公开(公告)号：US20250146167A1

公开(公告)日：2025-05-08

申请号：US18557536

申请日：2022-12-16

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Ryosuke HIWATASHI ,  Tsubasa ISHII ,  Yasuyuki MASUDA ,  Masashi SHIMOYAMA

IPC: C25D21/12 ,  C25D17/02 ,  C25D17/06 ,  C25D17/10 ,  C25D21/10

Abstract: Proposed is a plating apparatus capable of detecting a film thickness of a plating film formed on a substrate during a plating process. The plating apparatus includes a plating tank, a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate, an anode disposed in the plating tank to oppose the substrate held by the substrate holder, a resistor disposed between the substrate and the anode to adjust an electric field, a first detection electrode disposed in a region between a surface to be plated of the substrate and the anode and having an electrode end disposed at a first position inside the resistor, a second detection electrode disposed at a second position where there is less change in potential as compared with the first position in the plating tank, and a controller that measures a potential difference between the first detection electrode and the second detection electrode, to estimate a thickness of a plating film on the substrate based on the potential difference.

公开(公告)号：US20240279837A1

公开(公告)日：2024-08-22

申请号：US17790381

申请日：2021-06-17

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Ryosuke HIWATASHI ,  Masashi SHIMOYAMA ,  Yasuyuki MASUDA

IPC: C25D17/00 ,  C25D17/06 ,  C25D21/10

CPC classification number: C25D17/007 ,  C25D17/06 ,  C25D21/10

Abstract: Provided is a resistor or the like that can improve uniformity of a plating film formed on a substrate. A resistor disposed between a substrate and an anode in a plating tank is provided. The resistor includes a first plurality of holes each formed on three or more reference circles being concentric and having different diameters and a second plurality of holes formed on an outer circumferential reference line surrounding the three or more reference circles, at least a part of the outer circumferential reference line being a trochoid curve.

公开(公告)号：US20240175165A1

公开(公告)日：2024-05-30

申请号：US17792079

申请日：2021-10-28

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Masaki TOMITA ,  Yasuyuki MASUDA

IPC: C25D17/00 ,  C25D17/06 ,  C25D21/04 ,  C25D21/12

CPC classification number: C25D17/002 ,  C25D17/06 ,  C25D21/04 ,  C25D21/12

Abstract: Provided is a technique that can suppress deterioration of plating quality of a substrate due to gas bubbles that remain entirely on a lower surface of a membrane.
A plating apparatus 1000 includes a plating tank 10, a substrate holder 20, and a membrane module 40. The membrane module includes a first membrane 41 and a second membrane 42. The second membrane has an inflow port 42c for causing a plating solution in a first region R1 below the second membrane to flow into a second region R2 above the second membrane and below the first membrane, and an inclined portion 42b inclining relative to a horizontal direction and inclining so as to be positioned upward as heading from a center side of an anode chamber to an outer edge side of the anode chamber.

公开(公告)号：US20250075364A1

公开(公告)日：2025-03-06

申请号：US17923567

申请日：2021-10-18

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Yasuyuki MASUDA ,  Yohei WAKUDA ,  Masashi SHIMOYAMA ,  Mizuki NAGAI

IPC: C25D17/06 ,  C25D5/48 ,  C25D17/00 ,  C25D17/02 ,  C25D21/08 ,  C25D21/12

Abstract: One object of the present disclosure is to provide a technique of suppressing deterioration of a seed layer of a substrate. There is provided a method of plating, comprising: a process of holding a substrate by a substrate holder, such that a sealed space is formed to protect a contact provided to supply electricity to the substrate, from a plating solution while the substrate holder holds the substrate, and that a contact location between the substrate and the contact is locally covered with a liquid in the sealed space; a process of soaking the substrate held by the substrate holder in the plating solution and placing the substrate to be opposed to an anode; and a process of performing a plating process of the substrate with supplying electric current between the substrate and the anode, in a state that the contact location between the substrate and the contact is covered with a liquid.

公开(公告)号：US20250051955A1

公开(公告)日：2025-02-13

申请号：US18929090

申请日：2024-10-28

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Yasuyuki MASUDA ,  Ryosuke HIWATASHI ,  Masashi SHIMOYAMA

IPC: C25D21/12 ,  C25D17/00 ,  C25D17/08 ,  C25D21/10

Abstract: There is provided a method of adjusting a plating module, wherein the plating module comprises a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate, an anode placed to be opposed to the substrate holder, and a plate placed between the substrate holder and the anode to serve as an ionically resistive element. The method comprises: providing a plating module of initial setting, which is initially set in such a state that a porosity in an outer circumferential portion of the plate is adjusted to reduce a plating film thickness in an outer circumferential portion of the substrate to be smaller than a film thickness in another portion; and adjusting a distance between the substrate holder and the plate so as to flatten a distribution of plating film thickness of the entire substrate by adjustment of the distance between the substrate holder and the plate such as to increase a film thickness in the outer circumferential portion of the substrate according to a film thickness distribution of the substrate that is plated in the plating module.

