A plating apparatus including a plating bath, a substrate holder to be arranged in the plating bath and adapted to hold a substrate, an anode for generating an electric field between the substrate and the anode, and at least one electric field shielding body for shielding the substrate holder and a part or the whole of the electric field, wherein the electric field shielding body has an opening portion for allowing the electric field between the substrate and the anode to pass therethrough, and is configured so as to be capable of adjusting an opening size in a first direction of the opening portion and an opening size in a second direction of the opening portion independently of each other.

An anode assembly allowing the anode to be easily pulled up from a plating tank is disclosed. The anode assembly includes: an anode structure; and an anode holder. The anode structure includes: an anode; and a feeding member. The anode holder includes: an anode support frame having a space in which the anode structure is arranged; a conductive bar; and a feeding electrode attached to an end of the conductive bar. One end of the feeding member is fixed to the anode, and the other end of the feeding member is detachably fixed to the conductive bar. The anode support frame has a positioning guide portion into which a lower end of the anode structure is inserted. The anode assembly is configured to allow the anode structure to be separated from the anode holder and pulled up from the plating tank when the feeding member is detached from the conductive bar.

Systems and methods for electroplating are described. The electroplating system may include a vessel configured to hold a first portion of a liquid electrolyte. The system may also include a substrate holder configured for holding a substrate in the vessel. The system may further include a first reservoir in fluid communication with the vessel. In addition, the system may include a second reservoir in fluid communication with the vessel. Furthermore, the system may include a first mechanism configured to expel a second portion of the liquid electrolyte from the first reservoir into the vessel. The system may also include a second mechanism configured to take in a third potion of the liquid electrolyte from the vessel into the second reservoir when the second portion of the liquid electrolyte is expelled from the first reservoir. Methods may include oscillating flow of the electrolyte within the vessel.

An electroplating system has a vessel assembly holding an electrolyte. A weir thief electrode assembly in the vessel assembly includes a plenum inside of a weir frame. The plenum divided into at least a first, a second and a third virtual thief electrode segment. A plurality of spaced apart openings through the weir frame lead out of the plenum. A weir ring is attached to the weir frame and guides flow of current during electroplating. The electroplating system provides process determined radial and circumferential current density control and does not require changing hardware components during set up.

A system and method for plating a workpiece are described. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a deposition chamber, a workpiece holder adapted for insertion into and removal from the deposition chamber, a shield with patterns of apertures corresponding to features on the workpiece, a shield holder also adapted for insertion into and removal from the deposition chamber and a positioning mechanism to position the workpiece in the workpiece holder such that the pattern of apertures on the shield will align with the corresponding features on the workpiece when the workpiece holder and shield holder are inserted into the deposition chamber.

Various embodiments include methods and apparatuses to moisturize a substrate prior to an electrochemical deposition process. In one embodiment, a method to control substrate wettability includes placing a substrate in a humidification environment, controlling the humidification environment to moisturize a surface of the substrate; and placing the substrate into a plating cell. Other methods and systems are disclosed.

A plating system is provided. The plating system includes an electroplating chamber defining a plating region within which a wafer is plated. The electroplating chamber includes an inlet configured to introduce plating solution into the plating region of the electroplating chamber. The electroplating chamber includes an outlet configured to remove the plating solution from the plating region of the electroplating chamber. The plating system includes a barrier configured to inhibit removal of the plating solution from the plating region.

A system may include a first semiconductor processing station configured to deposit a material on a first semiconductor wafer, a second semiconductor processing station configured perform measurements indicative of a thickness of the material after the material has been deposited on the first semiconductor wafer, and a controller. The controller may be configured to receive the measurements from the second station; provide an input based on the measurements to a trained model that is configured to generate an output that adjusts an operating parameter of the first station such that the thickness of the material is closer to a target thickness; and causing the first station to deposit the material on a second wafer using the operating parameter as adjusted by the output.

Provided is a plate that is arranged between a substrate and an anode in a plating tank. This plate has a plurality of circular pores on each one of at least three reference circles that are concentric with each other and that are different from each other in diameter. The plurality of circular pores include three circular pores that are arranged respectively on adjacent three of the at least three reference circles, and that have centers which are out of alignment with each other on an arbitrary radius on the plate.

A plating apparatus including a thief electrode that can be suitably maintained is provided. The plating apparatus includes a substrate holder holding a substrate, a thief electrode supporter supporting a thief electrode to be disposed outside the substrate, a plating tank configured to immerse the substrate in a plating solution for applying an electroplating treatment, a thief electrode maintenance tank configured to perform maintenance of the thief electrode, and a transport module configured to transport the thief electrode supporter to the plating tank and the thief electrode maintenance tank.