Patent Abstract:
An apparatus which can control thickness uniformity during deposition of conductive material from an electrolyte onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate is provided. The apparatus has an anode which can be contacted by the electrolyte during deposition of the conductive material, a cathode assembly including a carrier adapted to carry the substrate for movement during deposition, and a conductive element permitting electrolyte flow therethrough. A mask lies over the conductive element and has openings permitting electrolyte flow. The openings define active regions of the conductive element by which a rate of conductive material deposition onto the surface can be varied. A power source can provide a potential between the anode and the cathode assembly so as to produce the deposition. A deposition process is also disclosed, and uniform electroetching of conductive material on the semiconductor substrate surface can additionally be performed.

Full Description:
[0001]    This application claims the priority of U.S. provisional application No. 60/256,924, filed Dec. 21, 2000, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention generally relates to electrodeposition process technology and, more particularly, to an electrodeposition process and apparatus that yield planar deposition layers.  
           [0004]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0005]    A conventional semiconductor device generally includes a semiconductor substrate, usually a silicon substrate, and a plurality of sequentially formed dielectric interlayers, such as silicon dioxide interlayers, and conductive paths or interconnects made of conductive materials. The interconnects are usually formed by filling a conductive material in trenches etched into the dielectric interlayers. In an integrated circuit, multiple levels of interconnect networks laterally extend with respect to the substrate surface. The interconnects formed in different layers can be electrically connected using vias or contacts. A conductive material filling process of filling such features, i.e. via openings, trenches, pads or contacts, can be carried out by depositing a conductive material over the substrate including such features. Excess conductive material on the substrate can then be removed using a planarization and polishing technique such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP).  
           [0006]    Copper (Cu) and Cu alloys have recently received considerable attention as interconnect materials because of their superior electromigration and low resistivity characteristics. The preferred method of Cu deposition is electrodeposition. During fabrication, copper is electroplated or electrodeposited on substrates that are previously coated with barrier and seed layers. Typical barrier materials generally include tungsten (W), tantalum (Ta), titanium (Ti), their alloys and their nitrides. A typical seed layer material for copper is usually a thin layer of copper that is CVD or PVD deposited on the aforementioned barrier layer.  
           [0007]    There are many different Cu plating system designs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,412, issued on May 14, 1996 to Andricacos et al., discloses a vertical paddle plating cell that is configured to electrodeposit a film on a flat article. U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,123, issued on Nov. 16, 1999 to Koon, discloses yet another vertical electroplating apparatus which purports to overcome the non-uniform deposition problems associated with varying substrate sizes.  
           [0008]    During the Cu electrodeposition process, specially formulated plating solutions or electrolytes are used. These solutions or electrolytes contain ionic species of Cu and additives to control the texture, morphology, and plating behavior of the deposited material. Additives are needed to make the deposited layers smooth and somewhat shiny.  
           [0009]    [0009]FIGS. 1 through 2 exemplify a conventional electrodeposition method and apparatus. FIG. 1A illustrates a substrate  10  having an insulator layer  12  formed thereon. Using conventional etching techniques, features such as a row of small vias  14  and a wide trench  16  are formed on the insulator layer  12  and on the exposed regions of the substrate  10 . Typically, the widths of the vias  14  are sub-micronic. The trench  16  shown in this example, on the other hand, is wide and has a small aspect ratio. The width of the trench  16  may be five to fifty times or more greater than its depth.  
           [0010]    [0010]FIGS. 1B-1C illustrate a conventional method for filling the features with copper material. FIG. 1B illustrates that a barrier/glue or adhesion layer  18  and a seed layer  20  are sequentially deposited on the substrate  10  and the insulator  12 . After depositing the seed layer  20 , as shown in FIG. 1C, a conductive material layer  22  (e.g., a copper layer) is partially electrodeposited thereon from a suitable plating bath or bath formulation. During this step, an electrical contact is made to the copper seed layer  20  and/or the barrier layer  18  so that a cathodic (negative) voltage can be applied thereto with respect to an anode (not shown). Thereafter, the copper material layer  22  is electrodeposited over the substrate surface using plating solutions, as discussed above. By adjusting the amounts of the additives, such as chloride ions, a suppressor/inhibitor, and an accelerator, it is possible to obtain bottom-up copper film growth in the small features.  