公开(公告)号：US20240318347A1

公开(公告)日：2024-09-26

申请号：US18026805

申请日：2022-06-20

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Masaki TOMITA ,  Yasuyuki MASUDA

IPC: C25D21/14 ,  C25D3/38 ,  C25D21/18

CPC classification number: C25D21/14 ,  C25D3/38 ,  C25D21/18

Abstract: There is provided a method of liquid management in an anode chamber. The method comprises providing a plating tank that comprises an anode; a barrier membrane placed to come into contact with or to be brought into close contact with an upper face of the anode; a cathode chamber on an upper side and an anode chamber on a lower side parted by the barrier membrane; and an exhaust path provided to communicate with the anode chamber and configured to discharge bubbles from the anode chamber to outside of the plating tank; storing a plating solution in the anode chamber and in the cathode chamber, such that a liquid level of the plating solution in the exhaust path that is a liquid level of the plating solution in the anode chamber is lower than a liquid level of the plating solution in the cathode chamber; determining whether the liquid level of the plating solution in the exhaust path is lower than a predetermined height, based on an output of a liquid level sensor placed in the exhaust path; and supplying pure water or an electrolytic solution to the anode chamber, when it is determined that the liquid level of the plating solution in the exhaust path is lower than the predetermined height.

公开(公告)号：US20180221835A1

公开(公告)日：2018-08-09

申请号：US15887430

申请日：2018-02-02

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Yasuyuki MASUDA ,  Masashi SHIMOYAMA ,  Jumpei FUJIKATA ,  Yohei WAKUDA ,  Shao Hua CHANG

IPC: B01F11/00 ,  C25D17/00 ,  C25D21/10

CPC classification number: B01F11/0082 ,  B01F11/0097 ,  B01F2215/0096 ,  C25D17/001 ,  C25D17/02 ,  C25D17/06 ,  C25D21/10 ,  C25D21/12 ,  C25D21/18

Abstract: A paddle for agitating a plating solution by reciprocating parallel to a surface of a substrate is disclosed. The paddle includes a plurality of vertically-extending agitation rods. Each agitation rod includes: a planar portion perpendicular to a reciprocating direction of the paddle; two slope surfaces extending from side ends of the planar portion in directions closer to each other, the two slope surfaces being symmetric with respect to a center line of the agitation rod, the center line being perpendicular to the planar portion; and a tip portion connected with the two slope surfaces.

公开(公告)号：US20250146952A1

公开(公告)日：2025-05-08

申请号：US18557557

申请日：2022-08-26

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Masashi SHIMOYAMA ,  Yasuyuki MASUDA ,  Ryosuke HIWATASHI

IPC: G01N21/95 ,  C25D7/12 ,  C25D17/00 ,  C25D21/12

Abstract: A state of a substrate as a plating target is measured. A substrate state measurement device includes: a stage configured to support a substrate such that the stage rotates the substrate, the substrate including a seed layer and a resist layer formed on the seed layer; at least one white confocal sensor adapted to measure a plate surface of the substrate supported by the stage; and a state measurement module adapted to measure a state of a power supply member contact area on the basis of detection performed by the white confocal sensor on the power supply member contact area, the power supply member contact area being an area on the substrate which comes into contact with a power supply member.

公开(公告)号：US20250116026A1

公开(公告)日：2025-04-10

申请号：US18726299

申请日：2022-12-20

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Ryosuke HIWATASHI ,  Masaki TOMITA ,  Yasuyuki MASUDA ,  Masashi SHIMOYAMA

IPC: C25D21/04

Abstract: To efficiently remove gas bubbles from an entire ionically resistive element. A plating apparatus includes a plating tank (410), a substrate holder (440), an anode (430), an ionically resistive element (450), an agitating member (480), and a driving mechanism (482). The plating tank (410) is configured to contain a plating solution. The substrate holder (440) is configured to hold a substrate (Wf) with a surface to be plated facing downward. The anode (430) is disposed in the plating tank (410). The ionically resistive element (450) is disposed between the substrate (Wf) and the anode (430). The agitating member (480) is disposed between the substrate (Wf) and the ionically resistive element (450). The driving mechanism (482) is configured to reciprocate the agitating member (480) along the surface to be plated of the substrate (Wf). The driving mechanism (482) is configured to perform a first gas-bubble removal operation to reciprocate the agitating member (480) around a first position and a second gas-bubble removal operation to reciprocate the agitating member (480) around a second position different from the first position, during a bubble removing process for removing gas bubbles attached to the ionically resistive element (450).

公开(公告)号：US20240247394A1

公开(公告)日：2024-07-25

申请号：US17923163

申请日：2022-01-31

Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION

Inventor： Masashi SHIMOYAMA ,  Yasuyuki MASUDA ,  Ryosuke HIWATASHI

IPC: C25D17/00 ,  C25D7/12

CPC classification number: C25D17/008 ,  C25D7/12 ,  C25D17/001

Abstract: A specific portion of a substrate is allowed to be shielded at a desired timing, and making a plating film-thickness uniform is improved.
A plating module includes: a plating tank 410 for housing a plating solution; an anode 430 disposed in the plating tank 410; a substrate holder 440 for holding a substrate Wf with a surface to be plated Wf-a facing downward; a rotation mechanism 447 configured to rotate the substrate holder 440 in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction; and a shielding mechanism 485 configured to move a shielding member 481 into between the anode 430 and the substrate Wf depending on a rotation angle of the substrate holder 440.