Small-volume electroless plating cell

US7690324B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Novellus Systems, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Jingbin Feng · Tigard, US
• Steven T. Mayer · Lake Oswego, US
• Daniel Mark Dinneen · Tigard, US
• Edmund Minshall · Sherwood, US
• Christopher M. Bartlett · Beaverton, US
• Eric G. Webb · West Linn, US
• R. Marshall Stowell · Wilsonville, US
• Mark T. Winslow · Camas, US
• Avishai Kepten · Jerusalem, IL
• Norman D. Kaplan · Portland, US
• Richard Kevin Lyons · Lake in the Hills, US
• John B. Alexy · West Linn, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Aug 9, 2005
• Grant date: Apr 6, 2010
• Expiry date: Jan 16, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L21/76841
• WIPO field: Semiconductors
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

During fluid treatment of a substrate surface, a carrier/wafer assembly containing a substrate wafer closes the top of a microcell container. The carrier/wafer assembly and the container walls define a thin enclosed treatment volume that is filled with treating fluid, such as electroless plating solution. The thin fluid-treatment volume typically has a volume in a range of about from 100 ml to 500 ml. Preferably a container is heated and the treating fluid is pre-heated before being injected into the container. Preferably, the chemical composition, temperature, and other properties of fluid in the thin enclosed fluid-treatment volume are dynamically variable. A rinse shield and a rinse nozzle are located above the container. A carrier/wafer assembly in a rinse position substantially closes the top of the rinse shield.