           [0011]    As shown in FIG. 1C, the copper material  22  completely fills the vias  14  and is generally conformal in the large trenches  16 , because the additives that are used are not operative in large features. Here, the Cu thickness t1 at the bottom surface of the trench  16  is about the same as the Cu thickness t2 over the insulator layer  12 . As can be expected, to completely fill the trench  16  with the Cu material, further plating is required. FIG. 1D illustrates the resulting structure after additional Cu plating. In this case, the Cu thickness t3 over the insulator layer  12  is relatively large and there is a step height s 1  from the top of the Cu layer on the insulator layer  12  to the top of the Cu layer  22  in the trench  16 . For IC applications, the Cu layer  22  needs to be subjected to CMP or other material removal processes so that the Cu layer  22  as well as the barrier layer  18  on the insulator layer  12  are removed, thereby leaving the Cu layer only within the features  14  and  16 . These removal processes are known to be quite costly.  
           [0012]    Methods and apparatus to achieve a generally planar Cu deposit as illustrated in FIG. 1E would be invaluable in terms of process efficiency and cost. The Cu thickness t5 over the insulator layer  12  in this example is smaller than the traditional case as shown in FIG. 1D, and the step height s 2  is also much smaller than the step height s 1 . Removal of the thinner Cu layer in FIG. 1E by CMP or other methods would be easier, providing important cost savings.  
           [0013]    In U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,992 B1 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Electrochemical Mechanical Deposition”, commonly owned by the assignee of the present invention, an electrochemical mechanical deposition (ECMD) technique is disclosed that achieves deposition of the conductive material into cavities on a substrate surface while minimizing deposition on the field regions by polishing the field regions with a pad as the conductive material is deposited, thus yielding planar copper deposits. The plating electrolyte in this application is supplied to the small gap between the pad and the substrate surface through a porous pad or through asperities in the pad.  
           [0014]    Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/511,278, entitled “Pad Designs and Structures for a Versatile Materials Processing Apparatus” filed Feb. 23, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,388 B1, which is commonly owned by the assignee of the present invention, describes various shapes and forms of holes in pads through which electrolyte flows to a wafer surface.  
           [0015]    Another invention described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/740,701, entitled “Plating Method and Apparatus That Creates a Differential Between Additive Disposed on a Surface and a Cavity Surface of a Work Piece Using an External Influence”, filed Dec. 18, 2000, provides a method and apparatus for “mask-pulse plating” a conductive material onto a substrate by intermittently moving the mask, which is placed between the substrate and the anode, into contact with the substrate surface and applying power between the anode and the substrate during the process. Yet another invention described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/735,546, entitled “Method of and Apparatus for Making Electrical Contact to Wafer Surface For Full-Face Electroplating or Electropolishing”, filed Dec. 14, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,307, provides complete or full-face electroplating or electropolishing of the entire wafer frontal side surface without excluding any edge area for the electrical contacts. This method uses an anode having an anode area, and electrical contacts placed outside the anode area. During the process, the wafer is moved with respect to the anode and the electrical contacts such that a full-face deposition over the entire wafer frontal surface is achieved. Another non-edge-excluding process described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/760,757, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Electrodeposition of Uniform Film with Minimal Edge Exclusion on Substrate”, filed Jan. 17, 2001, also achieves full-face deposition with a system having a mask or a shaping plate placed between the wafer frontal surface and the anode. The mask contains asperities allowing electrolyte flow. In this system, the mask has a larger area than the wafer surface. The mask is configured to have recessed edges through which electrical contacts can be contacted with the front surface of the wafer. In this system, as the wafer is rotated, the full surface of the wafer contacts with the electrolyte flowing through the shaping plate, achieving deposition.  
