Patent ID: 8377824

Claim:
A semiconductor processing apparatus for depositing copper comprising: (i) one or more electroplating baths; (ii) one or more robots configured to transfer a wafer to and from said one or more electroplating baths; (iii) a controller configured to execute a set of instructions, said instructions comprising: a) introducing an acidic medium substantially free of copper ions into a first electroplating bath of said one or more electroplating baths; b) introducing a wafer having a tungsten layer deposited thereon into the acidic medium; c) applying a negative current density to the tungsten layer to form a preconditioned tungsten surface while exposing the tungsten layer to the acidic medium contained in an electroplating bath; d) introducing copper ions to the acidic medium maintained in the electroplating bath used to form the preconditioned tungsten surface; and e) electroplating a copper seed layer onto the preconditioned tungsten surface of the tungsten layer in the electroplating bath having the acidic medium containing the copper ions.