US-12624472-B2 - Plating apparatus

US12624472B2US 12624472 B2US12624472 B2US 12624472B2US-12624472-B2

Abstract

Provided is a plating apparatus that allows cleaning a contact cleaning member. The plating apparatus includes: a plating tank configured to house a plating solution; a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate with a surface to be plated facing downward, the substrate holder including a contact member for feeding power to the substrate; a contact cleaning member 482 for discharging a cleaning liquid to the contact member while the contact cleaning member is at a cleaning position between the plating tank and the substrate holder; a driving mechanism 476 configured to move the contact cleaning member 482 between the cleaning position and a retracted position retracted from between the plating tank and the substrate holder; and a nozzle cleaning cover 489 configured to cover an upper portion of the contact cleaning member 482 while the contact cleaning member 482 is at the retracted position.

Inventors

Masaki Tomita
Kentaro Yamamoto

Assignees

EBARA CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220617

Claims (8)

1 . A plating apparatus comprising: a plating tank configured to house a plating solution; a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate with a surface to be plated facing downward, the substrate holder including a contact member for feeding power to the substrate; a contact cleaning member for discharging a cleaning liquid to the contact member while the contact cleaning member is at a cleaning position between the plating tank and the substrate holder; an arm configured to hold the contact cleaning member; a driving mechanism configured to move the contact cleaning member between the cleaning position and a retracted position retracted from between the plating tank and the substrate holder by turning the arm; a nozzle cleaning cover configured to cover an upper portion of the contact cleaning member while the contact cleaning member is at the retracted position, a tray member configured to house the whole of the contact cleaning member and the arm, the tray member being configured to receive the cleaning liquid that has dropped after being discharged from the contact cleaning member; and a fixed tray member arranged at the retracted position, the fixed tray member being configured to receive the cleaning liquid from the tray member, the cleaning liquid having dropped to the tray member, wherein the driving mechanism is configured to move the tray member between the cleaning position and the retracted position, and the nozzle cleaning cover is mounted to the fixed tray member.
2 . The plating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the nozzle cleaning cover includes a bottom plate tray, an upper plate, and a side plate, the bottom plate tray is mounted to the fixed tray member, the upper plate is arranged on an upper side of the bottom plate tray so as to be opposed to the bottom plate tray, and the side plate couples the bottom plate tray and the upper plate.
3 . The plating apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the upper plate has a receiving surface formed so as to be opposed to a discharge direction of the cleaning liquid of the contact cleaning member.
4 . The plating apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the bottom plate tray has an inclined surface inclined so as to descend toward the fixed tray member.
5 . The plating apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the substrate holder includes a ring-shaped supporting member configured to support the outer peripheral portion of the surface to be plated of the substrate and has a center with an opening, the contact member is circularly attached to the supporting member, and the contact cleaning member is configured to discharge the cleaning liquid toward the contact member through the opening of the supporting member, the substrate holder includes a back plate assembly arranged on a back surface side of the surface to be plated of the substrate and configured to sandwich the substrate together with the supporting member, the back plate assembly is arranged at a position surrounded by the contact member when the contact member is cleaned, and the contact cleaning member is configured to discharge the cleaning liquid toward a lower surface of the back plate assembly and aim the cleaning liquid that has bounced after hitting against the lower surface of the back plate assembly toward the contact member.
6 . A plating apparatus comprising: a plating tank configured to house a plating solution; a substrate holder configured to hold a substrate with a surface to be plated facing downward, the substrate holder including a contact member for feeding power to the substrate; a contact cleaning member for discharging a cleaning liquid to the contact member while the contact cleaning member is at a cleaning position between the plating tank and the substrate holder; a driving mechanism configured to move the contact cleaning member between the cleaning position and a retracted position retracted from between the plating tank and the substrate holder; a nozzle cleaning cover configured to cover an upper portion of the contact cleaning member while the contact cleaning member is at the retracted position, a tray member configured to house the contact cleaning member, the tray member being configured to receive the cleaning liquid that has dropped after being discharged from the contact cleaning member; and a fixed tray member arranged at the retracted position, the fixed tray member being configured to receive the cleaning liquid from the tray member, the cleaning liquid having dropped to the tray member, wherein the driving mechanism is configured to move the tray member between the cleaning position and the retracted position, and the nozzle cleaning cover is mounted to the fixed tray member, wherein the plating apparatus further comprises: a coupling member configured to couple the fixed tray member and a drain tube, wherein the coupling member includes a first flow passage, a second flow passage, and a third flow passage, the first flow passage extends from an opening formed in a bottom wall of the fixed tray member in a downward direction, the second flow passage extends from the drain tube in an upward direction, the third flow passage communicates between a bottom portion of the first flow passage and a top portion of the second flow passage, and the bottom portion of the first flow passage is at a position lower than the top portion of the second flow passage.
