Patent ID: 7446040

Claim:
A method for electroplating an array of electrically conductive material onto a conductive seed layer or directly onto a platable resistive metal barrier layer located on a substrate which comprises: plating a metallization bar on the substrate around the periphery where the array of electrically conductive material is to be located; wherein the bar contains a break around the periphery; contacting the substrate with a plating bath that optionally comprises a super filling additive and a suppressor, applying a current or voltage across electrodes, wherein the substrate acts as one electrode and a conductor acts as a counter electrode to plate the electrically conductive material on the substrate; and providing a gap of about 0.5 μm to about 2 μm in width between the metallization bar and array; wherein the array and bar are plated at the same time; wherein the bar has a width of about 1 μm or less and wherein the width of the bar is at least about 2 times larger than the width lines of the array; wherein the bar has a thickness that is substantially the same as the thickness of lines of the array; wherein the semi-conductor array and metallization bar have the same constituents; providing a barrier layer located beneath a conductive layer of the bar and array; and connecting the bar to a ground potential.