Patent attributes
An electroplating apparatus can form a plated film having a more uniform thickness and good film quality over an entire surface of a substrate having a conductive layer (seed layer) whose resistivity is equal to or higher than that of copper. The electroplating apparatus includes: a substrate holder for holding a substrate; a sealing member for contact with a peripheral portion of a surface of a substrate, held by the substrate holder, to seal the peripheral portion; a cathode contact for contact with a conductive layer formed in the surface of the substrate, held by the substrate holder, to feed electricity to the conductive layer; and a housing having therein an anode to be immersed in a plating solution, and a porous structure disposed at an open end facing the substrate held by the substrate holder, said porous structure defining a plating chamber in the housing; wherein the plating chamber is divided into rooms by a partition plate and the porous structure, and the anode is comprised of a plurality of divided anodes, each divided anode being disposed in each room of the plating chamber so that each divided anode can pass an independent plating current.