           [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2A shows a schematic depiction of a prior art electrodeposition system  30 . In this system, a wafer  32  is held by a wafer holder  34  with the help of a ring clamp  36  covering the circumferential edge of the wafer  32 . An electrical contact  38  is also shaped as a ring and connected to the (−) terminal of a power supply for cathodic plating. The wafer holder  34  is lowered into a plating cell  40  filled with plating electrolyte  42 . An anode  44 , which makes contact with the electrolyte  42 , is placed across from the wafer surface and is connected to the (+) terminal of the power supply. The anode  44  may be made of the material to be deposited, i.e. copper, or may be made of an appropriate inert anode material such as platinum, platinum coated titanium or graphite. A plating process commences upon application of power. In this plating system, the electrical contact  38  is sealed from the electrolyte and carries the plating current through the circumference of the wafer  32 .  
           [0017]    [0017]FIGS. 1A through 1E show how the features on the wafer surface are filled with copper. For this filling process to be efficient and uniform throughout the wafer, it is important that a uniform thickness of copper be deposited over the whole wafer surface. Also, the resulting thickness uniformity of the plating process, i.e. the uniformity of thickness t3 in FIG. 1D and the uniformity of the thickness t5 in FIG. 1E, needs to be very good (typically less than 10% variation, and preferably less than 5% variation) because a non-uniform copper thickness causes problems during the CMP process.  
           [0018]    As shown in FIG. 2B, in order to improve uniformity of the deposited layers, shields  46  may be included in the prior art electroplating system such as that shown in FIG. 2A. In such systems, either the wafer  32  or the shield  46  may be rotated. Such shields are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,631 to Broadbent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,544 to Reid et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,085 to Woo et al. Further, in such systems, electrical thieves can be used for electrodepositing materials. Such thieves are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,620,581 and 5,744,019 to Ang, U.S. Pat. No. 6,071,388 to Uzoh, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,004,440 and 6,139,703 to Hanson et al.  
           [0019]    In view of the foregoing, there is a need for alternative electrodeposition processes and systems that deposit uniform conductive films and have the ability to change deposition rates on various portions of a substrate during the deposition process.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0020]    In one aspect of the present invention, a system for electrodepositing a conductive material on a surface of a wafer is provided. The system includes an anode, a mask having upper and lower surfaces, a conductive mesh positioned below the upper surface of the mask or shaping plate, and an electrolyte. The mask includes a plurality of openings extending between the upper and lower surfaces, and the mask is supported between the anode and the surface of the wafer. The conductive mesh is positioned below the upper surface of the mask such that the plurality of openings of the mask defines a plurality of active regions on the conductive mesh. The conductive mesh is connected to a first electrical power input. The liquid electrolyte flows through the openings of the mask and through the active areas of the mesh so as to contact the surface of the wafer.  
           [0021]    Another feature of the invention is the provision of an apparatus which can control thickness uniformity during deposition of conductive material from an electrolyte onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate. The apparatus includes an anode which can be contacted by the electrolyte during deposition, a cathode assembly including a carrier adapted to carry the substrate for movement during deposition, a conductive element permitting electrolyte flow therethrough, and a mask lying over the conductive element. The mask has openings, permitting electrolyte flow therethrough, which define active regions of the conductive element by which a rate of conductive material deposition onto the surface can be varied. A power source can provide a potential between the anode and the cathode assembly so as to produce the deposition.  
           [0022]    Preferably, the conductive element is a conductive mesh, and includes a plurality of electrically isolated sections. At least one isolation member or gap can separate the electrically isolated sections. The electrically isolated sections can be connected to separate control power sources.  
           [0023]    In one configuration, the conductive element can be sandwiched between top and bottom mask portions which together define the mask. The conductive element could be placed under a lower surface of the mask. One of the electrically isolated sections may circumferentially surround another of the electrically isolated sections.  
           [0024]    The electrically isolated sections could be irregularly shaped. Alternatively, one of the electrically isolated sections can be ring shaped while the other of these sections is disc shaped. The electrically isolated sections could additionally define adjacent strips.  
