Process chamber and method for depositing and/or removing material on a substrate

An apparatus for performing electroplating to deposit material onto a substrate comprising:

• a support for having said substrate reside thereon;
• a hollow sleeve for forming a containment chamber to contain an electrolyte for electroplating said material onto said substrate, said sleeve having a lower end and an upper end;
• an anode electrode coupled to reside within said hollow sleeve;
• a cathode electrode coupled to said lower end of said sleeve for coupling to said substrate, but protected from said electrolyte during electroplating;
• said support when raised to engage said sleeve causes said substrate to enclose said lower end of said sleeve by forming an enclosing floor for said containment chamber to retain said electrolyte therein;
• and
• said cathode electrode adapted for contact to a surface of said substrate exposed to said electrolyte, but substantially shielded from said electrolyte when said substrate is subjected to an electric field generated by a potential difference between an anode and cathode.

An apparatus for performing electropolishing to remove material from a substrate comprising:

• a support for having said substrate reside thereon;
• a hollow sleeve for forming a containment chamber to contain an electrolyte for electropolishing said material from said substrate, said sleeve having a lower end and an upper end;
• a cathode electrode coupled to reside within said hollow sleeve;
• an anode electrode coupled to said lower end of said sleeve for coupling to said substrate, but protected from said electrolyte during electropolishing;
• said support adapted to engage said sleeve and when engaged to said sleeve causes said substrate to enclose said lower end of said sleeve by forming an enclosing floor for said containment chamber to retain said electrolyte therein;
• and
• said anode electrode adapted for contact to a surface of said substrate exposed to said electrolyte, but substantially shielded from said electrolyte when said substrate is subjected to an electric field generated by a potential difference between a cathode and anode.

A method for processing a material residing in a containment chamber, comprising the steps of:

• placing a material to be processed on a support;
• providing a hollow sleeve to form said containment chamber to contain a processing fluid for processing said material, said sleeve having a lower end and an upper end;
• providing a first electrode within said hollow sleeve;
• providing at least one second electrode coupled to said lower end of said sleeve;
• raising said support to engage said sleeve so that said support and said material enclose said lower end of said sleeve by forming an enclosing floor for said containment chamber to retain said processing fluid therein;
• filling said containment chamber with said processing fluid;
• applying a potential across said first and second electrodes to process said material.