METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINATION OF ADDITIVES IN METAL PLATING BATHS

摘要

An apparatus and method for the indirect determination of concentrations of additives in metal plating electrolyte solutions, particularly organic additives in Cu-metalization baths for semiconductor manufacturing. The apparatus features a reference electrode housed in an electrically isolated chamber (2) and continuously immersed in the base metal plating solution (4) (without the additive to be measured). An additive concentration determination method comprises electroplating a test electrode (1) in a two-phase process in a mixing chamber wherein the base metal plating solution is mixed with small volumes of the sample and various calibration solutions containing the additive to be measured. The first phase of the electroplating process is a nucleation pulse comprising electroplating with a high plating current density for a short duration (milliseconds), the second phase is electroplating at a constant or known current density. Plating potentials between the electrodes are measured and plotted for each of the solution mixtures, and data are extrapolated to determine the concentration of both accelerator and suppressor organic additives in Cu plating solution in a single test suite.