Patent ID: 8048280

Claim:
A method of mitigating corrosion of and repairing a metal layer on the surface of recessed features caused by contact of said metal layer with an electroplating solution, said method comprising: cathodically polarizing said metal layer relative to said electroplating solution by applying a cathodic voltage to the metal layer prior to contact of said metal layer with said electroplating solution, wherein said metal layer has non-uniformity in the form of isolated islands of metal in the recessed features; during an entry phase, contacting at least a portion of said metal layer with said electroplating solution while maintaining the applied cathodic voltage of said metal layer to thereby cause a cathodic current to flow between the portion of said metal layer and a counter electrode in ionic communication with the electroplating solution; during an initiation phase performed under a dc cathodic current that is not sufficient to cause bottom up filling, selectively repairing the non-uniformity in the metal layer of the recessed features by island-bridging of the metal layer non-uniformity to provide substantially conformal plating inside of the feature, wherein the dc cathodic current includes superimposed current pulses; and after the initiation phase, electroplating metal onto the repaired metal layer by applying a controlled current to the metal layer to the repaired metal layer under plating conditions different from those employed during the initiation phase and promoting void-free bottom up filling of the recessed features.