can improve the problem of poor uniformity of the electroplating thickness of a metal coating on a substrate to be plated.

[0005] An electroplating device of the present invention comprises an anode and a cathode, a power supply and a control board. The power supply is electrically connected to the anode and the cathode. The control board is arranged between the anode and the cathode. The control board comprises an insulating grid plate and a plurality of magnetic components, and the plurality of magnetic components are uniformly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate.

[0006] In one embodiment of the present invention, the uniform random arrangement of the plurality of magnetic components is generated by a uniform random number generator.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of magnetic components are a plurality of permanent magnets.

[0008] In one embodiment of the present invention, the magnetic strength and placement angle of each permanent magnet are generated by a uniform random number generator.

[0009] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of permanent magnets have at least two types of magnetic strength.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of permanent magnets are disposed on a surface of the insulating grid plate close to the anode.

[0011] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of magnetic components are formed by disposing a group of magnetic materials in the meshes of the insulating mesh plate.

[0012] In one embodiment of the present invention, the arrangement positions of the group of magnetic materials are generated by a uniform random number generator.

[0013] In one embodiment of the present invention, the mesh is a hexagonal honeycomb grid.

[0014] In one embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned set of magnetic materials includes a first magnetic material and a second magnetic material, and the first magnetic material and the second magnetic material are respectively arranged on a pair of opposite side walls in the hexagonal honeycomb grid to form a north pointing pole and a south pointing pole.

[0015] An electroplating method of the present invention includes at least the following steps. An electroplating device is provided, the electroplating device includes an anode and a cathode, a power supply and a control board. The power supply is electrically connected to the anode and the cathode. The control board is arranged between the anode and the cathode. The control board includes an insulating grid plate and a plurality of magnetic components, and the plurality of magnetic components are uniformly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate. A substrate to be plated is fixed on the cathode, wherein the substrate to be plated includes a dry film, and the dry film has at least a first opening and a second opening, and the first opening is smaller than the second opening. After the power supply supplies power, a plurality of electric lines are formed moving from the anode toward the cathode. The plurality of electric lines passing through the control board show divergent movement and have a plurality of incident angles, so that the number of electric lines entering the first opening is less than the number of electric lines entering the second opening. A metal coating is formed on the substrate to be plated.

[0016] In one embodiment of the present invention, the divergent movement is that the multiple power lines passing through the control board are distributed at different angles relative to the control board.

[0017] In one embodiment of the present invention, the divergent movement includes at least two power line groups.

[0018] In one embodiment of the present invention, the power line group is defined by the magnetic strength of a plurality of magnetic components.

[0019] In one embodiment of the present invention, the above-mentioned first opening has a first opening angle, the second opening has a second opening angle, the first opening angle is smaller than the second opening angle, and the incident angles of the electric lines entering the first opening are all less than or equal to the first opening angle, and the incident angles of the electric lines entering the second opening are all less than or equal to the second opening angle.

[0020] In one embodiment of the present invention, corresponding electric force lines of the incident angles greater than the first opening angle will not enter the first opening, and corresponding electric force lines of the incident angles greater than the second opening angle will not enter the second opening.

[0021] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of electric power lines move in a straight line before passing through the control panel.

[0022] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of magnetic components are a plurality of permanent magnets, and the plurality of permanent magnets are adhered to the insulating grid plate.

[0023] In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of magnetic components are formed by coating magnetic material in meshes of an insulating mesh plate.

[0024] Based on the above, the electroplating equipment of the present invention has a control plate design between the anode and the cathode, and the multiple magnetic components of the control plate are evenly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate. Therefore, under the action of the Lorentz force generated between the electric line and the control plate, the multiple electric lines can move divergently and have multiple incident angles after passing through the control plate, so that the number of electric lines entering the smaller opening is less than the number of electric lines entering the larger opening. Since the number of electric lines (which can drive the metal ion concentration) is positively correlated with the thickness of the formed metal coating, the number of electric lines entering the opening can be effectively screened out, so that the part of the substrate to be plated where the circuit is to be formed has a consistent electric line density, thereby improving the problem of poor uniformity of the electroplating thickness of the metal coating on the substrate to be plated.