           [0025]    At least one control power source can be used to supply a voltage to at least one of the electrically isolated sections to vary the rate of conductive material deposition onto a region of the substrate surface. In one configuration, the rate can be increased or decreased. Apparatuses such as those mentioned can be used to control thickness uniformity during conductive material deposition in a process including contacting the anode with the electrolyte, providing a supply of the electrolyte to the substrate surface through the conductive element and through the mask lying over the conductive element, providing a potential between the anode and the surface, and supplying a voltage to the conductive element in order to vary the conductive material deposition rate.  
           [0026]    Uniform electroetching of conductive material on the wafer surface by reversing polarities of the anode and the cathode assembly is also within the scope of this invention. A process for establishing a relationship between deposition currents in active regions on the conductive mesh and thicknesses of the conductive material deposited onto the semiconductor substrate surface is also contemplated.  
           [0027]    These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the drawings and the following description.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0028]    [0028]FIG. 1A is a partial sectional view of a semiconductor substrate with an overlying insulator layer including trenches and vias.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIGS. 1B and 1C are cross sectional views illustrating a conventional method for filling trenches and vias, such as those of FIG. 1A, with a conductive material.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1D is a cross sectional view showing a structure similar to that of FIG. 1C but after additional conductive material deposition.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 1E is a view similar to FIG. 1D but showing a structure with a reduced conductive material thickness over an insulator layer.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 2A is a schematic illustration, in cross section, of a known electrodeposition system.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 2B is a schematic illustration similar to FIG. 2A but showing a system which includes shields intended to improve deposition uniformity.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 3 is a schematic cross sectional illustration of one embodiment of an electrodeposition system according to this invention.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 4 shows the system of FIG. 3 when used to provide substantially flat conductive material deposition.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a conductive mesh, with irregularly shaped electrically isolated sections, which can be used in the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 6A is an enlarged cross sectional view showing a combined mask and mesh structure in proximity with a front surface of a semiconductor substrate.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 6B is an enlarged view of section  6 B appearing in FIG. 6A.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 6C is a partial plan view along line  6 C- 6 C of FIG. 6B.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of a combined mask and mesh structure.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 8A is a top plan view of a conductive mesh similar to that of FIG. 5 but in which the electrically isolated sections are not irregularly shaped.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 8B shows the mesh of FIG. 8A as sandwiched between top and bottom mask portions in proximity with a front surface of a semiconductor substrate.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 9A is a top plan view of a conductive mesh with electrically isolated sections which define adjacent strips.  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 9B is a view similar to that of FIG. 8B but showing the mesh of FIG. 9A as sandwiched between top and bottom mask portions.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 9C is a plan view along line  9 C- 9 C of FIG. 9B.  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 10 is a schematic illustration of one system by which a mesh in accordance with any of the previously described embodiments can be energized.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of another system in which multiple meshes are multiplexed through multiple switches.  
         [0048]    [0048]FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of part of the system shown in FIG. 11.  
         [0049]    [0049]FIG. 13 is a view similar to FIG. 12 showing a switch in a position by which copper is plated from a mesh onto a wafer as well as from an anode onto the wafer.  
         [0050]    [0050]FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 13 but showing the switch in a position by which copper is plated to the mesh so that less plating occurs on the wafer.  
         [0051]    [0051]FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of another system which can be used to correlate plating current to plated metal thickness measurements. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0052]    The present invention provides a method and a system to control the uniformity of a conductive material layer deposited on a surface of a semiconductor. The invention can be used with ECMD, mask pulse plating and full face plating as well as plating systems that deposit conformal films. The deposition process of the present invention advantageously achieves deposition of a conductive material in a plurality of cavities, such as trenches, vias, contact holes and the like, on a surface of a semiconductor wafer.  
         [0053]    As is known, during an electrodeposition process of a surface of a wafer, the current density applied to the surface is substantially greater at the periphery of the surface than the center of the surface. In the prior art, this higher current density results in an increased deposition rate of the deposited film at the periphery of the wafer as compared to the wafer center. With the present invention, the film thickness difference between the interior and the periphery of the wafer may be eliminated with use of the combination of the perforated plate or a mask and a conductive mesh of the present invention during the electrodeposition. The combination of the perforated plate and the conductive mesh facilitates uniform deposition of the conductive material.  
