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 nano-twinned crystal film and a method thereof are disclosed. The method of fabricating a nano-twinned crystal film includes utilizing an electrolyte solution including copper salt, acid, and a water or alcohol-soluble organic additive, and performing electrodeposition, under conditions of a current density of 20˜100 mA/cm.sup.2, a voltage of 0.2˜1.0V, and a cathode-anode distance of 10˜300 mm, to form the nano-twinned crystal film on a surface at the cathode. The nano-twinned crystal film formed by the method includes a plurality of nano-twinned copper grains and a region of random crystal phases between some of adjacent nano-twinned copper grains, wherein at least some of the nano-twinned copper grains have a pillar cap configuration with a wide top and a narrow bottom.

A plating method includes holding a substrate, supplying a plating liquid L1, supplying a conductive liquid L2 and applying a voltage. In the holding of the substrate, the substrate is held. In the supplying of the plating liquid L1, the plating liquid L1 is supplied onto the held substrate. In the supplying of the conductive liquid L2, the conductive liquid L2, which is different from the plating liquid L1 supplied on the substrate, is supplied onto the plating liquid L1. In the applying of the voltage, the voltage is applied between the substrate and the conductive liquid L2.

An electroplating cup assembly comprises a cup bottom, a lip seal, and an electrical contact structure. The cup bottom at least partially defines an opening configured to allow exposure of a wafer positioned in the cup assembly to an electroplating solution. The lip seal is on the cup bottom and comprises a sealing structure extending upwardly along an inner edge of the lip seal to a peak that is configured to be in contact with a seed layer of a wafer and adjacent to a sacrificial layer of the wafer. The electrical contact structure is over a portion of the seal. The electrical contact structure configured to be coupled to the seed layer of the wafer.

A method is provided for subtractively processing a layer of etchable material formed over an electrically conductive surface region of a workpiece. The workpiece is immersed in a liquid solution, generally but not exclusively a conductive solution, that comprises an etchant for the etchable material, so that etching of the etchable material is initiated. An electric circuit is connected to include a control electrode, a reference electrode, and the electrically conductive surface region of the workpiece. The electric circuit is used to monitor the development process dynamically at each of a plurality of intervals during the etching. The etching is terminated when the electrochemical signal satisfies a criterion indicating that the etching is complete.

There is provided an apparatus for plating a substrate as an object to be plated. The apparatus comprises an anode and a thief tunnel arranged to be located between the substrate and the anode when the substrate is placed to be opposed to the anode. The thief tunnel comprises a body placed away from the substrate and provided with an opening; a plurality of auxiliary electrodes provided in or to the body; and an ion exchange membrane configured to protect the auxiliary electrodes from a plating solution. The plurality of auxiliary electrodes are arranged along a circumference of the opening. At least one of the auxiliary electrodes is configured such that a voltage to be applied to the at least one of the auxiliary electrodes is controlled independently of a voltage to be applied to one or more auxiliary electrodes other than the at least one of the auxiliary electrodes.

A method includes forming a seed layer over a first conductive feature of a wafer, forming a patterned plating mask on the seed layer, and plating a second conductive feature in an opening in the patterned plating mask. The plating includes performing a plurality of plating cycles, with each of the plurality of plating cycles including a first plating process performed using a first plating current density, and a second plating process performed using a second plating current density lower than the first plating current density. The patterned plating mask is then removed, and the seed layer is etched.

Method for electroplating a metal onto a flat substrate P. Surfaces are electrically polarized for metal deposition by feeding thereto at least one first and second forward-reverse pulse current sequences. The first forward-reverse pulse current sequence includes a first forward pulse generating a first cathodic current during a first forward pulse duration t.sub.f1 and having a first forward pulse peak current i.sub.f1, and a first reverse pulse generating a first anodic current during a first reverse pulse duration t.sub.r1 and having a first reverse pulse peak current i.sub.r1, the second forward-reverse pulse current sequence including a second forward pulse generating a second cathodic current during a second forward pulse duration t.sub.f2 and having a second forward pulse peak current i.sub.f2, and a second reverse pulse generating a second anodic current during a second reverse pulse duration t.sub.r2, the second reverse pulse having a second reverse pulse peak current i.sub.r2.

A plating method capable of controlling a concentration of an additive within a proper range during plating of a substrate is disclosed. The plating method includes: disposing an anode and a substrate, having a via-hole formed in a surface thereof, so as to face each other in a plating solution containing an additive; applying a voltage between the anode and the substrate for filling the via-hole with metal; measuring the voltage applied to the substrate; calculating an amount of change in the voltage per predetermined time; and adjusting a concentration of the additive in the plating solution to keep the amount of change in the voltage within a predetermined control range.

The present invention provides a copper electroplating solution including: (A) a sulfate ion; (B) a compound represented by the following general formula (1); and (C) a copper ion, wherein the copper electroplating solution has a content of the component (B) of from 0.3 part by mass to 50 parts by mass and a content of the component (C) of from 5 parts by mass to 50 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of a content of the component (A):

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where R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a sodium atom, a potassium atom, or an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, and “n” represents 1 or 2, a method of producing the copper electroplating solution, and a copper electroplating method including using the copper electroplating solution.