Patent ID: 8221608

Claim:
A method for plating a substrate, comprising: providing a plating assembly having a plating source in a plating fluid and a plating facilitator in the plating fluid, wherein the plating source comprises an anode and the plating facilitator comprises a cathode; defining a plating meniscus between the plating source and the plating facilitator, the plating meniscus being contained in a path of the plating assembly; traversing a substrate through the path of the plating assembly, and applying a cathodic charge to the substrate so that plating ions are attracted to a surface of the substrate when the plating meniscus is present on the surface of the substrate, and the substrate traversing through the path of the plating assembly enables plating across the surface of the substrate; and inducing a uniform charge in the path where the plating meniscus is formed, such that charge from the plating source is substantially uniformly directed toward the plating facilitator as the substrate that is charged moves through the path of the plating assembly.