Patent ID: 8500985

Claim:
A method of forming a copper structure on a substrate, comprising steps of: applying selectively a pre-deposition agent to said substrate to form a pattern of said pre-deposition agent, while simultaneously attaching substantially none of said pre-deposition agent to said substrate outside of said pattern, thereby forming a treated pattern region containing said pre-deposition agent and a non-treated region outside of said pattern, wherein the pre-deposition agent is selected from the group consisting of 2-mercaptoethane sulfonic acid (MESA), 3-mercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid (MPSA), mercaptopyruvate, 3-mercapto-2-butanol, 1-thioglycerol, dimercaptopropane sulfonic acid (DMPSA), dimercaptoethane sulfonic acid (DMESA), and salts and derivatives thereof; thereafter depositing copper on said substrate, wherein said depositing copper on said substrate comprises electroplating copper on said substrate, wherein electroplating the copper on the substrate comprises using a plating bath comprising suppressor additives and substantially free of accelerator additives, wherein said pre-deposition agent in said treated pattern region causes a treated copper-deposition rate in said treated pattern region to be different from a non-treated copper-deposition rate in said non-treated region, wherein said applying selectively said pre-deposition agent to form said pattern comprises physically contacting said substrate with a stamp, wherein said stamp comprises a contact surface of said pattern; and said stamp contains said pre-deposition agent at its stamping surface.