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AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsPaul R. McHugh, Gregory J. Wilson, Daniel J. Woodruff
Estimating the term…
Methods for electrochemically processing microfeature wafers using at least one counter electrode in a vessel, a supplementary electrode and a supplementary virtual electrode. The supplementary electrode is configured to operate independently from the counter electrode in the vessel, and it can be a thief electrode and/or a de-plating electrode depending. The supplementary electrode can further be used as another counter electrode during a portion of a plating cycle or polishing cycle. The supplementary virtual electrode is located in the processing zone, and it is configured to counteract an electric field offset relative to the wafer associated with an offset between the wafer and the counter electrode.
A method for electrochemically processing a substrate, comprising:
The method of 1 wherein the supplementary electrode is located above the supplementary virtual electrode.
The method of claim 10 further comprising shaping an electric field component using a supplementary virtual electrode having an aperture formed, at least in part, by the inner edge of the member, and further comprising plating onto the supplementary electrode to thieve material relative to a perimeter of the wafer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.