         [0054]    Further, in another embodiment, the present invention achieves deposition of the conductive material through the combination of the perforated plate and the conductive mesh into the features of the surface of the wafer while minimizing the deposition on the top surface regions between the features by contacting, sweeping and/or polishing of the surface with the perforated plate of the present invention. For systems that can deposit planar films, i.e., ECMD, mask pulse plating and full face plating, the thickness uniformity can be controlled to a certain extent through designing the shape, size and location of the openings in the mask, pad or shaping plates that are employed. Although effective for a given process parameters, such approaches may not be flexible enough to have a dynamic control over the uniformity of the deposition process.  
         [0055]    The apparatus and the process of the present invention exhibit enhanced deposition characteristics resulting in layers having flatness previously unattainable and conductive layers with materials characteristics surpassing that of prior art layers that have been produced using prior art processes and devices.  
         [0056]    Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. As shown in FIG. 3, an electrodeposition system  100  of the present invention may preferably comprise a cathode assembly  102  and an anode assembly  104 . The system  100  may be used to deposit a conductive material such as copper on a semiconductor wafer such as silicon wafer. Although copper is used as an example, the present invention may be used for deposition of other common conductors such as Ni, Pd, Pt, Au and their alloys. The cathode assembly  102  of the electrodeposition system  100  may be comprised of a wafer carrier  106 , shown in FIG. 3 holding an exemplary wafer  108 , which is attached to a carrier arm  110 . The carrier arm may rotate or move the wafer  108  laterally or vertically.  
         [0057]    The anode assembly  104  of the system  100  may be comprised of an anode  112 , preferably a consumable copper anode, a mask, and a conductive mesh  115  of the present invention. The mask, as shown, is in the form of a mask plate  114 . The anode  112  may preferably be placed into an enclosure such as an anode cup  116  which may be enclosed by the mask plate  114  and the conductive mesh  115  as in the manner shown in FIG. 3. The mask plate  114  and the mesh  115  are both perforated plates. The mask plate preferably comprises a first mask portion  114   a  or a top mask portion and a second mask portion  114   b  or a bottom mask portion. The mesh  115  may be interposed or sandwiched between the top and bottom portions  114   a ,  114   b . The mask plate  114  may comprise a plurality of openings or asperities  117  which allow a copper plating electrolyte  118  to flow through the mask plate  114  and the mesh  115 , and wet the front surface  108   a  of the wafer  108  and deposit material on the front surface  108   a  of the wafer under applied potential. The asperities  117  in the top and bottom mask portions may generally be aligned to allow electrolyte flow through the top and bottom mask portions  114   a ,  114   b . However, their partial alignment or placement in any other way that still allows electrolyte flow through the top mask portion  114   a  to the wafer surface is also within the scope of this invention. During the electrodeposition process, the wafer surface  108   a  may be kept substantially parallel to an upper surface  119  of the mask plate  114  and rotated. It should be understood that what counts is the relative motion between the wafer surface and the pad surface. This motion can be a rotational motion or a rotation motion with linear translation.  
         [0058]    The mesh  115  may have first and second sections  115   a  and  115   b  that are electrically isolated from each other by an isolation member  115   c . The isolation member  115   c  may be a gap separating both sections. The first section  115   a  may be connected to a first control power source V 1  and the second section may be connected to a second control power source V 2 . If the control power supplies impart a negative voltage on the mesh sections, this results in some material deposition on the sections  115   a  and  115   b  during the electrodeposition, i.e. some deposition is “stolen” directly across from these sections. On the other hand, if a positive voltage is applied to the mesh with respect to the wafer surface, the section of the wafer across from the section of the mesh with positive voltage receives more plating. As will be described below, with the applied power V 1  and in combination with the functionalities of the mask asperities, the first section  115   a  of the mesh  115  may, for example, control the thickness at the periphery of the front surface  108   a  of the wafer  108 . In this respect, the second power V 2  on the second section  115   b  controls the thickness on the center or near center regions of the front surface  108   a . During the deposition process, the electrolyte  118  is pumped into the anode cup  116  through a liquid inlet  121  in the direction of arrow  122 , and then in the direction of arrows  123  so as to reach and wet the surface  108   a  of the wafer  108  which is rotated. The anode  112  is electrically connected to a positive terminal of a power source (not shown) through an anode connector  124 . The wafer  108  is connected to a negative terminal of the power source (not shown) . The anode  112  may have holes in it (not shown). Additionally, the anode may have an anode bag or filter around the anode to filter particles created during the deposition process. The mask plate  114  and the anode cup  116  may have bleeding openings (not shown) to control the flow of electrolyte.  
