This paper presents an overview of the design of electrochemical processing equipment for semiconductor and related microelectronic manufacturing as well as a review of publications that are applicable to electrochemical wafer process equipment. We discuss several types of electrochemical processes applicable to wafer processing and the considerations that go into automated equipment for these processes. The design of such equipment is considered from a general perspective, as well as specifically with respect to several electrochemical processes. We also present results from reactor-scale modeling of several associated systems. The modeling results have been used to understand the effects of process parameters and hardware design on the results achieved.
Introduction
Over the last decade,electrochemical processes have become increasingly important in microelectronic manufacturing. Electrochemical deposition (ECD) has been used to deposit metals in the manufacture of magnetic recording heads and compound semiconductor chips for many years [1-9]. During the last decade, ECD copper deposition for multilevel interconnections has become accepted for mainstream silicon chip manufacturing, especially for high-speed logic devices [10]. The ECD copper process associated with damascene interconnect formation has done much to accelerate the learning related to electroplating processes and chemistry, and it is probably the ECD process most widely known in microelectronic manufacturing today. There are many other opportunities for utilizing electrochemical processes in the manufacture of semiconductor devices and other microelectronic components. In this paper, we identify some of them and discuss associated equipment design considerations.
