Methods and apparatuses for dynamically tunable wafer-edge electroplating

A method of electroplating one or more semiconductor substrates in an apparatus, wherein the apparatus comprises:

• an electroplating cell;
• a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate within the electroplating cell;
• a fluidically-permeable plate located within the electroplating cell and oriented substantially parallel to the substrate held in the substrate holder, wherein the plate has multiple pores which, when immersed in electroplating solution, provide a fluidic connection between said electroplating solution on opposite sides of the plate;
• a plurality of seals, wherein each seal is configured, when in its sealing configuration, to substantially seal a subset of the pores of the fluidically-permeable plate, the subset located in an edge region of the plate, wherein one or more seals of the plurality of seals are configured to be individually activated from a non-sealing configuration to the sealing configuration;
• a power supply configured to apply an electrical potential between an anode in the electroplating cell and the substrate held by the substrate holder sufficient to cause electroplating on the substrate;
• and
• a controller comprising a processor and a memory, the controller configured to set the configuration of the one or more seals of the plurality of seals;
• wherein, during application of said electrical potential, the rate of electroplating in an edge region of the substrate is affected by the configuration of the one or more seals of the plurality of seals, wherein
• the method comprises:
• (a) setting the configuration of the one or more seals of the plurality of seals which, when in their sealing configuration, substantially seal the subset of the pores of the fluidically-permeable plate, the subset located in the edge region of the fluidically-permeable plate;
• and
• (b) applying an electrical potential between the anode and the first substrate sufficient to cause electroplating on the first substrate, wherein the rate of electroplating in an edge region of the first substrate is affected by the configuration of the one or more seals.