Claims
- 1. A method for removing contaminants from a plating bath contained in a weir-type plater during idle times, comprising:
positioning a lower portion of a substrate support assembly into the plating bath; and rotating the substrate support assembly at a rotation rate of between about 1 rpm and about 60 rpm for between about 5 seconds and about 30 seconds to circulate the plating solution such that contaminants accumulating on the surface of the plating solution are urged to flow over a weir of the plater.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the lower portion of the substrate support assembly comprises a contact ring.
- 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising positioning a lower portion of the contact ring and scallops formed onto a lower surface of the contact ring into the plating bath.
- 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising positioning the contact ring in the plating bath such that electrical contact pins on the contact ring are immersed in the plating process.
- 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising deplating the electrical contact pins during the rotation.
- 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising applying a reverse bias to the contact pins, the reverse bias having a voltage of between about 100 mv and about 10 volts.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the reverse bias has a duration of between about 1 second and about 360 seconds.
- 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the reverse bias is at least one of a constant bias, a ramping bias, and a pulsed bias.
- 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising filtering the plating solution urged to flow over the weir.
- 10. A method for filtering surface contaminants from a plating solution in a weir-type plater, comprising:
lowering an empty contact ring assembly into the plating solution; rotating the contact ring assembly to circulate an upper layer of the plating solution; receiving at least a portion of the upper layer of the plating solution over a weir; filtering the received portion of the upper layer of the plating solution to remove contaminants therefrom; and recirculating the filtered plating solution to the weir-type plater.
- 11. The method of claim 10, wherein rotating comprises rotating the contact ring at between about 5 rpm and about 35 rpm.
- 12. The method of claim 10, further comprising tilting the contact ring in the plating solution.
- 13. The method of claim 11, wherein lowering comprises positioning the contact ring such that a lower surface of the contact ring having a plurality of scallops positioned thereon is immersed in the plating solution and a plurality of electrical substrate contact pins are positioned above an upper surface of the plating solution.
- 14. The method of claim 11, wherein lowering comprises positioning a plurality of electrical substrate contact pins on an upper surface of the contact ring in the plating solution.
- 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising applying a deplating bias to the electrical substrate contact pins while the pins are immersed in the plating solution.
- 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the deplating bias is between about 1 volt and about 5 volts.
- 17. The method of claim 11, wherein filtering the received portion of the upper layer of the plating solution comprises passing the solution through a filter, the filter having a filtration porosity of between about 0.05 microns and about 2 microns.
- 18. A method for removing surface contaminants from a plating solution during idle time periods, comprising:
positioning a lower portion of a contact ring having a plurality of electrical substrate contact pins extending therefrom in contact with the plating solution; rotating the contact ring to urge the surface contaminants to flow over a weir; collecting the plating solution flowing over the weir; and filtering the collected plating solution to remove the surface contaminants therefrom.
- 19. The method of claim 18, wherein rotating comprises rotating at between about 5 rpm and about 45 rpm.
- 20. The method of claim 19, wherein positioning the contact ring comprises immersing a plurality of scallops formed onto a lower surface of the contact ring and the plurality of electrical substrate contact pins in the plating solution.
- 21. The method of claim 20, further comprising applying a deplating bias to the plurality of electrical contact pins once immersed in the plating solution.
- 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the deplating bias has a voltage of between about 0.1 volts and about 10 volts.
- 23. The method of claim 18, further comprising tilting the contact ring at an angle of between about 3° and about 10° from horizontal.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent application serial No. 60/463,972, filed April 0.18, 2003, which is herein incorporated by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60463972 |
Apr 2003 |
US |