[0025] In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, embodiments are given below with reference to the accompanying drawings for detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Figure 1A is a flow chart of an electroplating method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 1B is a schematic side view of an electroplating device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 1C is a schematic top view of a control panel of an electroplating device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 2 It is a partial three-dimensional schematic diagram of a control panel of an electroplating device according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0030] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

[0031] The following will fully describe exemplary embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention may also be implemented in a variety of different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein. In the accompanying drawings, for the sake of clarity, the size and thickness of each region, part, and layer may not be drawn to scale. For ease of understanding, the same elements in the following description will be described with the same symbols.

[0032] The present invention is more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings of the present embodiment. However, the present invention may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments described herein. The thickness, size or size of the layers or regions in the accompanying drawings may be exaggerated for clarity. The same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements, and the following paragraphs will not be repeated one by one.

[0033] The directional terms used herein (eg, up, down, right, left, front, back, top, bottom) are used only with reference to the drawings shown and are not intended to imply an absolute orientation.

[0034] It should be understood that although the terms "first", "second", "third", etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, components, regions, layers and / or parts, these elements, components, regions, and / or parts should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or part from another element, component, region, layer or part.

[0035] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs.

[0036] Figure 1A is a flow chart of an electroplating method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1B It is a side view schematic diagram of an electroplating device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1B It is a side view schematic diagram of an electroplating device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1C It is a schematic top view of a control panel of an electroplating device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] Please refer to Figure 1A , Figure 1B and Figure 1C , the main process of the electroplating method according to an embodiment of the present invention is described below by using the accompanying drawings. First, an electroplating device 100 is provided (step S100), wherein the electroplating device 100 includes an anode 110 and a cathode 120, a power supply 130 and a control board 140. Further, the power supply 130 is electrically connected to the anode 110 and the cathode 120, and the control board 140 is disposed between the anode 110 and the cathode 120 ( Figure 1BSchematically shown in the figure is a regulating plate 140 sandwiched between the cathode 120 and the anode 110, wherein the regulating plate 140 includes an insulating grid plate 142 and a plurality of magnetic components 144, and the plurality of magnetic components 144 are uniformly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate 142.

[0038] In addition, the electroplating device 100 may further include an electroplating tank (not shown) containing an electrolyte (including the metal ions Y to be plated), and the anode 110 and the cathode 120 are both disposed in the electroplating tank. Here, the materials and types of the electrolytic tank, the electrolyte, the anode 110, and the cathode 120 can be adjusted according to the type of the actual metal to be plated (such as copper plating), and the present invention is not limited thereto. It should be noted that other specific details of the electroplating device 100 will be further described below.

[0039] Next, the substrate S to be plated is fixed on the cathode 120, wherein the substrate S to be plated includes a dry film 40, and the dry film 40 has at least a first opening 42A and a second opening 42B, and the first opening 42A is smaller than the second opening 42B (step S200). Here, the material of the dry film 40 is, for example, an insulating material, and its thickness can be determined according to actual design requirements. Then, after the power supply 130 supplies power, a plurality of electric lines L (which can be the movement direction of electrons released after the anode 110 is energized) are formed to move from the anode 110 toward the cathode 120 (step S300). In addition, the plurality of electric lines L passing through the control plate 140 show divergent movement and have multiple incident angles (such as Figure 1B As shown in FIG. 4 , the number of the electric force lines L entering the first opening 42A is less than the number of the electric force lines L entering the second opening 42B (step S400 ). Then, a metal plating layer 10 is formed on the substrate S to be plated (step S500 ).

