Claims
- 1. An apparatus for electrochemical deposition on a substrate, said apparatus comprising:
an anode; a cathode with a vertical mounting surface; a pressurized cell to contain electrolytic solution; and an aperture disposed between said anode and said cathode; wherein a vertical flow of said electrolytic solution is substantially laminar in a vicinity of said cathode.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a reservoir.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the reservoir and cell comprise a closed system.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 2 further comprising at least one filter.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein at least one of said at least one filter is a submicron filter.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the substrate comprises a semiconductor wafer.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the wafer is coated so that only certain features on the wafer receive the deposition.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said features are submicron features.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the cell is pressurized to at least approximately one atmosphere above ambient pressure.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the cell is pressurized to at least approximately two atmospheres above ambient pressure.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cathode rotates about a horizontal axis perpendicular to said mounting surface.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cell has a geometry that facilitates said laminar flow.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said cell comprises an inverted triangular or conical shape in a vicinity of an electrolyte inlet port.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said cell is of sufficient height to ensure that said flow is laminar in a vicinity of said cathode.
- 15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said aperture is electrically insulating.
- 16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said aperture comprises an opening.
- 17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said opening is circular.
- 18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein a size of said opening is variable.
- 19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the size of said opening may be varied during operation of the cell.
- 20. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said aperture comprises an iris.
- 21. The apparatus of claim 20 wherein said iris comprises at least three paddles.
- 22. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the size of said opening is larger than a size of the substrate.
- 23. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein said opening can be completely closed.
- 24. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said anode is situated less than approximately 5 cm from said cathode.
- 25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein said anode is situated less than approximately 1 cm from said cathode.
- 26. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein said anode is situated less than approximately 0.5 cm from said cathode.
- 27. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a metal ion source is situated behind said anode, thereby minimizing contamination from reaching the substrate while said anode retains a constant surface profile.
- 28. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a surface profile of said anode is controllably variable.
- 29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said surface profile can be varied during operation of said cell.
- 30. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said anode comprises parallel hollow electrically conducting tubes.
- 31. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a magnet.
- 32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said magnet comprises an electromagnet.
- 33. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said magnet comprises at least one permanent magnet.
- 34. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein said magnet provides for codeposition of magnetic particles with electrochemical deposition on the substrate.
- 35. The apparatus of claim 34 wherein a strength of said magnet is adjusted to provide a desired concentration of magnetic particles on the substrate.
- 36. An apparatus for performing multiple electrochemical depositions on a substrate, said apparatus comprising:
an anode having a variable surface profile; a cathode with a vertical mounting surface; a pressurized cell to contain electrolytic solution; a closed system for circulation of the solution; and an aperture with a variably sized opening disposed between said anode and said cathode; wherein a vertical flow of said electrolytic solution is substantially laminar in a vicinity of said cathode.
- 37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein the multiple depositions are carried out without opening said cell between each deposition.
- 38. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein said surface profile of said anode is controllably varied as desired for each deposition.
- 39. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein a size of said opening is varied as desired for each deposition.
- 40. The apparatus of claim 36 further comprising a filter.
- 41. A method of electrolytically depositing a material on a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
providing an electrolytic cell; providing an anode; mounting the substrate on a cathode so that a surface of the substrate is vertically disposed; disposing an aperture between the anode and cathode; providing laminar flow of electrolyte solution through a cell; pressurizing the solution to a desired pressure; and providing an electric potential difference between the cathode and the anode.
- 42. The method of claim 41 wherein the step of providing laminar flow comprises filtering the solution.
- 43. The method of claim 41 further comprising the step of uniformly plating submicron features on the substrate.
- 44. The method of claim 41 wherein the mounting step further comprises rotating the substrate about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the surface.
- 45. The method of claim 41 wherein the disposing step further comprises varying a size of an opening of the aperture.
- 46. The method of claim 41 wherein the step of providing an anode comprises situating the anode less than approximately 5 cm from the cathode.
- 47. The method of claim 46 wherein the step of providing an anode comprises situating the anode less than approximately 1 cm from the cathode.
- 48. The method of claim 47 wherein the step of providing an anode comprises situating the anode less than approximately 0.5 cm from the cathode.
- 49. The method of claim 41 wherein the step of providing an anode comprises situating the anode between a metallic ion source and the cathode.
- 50. The method of claim 49 wherein the step of providing an anode comprises minimizing contamination from reaching the cathode while retaining a constant surface profile.
- 51. The method of claim 41 wherein the step of providing an anode comprises controllably varying a surface profile of the anode.
- 52. The method of claim 41 wherein the mounting step further comprises providing a magnetic field.
- 53. The method of claim 52 further comprising the step of using the magnetic field to codeposit magnetic particles with the material on the substrate.
- 54. The method of claim 53 further comprising varying the magnetic field to adjust the composition of the magnetic particles on the substrate.
- 55. A method of performing multiple electrolytic depositions on a substrate, the method comprising the steps of:
a. providing a pressurized electrolytic cell; b. providing an aperture with a variably sized opening; c. optimizing deposition parameters of the cell including a pressure of the cell and a size of the opening for a desired deposition; d. depositing a material on a substrate; and e. repeating steps (a) through (d) without opening the cell.
- 56. An anode for use in an electrochemical process, said anode comprising:
a plurality of parallel hollow electrically conducting tubes with sides in slideable contact with one another; and a clamp circumferentially disposed around the plurality of tubes to prevent motion of the tubes.
- 57. The anode of claim 56 wherein the tubes are cylindrical.
- 58. The anode of claim 56 wherein the tubes have a cross section comprising a regular polygon.
- 59. The anode of claim 56 wherein a surface profile of the anode comprises positions of ends of each of the tubes which face a cathode.
- 60. The anode of claim 59 wherein the surface profile is adjustable by sliding the tubes relative to one another.
- 61. The anode of claim 56 wherein a shape of the surface profile is selected from the group consisting of flat, convex, hemispherical, conical, domed, curved, and pyramidal.
- 62. The anode of claim 56 comprising an electrically conducting material.
- 63. The anode of claim 56 comprising a soluble material.
- 64. The anode of claim 56 comprising an insoluble material.
- 65. The anode of claim 64 comprising a platinumized material.
- 66. The anode of claim 56 further comprising a receptacle for placement of an electrochemical ionic source media.
- 67. The anode of claim 66 wherein the media is a metallic ion source.
- 68. The anode of claim 66 wherein the receptacle is on a side of the anode opposite the surface profile.
- 69. The anode of claim 68 wherein the anode minimizes contamination from reaching a cathode while retaining a constant surface profile.
- 70. The anode of claim 56 wherein the process is selected from the group consisting of plating, electroplating, electrodeposition, chemical and mechanical polishing (CMP), electropolishing, etching, and electrolysis.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of the filing of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/431,315, entitled “Solid Core Solder Particles for Printable Solder Paste”, filed on Dec. 5, 2002, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/447,175, entitled “Electrochemical Devices and Processes”, filed on Feb. 12, 2003, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/519,813, entitled “Particle Coelectrodeposition”, filed on Nov. 12, 2003. This application also is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/728,636, entitled “Coated and Magnetic Particles and Applications Thereof”, filed Dec. 5, 2003. The specifications of each application listed are incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (5)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60431315 |
Dec 2002 |
US |
|
60447175 |
Feb 2003 |
US |
|
60519813 |
Nov 2003 |
US |
|
60447175 |
Feb 2003 |
US |
|
60519813 |
Nov 2003 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10728636 |
Dec 2003 |
US |
Child |
10778647 |
Feb 2004 |
US |