Patent ID: 7901550

Claim:
A plating apparatus comprising: a substrate holder for holding a substrate; a cathode contact for contacting a conductive film formed on the substrate to be held by the substrate holder to feed electricity to the conductive film so that the conductive film serves as a cathode; a ring-shaped seal member for covering the cathode contact such that an inner circumferential portion of the seal member is brought into contact with a peripheral portion of the substrate to be held by the substrate holder to seal the peripheral portion of the substrate; an anode disposed so as to face the conductive film formed on the substrate to be held by the substrate holder; an auxiliary cathode mounted to the seal member such that at least part of the auxiliary cathode is exposed on a surface of the seal member; and an auxiliary cathode cleaning section for cleaning a surface of the auxiliary cathode; wherein plating is carried out by bringing the conductive film, the anode and the auxiliary cathode into contact with a plating solution.