[0040] Accordingly, the electroplating device 100 of the present embodiment has a design of a control plate 140 between the anode 110 and the cathode 120, and the multiple magnetic components 144 of the control plate 140 are uniformly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate 142. Therefore, under the effect of the Lorentz force generated between the electric line L and the control plate 140, the multiple electric lines L can move divergently and have multiple incident angles after passing through the control plate 140, so that the electric lines L can enter smaller sizes (such as Figure 1B The number of electric lines of force entering the first opening 42A of the embodiment is less than that entering the larger size (such as Figure 1B The number of electric lines of force L entering the opening of the first opening 42B) is determined. Since the number of electric lines of force (which can drive the concentration of metal ions Y) is positively correlated with the thickness of the formed metal plating layer 10, the number of electric lines of force L entering the opening can be effectively screened, so that the portion of the substrate S to be plated where the circuit is to be formed has a consistent electric line density, thereby improving the problem of poor uniformity of the electroplating thickness of the metal plating layer on the substrate S to be plated. It should be noted that Figure 1BThe fact that the power lines L after passing through the control board 140 have the same divergent state is only for schematic illustration and does not represent the actual divergent state of the power lines L.

[0041] Here, the Lorentz force can be expressed by F=q(E+v×B), where F is the Lorentz force, q is the charge of the charged particle, E is the electric field strength, v is the speed of the charged particle, and B is the magnetic induction strength. In addition, the moving direction of the electric lines in the present invention can be regarded as the moving direction of the metal ions Y in the electrolyte. On the other hand, the size of the opening can be defined by the opening line width, such as the line width of the first opening 42A can be 20 micrometers, and the line width of the second opening 42B can be 40 micrometers, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0042] In some embodiments, the plurality of electric lines L move in a straight line before passing through the control plate 140, and the plurality of electric lines L move in a divergent manner after passing through the control plate. Since the divergent manner may refer to the plurality of electric lines L having substantially the same electric line L strength at each angle through the control plate 140, in other words, the concentration of metal ions Y driven by the electric lines L at each angle is substantially the same, so the plurality of electric lines L can be scattered after passing through the control plate and the amount of metal plated per unit area in the opening tends to be balanced. In addition, the plurality of electric lines L passing through the control plate 140 have a regular angular distribution relative to the control plate 140 (e.g., there is one electric line L per 1 degree), so the size of the first opening 42A and the second opening 42B can be used as a screening condition, and the number of electric lines L entering the opening can be effectively controlled without adding an additional controller, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0043] In some embodiments, the divergent movement includes at least two power line groups ( Figure 1B Schematically showing four power line groups, and the power line groups are defined by the magnetic strengths of the plurality of magnetic components 144, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0044] In this embodiment, the first opening 42A has a first opening angle θ, and the second opening 42B has a second opening angle δ. The first opening angle θ is smaller than the second opening angle δ, and the incident angles of the electric lines L entering the first opening 42A are all smaller than or equal to the first opening angle θ, and the incident angles of the electric lines L entering the second opening 42B are all smaller than or equal to the second opening angle δ. In other words, the second opening angle δ is larger than the first opening angle θ and can therefore receive electric lines L with a wider range of incident angles, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0045] Furthermore, the corresponding electric lines L of multiple incident angles greater than the first opening angle θ will not enter the first opening 42A, and the corresponding electric lines L of multiple incident angles greater than the second opening angle δ will not enter the second opening 42B, thereby achieving a screening effect, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0046] In some embodiments, the opening 42 may further include a third opening 42C, the third opening 42C (corresponding to an opening angle ) is greater than the first opening 42A (corresponding to the opening angle θ) and the second opening 42B (corresponding to the opening angle δ), so the number of electric lines L entering the third opening 42C is greater than the number of electric lines L entering the first opening 42A and the second opening 42B (opening angle The angle of incidence is greater than the opening angle δ and the opening angle θ, so that the electric line of force L with a wider range of incident angles can be received, but the present invention is not limited to this. In addition, among the multiple incident angles, the angle of incidence is greater than the third opening angle The corresponding electric force lines L will not enter the third opening 42C, so the screening effect can also be achieved, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Here, the line width of the third opening 42C can be 120 microns, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0047] In some embodiments, the portion of the substrate S to be plated where the circuit is to be formed may include a circuit-dense area and a circuit-empty area (not shown), and the problem of poor uniformity of the electroplating thickness of the metal coating in the circuit-dense area will be more obvious. Therefore, the electroplating equipment 100 of this embodiment can more significantly improve the problem of poor uniformity of the electroplating thickness of the metal coating in the circuit-dense area of ​​the substrate S to be plated, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an improvement effect can also be achieved in the circuit-empty area.

