Electrochemical deposition system

Abstract

A electrochemical deposition system which has a 3-D stacked architecture comprises a factory interface for receiving semiconductor wafers, a mainframe comprising a mainframe transfer robot and a plurality of wafer holder assemblies which disposed on the top thereof, a plurality of electroplating cells disposed within the mainframe, a plurality of cleaning cells disposed within the mainframe and located below the electroplating cells, a plurality of thermal treatment chambers disposed in between the mainframe and the factory interface, and a fluid distribution system fluidly connected to the electroplating cells and the cleaning cells, wherein the mainframe transfer robot transfers the semiconductor wafer from the factory interface and within the electroplating cells, the cleaning cells, and the thermal treatment chambers. As a result, the system of the present invention is expandable to accommodate newly-added processing units without overmuch increased footprint.

1 . An electrochemical deposition system which has a 3-D stacked architecture comprising:
 a factory interface for receiving semiconductor wafers;   a mainframe comprising a mainframe transfer robot and a plurality of wafer holder assemblies for holding semiconductor wafers in an electroplating process which disposed on the top thereof;   a plurality of electroplating cells disposed within a first layer of the 3-D stacked architecture at the upper part of the mainframe;   a plurality of cleaning cells disposed within a second layer of the 3-D stacked architecture at the lower part of the mainframe;   a plurality of thermal treatment chambers disposed within either said first or the second layer and connected to the factory interface;   at least one vapor phase pre-wet device;   a fluid distribution system to provide electrolyte solutions to the electroplating cells and to provide process fluids to the cleaning cells respectively; and   a gas delivery system to provide a gas mixture to the thermal treatment chambers;   wherein, the mainframe transfer robot transfers semiconductor wafers from the factory interface between the wafer holder assemblies, the cleaning cells, the thermal treatment chambers, and delivery and storage cassettes.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the electroplating cell further comprises an electrolyte chamber comprising a plurality of annular insulating walls which separate the electrolyte chamber into a plurality of independent regions and a plurality of annular electrodes respectively disposed within each said independent region and separated into an upper cell body receiving catholyte and a lower cell body receiving anolyte by a bubble coalescence assembly which is used to collect and remove the bubbles generated from the electrolyte chamber. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein said bubble coalescence assembly comprises a cone-shape frame configured with pluralities of V-shape grooves and an porous membrane attached on the cone-shape frame. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the anodes are independently charged by a plurality of power supplies. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the upper cell body of said electrolyte chamber is configured with a plurality of electrolyte inlets for introducing electrolyte into said regions, wherein flows of electrolyte are controlled independently. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said system comprises a vapor phase pre-wet device independently disposed on the mainframe or integrated on the wafer holder assembly and used for pre-wetting front surface of a wafer before electroplating process. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the thermal treatment chamber further comprises:
 at least one heating plate for heating a semiconductor wafer;   at least one cooling plate for cooling the semiconductor wafer;   at least two workpiece holders for receiving the wafer and transferring the semiconductor wafer from the heating plate to the cooling plate; and   at least two actuators for controlling the movement of the semiconductor wafer holder.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the thermal treatment chamber has a cooling window faced against the factory interface and a heating window faced against the mainframe. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said system comprises a plurality of wafer cassettes attached to the factory interface and disposed over the thermal treatment chambers to facilitate transfer and storage of semiconductor wafers between the factory interface and the mainframe. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said factory interface comprises:
 a plurality of load ports where semiconductor wafers are positioned;   at least one semiconductor wafer aligner for orienting semiconductor wafers; and   a front interface robot that transfers a semiconductor wafer from a wafer pod to the wafer aligner, or from the wafer aligner to the transfer cassettes, or from the thermal treatment chamber to the load port.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein one of the cleaning cells correspondingly located right below one of the electroplating cells. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said cleaning cell provides spin rinse cleaning and removing the unwanted edge deposition of metals. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said fluid distribution module comprises a maintank for providing electroplating electrolyte to the electroplating cells. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein said maintank further comprises a catholyte cell for providing catholyte to the upper cell body and an anolyte cell for providing anolyte to the electrolyte chamber 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein said fluid distribution module further comprises a chemical mixing room to mix chemicals that will be introduced into the cleaning cell to etch off the deposited metal film on the bevel of a semiconductor wafer. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein said system further comprises a metrology tool and an dosing system, the maintank is fluidly connected to the metrology tool which monitors the concentration of components of the fluid in the maintank, and the dosing system which provide electrolyte components to the maintank according to user input, the information about concentration outputted by the metrology tool, and the desired concentration of components of the electrolyte in the maintank.