         [0059]    As shown in FIG. 4, a planar electrodeposition process can also be employed. In this case, the cathode assembly  102  may be lowered toward the anode assembly  104  and the front surface  108   a  of the wafer  108  is contacted with the upper surface  119  of the mask  114  while the wafer  108  is rotated. In this embodiment, the mask  114  may be made of a rigid material such as a hard dielectric material, or, optionally, the upper surface  119  of the mask  114  may contain rigid abrasive materials. During this process, addition of mechanical polishing or sweeping provides substantially flat deposition layers with controlled thickness.  
         [0060]    [0060]FIG. 5 exemplifies the conductive mesh  115  and the sections  115   a  and  115   b  separated by the isolation member  115   c . The mesh  115  comprises openings  126  allowing electrolyte to flow through the openings. The mesh  115  may be made of platinum or platinum coated titanium mesh or other inert conductive materials. After a cycle of 5 to 50 uses, the polarity of the system may be reversed and the mesh can be cleaned for another cycle of uses. The number of possible cycles, before cleaning, depends on the use of the mesh and the size of the mesh. Although two regions are shown in FIG. 5, the use of more than two regions is within the scope of this invention.  
         [0061]    As shown in FIGS. 6A-6C, the mesh  115  may be placed between the top and bottom mask portions  114   a ,  114   b  using suitable fastening means or may be formed as an integral part of the mask  114 . As shown in FIGS. 6B-6C, in side view and plan view respectively, when the mesh  115  and the mask  114  are combined, the openings  117  through the mask  114  define a plurality of active regions  130  on the mesh  115 . During electrodeposition, when a negative potential is applied to the mesh  115 , material deposition onto the active regions  130  occurs. If a positive voltage is applied, the active regions  130  of the mesh  115  become anodic and cause additional deposition on the wafer surface right above them. By varying the size and shape of the openings  117 , the size and shape of the active regions  130  are changed. This, in turn, varies the deposition rates on the front surface  108   a  of the wafer  108  and hence alternatively controls the film thickness.  
         [0062]    [0062]FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of a combined structure of the mask  114  and the mesh  115 . In this embodiment, the mesh  115  is placed under a lower surface  128  of the mask plate  114 . It is also within the scope of the present invention to position a plurality of meshes between the upper surface  119  and the lower surface  128  of the mask  114 . Each of a plurality of meshes may be isolated from each other with a layer of mask, and each mesh may have a sequentially applied different power during the electrodeposition process to control the deposition rate.  
         [0063]    [0063]FIGS. 8A and 8B show another embodiment of the conductive mesh. In this embodiment, a mesh  131  comprises a first section  131   a  and a second section  131   b  isolated from one another by an isolation member  131   c . The first section  131   a  is ring shaped and is fed by a first control power V 1 . As shown in FIG. 8B, the first section  131   a  controls the deposition thickness at a periphery  132  of the wafer  108 . The second section  131   b , which is disc shaped, controls the deposition thickness at the center  134  of the wafer  108  by a second control power V 2 .  
         [0064]    [0064]FIG. 9A-9C show another embodiment of a mesh  136  comprising a first section  136   a  and a second section  136   b  isolated from one another by an isolation member  136   c . The first and second sections  136   a ,  136   b  are both strip shaped and may be used with a mask  138 , which may have a circular or rectangular shape, having openings  140 . Similar to the previous embodiments, the mask  138  may comprise a top portion  138   a  and a bottom portion  138   b , and the mesh  136  may be sandwiched between the top and bottom portions  138   a ,  138   b . As shown in FIGS. 9B and 9C, the first section  136   a  is aligned with a first end  142  of the mask  138  to control the deposition thickness at the periphery  132  of the wafer  108  which rotates during the electrodeposition process. The wafer  108  may be also moved in the direction Y. Similarly, the second section  136   b  is aligned with the center  144  of the mask  138  to control the deposition thickness of the center  134  of the wafer  108 .  