[0048] The specific details of the electroplating equipment 100 are further described below. In the present embodiment, the insulating grid plate 142 has a surface 142a close to the anode 110, and a plurality of magnetic components 144 are disposed on the surface 142a. Furthermore, the uniform random arrangement of the plurality of magnetic components 144 can be generated by a uniform random number generator 150 (the uniform random number generator 150 is any suitable tool known to those skilled in the art that can generate uniform random numbers). For example, in the present embodiment, the plurality of magnetic components 144 are a plurality of permanent magnets, and the plurality of permanent magnets are disposed on the surface 142a of the insulating grid plate 142 (for example, they are adhered to the insulating grid plate 142). Figure 1C As shown, the magnetic strength and placement angle of each permanent magnet can be generated by the uniform random number generator 150, and the plurality of permanent magnets have at least two magnetic strengths, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments, the magnetic component can have other different implementations.

[0049] It should be noted that Figure 1C The randomly distributed permanent magnets are only schematically shown, and are not intended to limit the configuration implementation of the present invention. As long as the power lines have multiple incident angles relative to the substrate to be plated after passing through the control board with uniformly randomly distributed magnetic components, they are all within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0050] In some embodiments, the distance between the regulating plate 140 and the substrate S to be plated may be between 2 mm and 8 cm, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0051] In some embodiments, the substrate S to be plated may further include a seed layer 30 , and thus the metal coating layer 10 may be plated on the seed layer 30 , but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0052] It must be noted here that the following embodiments continue to use the component numbers and some contents of the above-mentioned embodiments, wherein the same or similar numbers are used to represent the same or similar components, and the description of the same technical content is omitted. For the description of the omitted parts, please refer to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the following embodiments will not be repeated.

[0053] Figure 2 It is a partial three-dimensional schematic diagram of a control panel of an electroplating device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0054] Please refer to Figure 2 , compared to Figure 1C As for the control plate 140, the multiple magnetic components 244 of the control plate 240 of this embodiment are formed by setting (for example, by coating) a group of magnetic materials in the mesh 242a of the insulating grid plate 242, wherein the setting positions of the multiple magnetic materials are generated by a uniform random number generator 150.

[0055] Furthermore, a group of magnetic materials may include a first magnetic material 244a and a second magnetic material 244b, the mesh 242a may be a hexagonal honeycomb grid, and the first magnetic material 244a and the second magnetic material 244b are respectively arranged on a pair of opposite side walls in the hexagonal honeycomb grid to form a north pole (N pole) and a south pole (S pole) (forming a magnetic force direction), wherein the magnetic force direction formed in each mesh 242a may be different, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0056] In summary, the electroplating equipment of the present invention has a control plate design between the anode and the cathode, and the multiple magnetic components of the control plate are evenly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate. Therefore, under the action of the Lorentz force generated between the electric lines and the control plate, the multiple electric lines can move divergently and have multiple incident angles after passing through the control plate, so that the number of electric lines entering the smaller openings is less than the number of electric lines entering the larger openings. Since the number of electric lines (which can drive the metal ion concentration) is positively correlated with the thickness of the formed metal coating, the number of electric lines entering the opening can be effectively screened out, so that the part of the substrate to be plated where the circuit is to be formed has a consistent electric line density, thereby improving the problem of poor uniformity of the electroplating thickness of the metal coating on the substrate to be plated.