7 . The plating apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising an electrical conductivity meter for measuring a conductivity of the cleaning liquid that has dropped to the tray member, wherein the electrical conductivity meter is arranged on a bottom portion of the first flow passage.
8 . The plating apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the substrate holder includes a ring-shaped supporting member configured to support the outer peripheral portion of the surface to be plated of the substrate and has a center with an opening, the contact member is circularly attached to the supporting member, and the contact cleaning member is configured to discharge the cleaning liquid toward the contact member through the opening of the supporting member, the substrate holder includes a back plate assembly arranged on a back surface side of the surface to be plated of the substrate and configured to sandwich the substrate together with the supporting member, the back plate assembly is arranged at a position surrounded by the contact member when the contact member is cleaned, and the contact cleaning member is configured to discharge the cleaning liquid toward a lower surface of the back plate assembly and aim the cleaning liquid that has bounced after hitting against the lower surface of the back plate assembly toward the contact member.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a U.S. national phase application of International Patent Application No. PCT/JP2022/024316 filed Jun. 17, 2022, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for any and all purposes. TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates to a plating apparatus. BACKGROUND ART There has been known a cup type electroplating apparatus as one example of a plating apparatus. The cup type electroplating apparatus deposits a conductive film on a surface of a substrate (for example, a semiconductor wafer) by immersing the substrate held by a substrate holder with a surface to be plated facing downward in a plating solution and applying a voltage between the substrate and an anode. A plating apparatus disclosed in PTL 1 includes a cleaning device including a substrate cleaning member and a contact cleaning member. This plating apparatus is configured to discharge a cleaning liquid from the substrate cleaning member to a substrate after a plating process to clean a plating solution attached to the substrate. Additionally, this plating apparatus is configured to discharge the cleaning liquid from the contact cleaning member to a contact member of a substrate holder after the substrate is cleaned to clean the plating solution that has entered an arranged region of the contact member. CITATION LIST Patent Literature PTL 1: Japanese Patent No. 7047200 SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problem However, in the prior art, attachment of the cleaning liquid containing the plating solution to the contact cleaning member when substrate cleaning is performed is not considered. That is, there may be a case where when the cleaning liquid discharged from the substrate cleaning member collides with the substrate, the cleaning liquid containing the plating solution attached to the substrate drops from the substrate and attaches to the contact cleaning member. When the subsequent cleaning of the contact member is performed while the plating solution attaches to the contact cleaning member, the cleaning liquid containing the plating solution possibly enters an arranged region of the contact member and therefore is not preferred. Additionally, the plating solution enters the arranged region of the contact member from a gap of a sealing member of the substrate holder during a plating process in some cases. In contrast to this, it is considered that presence or absence of a leakage of the plating solution is determined based on a conductivity of the cleaning liquid after cleaning the contact member, but when the plating solution attaches to the contact cleaning member, it possibly adversely affects the leakage determination. Therefore, one object of this application is to provide a plating apparatus that allows cleaning a contact cleaning member. Solution to Problem According to one embodiment, there is disclosed a plating apparatus that includes a plating tank, a substrate holder, a contact cleaning member, a driving mechanism, and a nozzle cleaning cover. The plating tank is configured to house a plating solution. The substrate holder is configured to hold a substrate with a surface to be plated facing downward. The substrate holder includes a contact member for feeding power to the substrate. The contact cleaning member is for discharging a cleaning liquid to the contact member while the contact cleaning member is at a cleaning position between the plating tank and the substrate holder. The driving mechanism is configured to move the contact cleaning member between the cleaning position and a retracted position retracted from between the plating tank and the substrate holder. The nozzle cleaning cover is configured to cover an upper portion of the contact cleaning member while the contact cleaning member is at the retracted position. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of a plating apparatus according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating the overall configuration of the plating apparatus according to this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a configuration of a plating module according to this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically illustrating the configuration of the plating module according to this embodiment. FIG. 5 is a plan view schematically illustrating the configuration of the plating module according to this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a perspective view schematically illustrating configurations of a fixed tray member and an electrical conductivity meter. FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the configurations of the fixed tray member and the electrical conductivity meter. FIG. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically illustrating the configuration of the plating module according to this embodiment. FIG. 9 is a vertical cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a part of an enlarged configuration o