Patent ID: 7517444

Claim:
A method of electroplating a conductive top surface of a workpiece, the conductive top surface of the workpiece including a top portion and a cavity portion, the conductive top surface defined by a seed layer, the method comprising: applying, over the conductive top surface of the workpiece, an electrolyte solution with at least one additive disposed therein, a first portion of the additive becoming adsorbed on the top portion and a second portion of the additive becoming adsorbed on the cavity portion; using a workpiece-surface-influencing device to make physical contact with the top portion and establishing relative movement with the workpiece to change at least the first portion of the additive adsorbed onto the seed layer of the top portion; after making physical contact, moving the workpiece-surface-influencing device away from the workpiece surface so that the physical contact between the workpiece-surface-influencing device and the workpiece no longer occurs; after moving the workpiece-surface-influencing device away from the workpiece surface, electroplating the conductive top surface of the workpiece with a conductor obtained from the electrolyte solution at least during a period of time when at least some of the change is maintained and while the workpiece-surface-influencing device remains moved away from the workpiece surface, thereby causing greater electroplating over the seed layer of the cavity portion relative to the electroplating over the seed layer of the top portion, wherein the electroplating results in overfill of the conductor electroplated over the cavity portion relative to the conductor electroplated over the top portion; and after electroplating, removing a portion of the conductor from over the top portion of the workpiece surface and a first portion of the conductor from over the cavity portion, wherein after removal a second portion of the conductor remains over the cavity portion.