[0057] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein with equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. An electroplating device, characterized in that: include: Anode and cathode; a power supply electrically connected to the anode and the cathode; as well as The regulating plate is arranged between the anode and the cathode, wherein the regulating plate comprises an insulating grid plate and a plurality of magnetic components, and the plurality of magnetic components are uniformly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate.

2. The electroplating equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The uniform random arrangement of the plurality of magnetic components is generated by a uniform random number generator.

3. The electroplating equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The plurality of magnetic components are a plurality of permanent magnets.

4. The electroplating equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that: The magnetic strength and placement angle of each permanent magnet are generated by the uniform random number generator.

5. The electroplating equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that: The plurality of permanent magnets have at least two types of magnetic strength.

6. The electroplating equipment according to claim 3, characterized in that: The plurality of permanent magnets are arranged on a surface of the insulating grid plate close to the anode.

7. The electroplating equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The plurality of magnetic components are formed by arranging a group of magnetic materials in the meshes of the insulating grid plate.

8. The electroplating equipment according to claim 7, characterized in that: The arrangement positions of the group of magnetic materials are generated by the uniform random number generator.

9. The electroplating equipment according to claim 7, characterized in that: The mesh is a hexagonal honeycomb grid.

10. The electroplating equipment according to claim 9, characterized in that: The group of magnetic materials includes a first magnetic material and a second magnetic material, and the first magnetic material and the second magnetic material are respectively arranged on a pair of opposite side walls in the hexagonal honeycomb grid to form a north pointing pole and a south pointing pole.

11. An electroplating method, characterized in that: include: An electroplating apparatus is provided, wherein the electroplating apparatus comprises: Anode and cathode; a power supply electrically connected to the anode and the cathode; and A regulating plate is arranged between the anode and the cathode, wherein the regulating plate comprises an insulating grid plate and a plurality of magnetic components, and the plurality of magnetic components are uniformly and randomly arranged on the insulating grid plate; Fixing a substrate to be plated on the cathode, wherein the substrate to be plated comprises a dry film, and the dry film has at least a first opening and a second opening, and the first opening is smaller than the second opening; After the power supply is supplied, a plurality of electric power lines moving from the anode toward the cathode are formed; The plurality of electric lines passing through the control plate move in a divergent manner and have a plurality of incident angles, so that the number of the electric lines entering the first opening is less than the number of the electric lines entering the second opening; and A metal coating is formed on the substrate to be plated.

12. The electroplating method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The divergent movement means that the multiple electric power lines passing through the control board have distributions at different angles relative to the control board.

13. The electroplating method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The divergent movement includes at least two power line groups.

14. The electroplating method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The power line group is defined by the magnetic strength of the plurality of magnetic components.

15. The electroplating method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The first opening has a first opening angle, the second opening has a second opening angle, the first opening angle is smaller than the second opening angle, and the incident angles of the electric force lines entering the first opening are all smaller than or equal to the first opening angle, and the incident angles of the electric force lines entering the second opening are all smaller than or equal to the second opening angle.

16. The electroplating method according to claim 15, characterized in that: The corresponding electric force lines among the multiple incident angles that are greater than the first opening angle will not enter the first opening, and the corresponding electric force lines among the multiple incident angles that are greater than the second opening angle will not enter the second opening.

17. The electroplating method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The plurality of power lines move in a straight line before passing through the regulating plate.

18. The electroplating method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The plurality of magnetic components are a plurality of permanent magnets, and the plurality of permanent magnets are adhered to the insulating grid plate.

19. The electroplating method according to claim 11, characterized in that: The plurality of magnetic components are formed by coating magnetic material in the meshes of the insulating grid plate.

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