         [0065]    Of course, a uniform electroetching of the wafer surface by reversing polarities of the system  100  described above is also within the scope of this invention.  
         [0066]    [0066]FIG. 10 shows one embodiment of energizing the sections of the mesh described in the previous embodiments. In this embodiment, an exemplary mesh  150  may be interposed between a top portion  152   a  and a bottom portion  152   b  of a mask plate. The mask plate comprises a plurality of asperities  154  defining active areas  156  on the mesh  150 . The mesh comprises a first or peripheral section  150   a  and a second or central section  150   b  which are isolated from one another by an isolation member  150   c . A first power source Va is connected to a wafer  158 , having a conductive surface  158   a  and an anode of an anode cup (not shown) of an electrodeposition system such as those described with regard to FIGS. 3-4. The first power source Va may also be connected to the first section  150   a  or the second section  150   b  of the mesh  150  through a switch S 2 . A second power source Vb is connected to the wafer  158  and the first section  150   a  or the second section  150   b  of the mesh  150  through the switch S 1 .  
         [0067]    Accordingly, if the switch S 1  connects node D to node A, no voltage is applied to the mesh  150 . If the switch S 1  connects node D to node B, a positive voltage is applied to the section  150   a  of the mesh  150 . Accordingly, additional deposition is achieved in the section or sections AA on the wafer surface  158   a . Each section AA is positioned right across from a section  150   a  of the mesh  150 . If the switch S 1  connects node D to node C, the section BB on the wafer receives the additional deposit.  
         [0068]    If the switch S 2  connects node H to node E, regular deposition commences on the wafer surface  158   a . If switch S 2  connects node H to node G, section  150   a  of the mesh  150  is rendered cathodic, and therefore attracts deposition, reducing the amount of deposit on the section AA of the wafer surface  158   a . Similarly, if S 2  connects node H to node F, deposition on the section BB of the wafer surface  158   a  is reduced. Thus, the deposition rates in both sections AA and BB of the wafer can be controlled by selecting the proper positions for the switches S 1  and S 2 .  
         [0069]    Only one power supply is required if one multiplexes the meshes M 1 , M 2 , M 3  . . . M n  through switches S 1 , S 2 , S 3  . . . S n  as shown in FIGS. 11-14. Also, measuring the current through a series of resistors would be useful for designing better mask patterns in the system. This is especially required for the present cell design because it is a complex cell to computer model and the potential field is not uniform across the system.  
         [0070]    Everything can be done with one power supply if many switches are used, as shown in FIG. 11. For example, looking at one micro-plating cell M 1  as shown in FIG. 12, switch S 1 can be used to change the amount of deposition on the cathode section over micro-plating cell M 1 . In one case, shown in FIG. 13, when the switch S 1  is switched to the V A  position, mesh M 1  is at potential V A , and copper plates both from the mesh to the cathode and from the anode to the cathode.  
         [0071]    When the switch S 1  is switched to the V C  position as shown in FIG. 14, the mesh M 1  is at a cathode potential and copper substantially plates to the mesh. To control thicknesses on different sections of the wafers, the duty cycles of switched meshes can be modulated in these regions.  
         [0072]    If the switch S 1  is in the not connected (N C ) position, and is not connected to V A  or V C , then copper will plate as in a normal system.  
         [0073]    Substantially isolated meshes, one for each opening in the mash, can also be used to determine the local current density of each opening in the mesh. Measuring this is helpful in designing and testing new mask patterns to get optimized or better control on the plated thickness uniformity.  
         [0074]    For one cell, referring to FIG. 15, in a first step, the voltage drop across the R 1  resistor is determined and the plating current for the particular cell is determined. This operation is then repeated in subsequent steps for every cell. Results are then mapped and compared to plated metal thickness measurements.  
         [0075]    It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to preferred embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8