Abstract: A plating apparatus can keep concentrations of components of a plating solution constant over a long period of time and can stably form a plated film having a more uniform thickness on a surface of a substrate while minimizing an amount of the plating solution used.

Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus has a plating apparatus configured to plate a substrate to deposit a metal on a surface of the substrate and an additional process apparatus configured to perform an additional process on the substrate. The plating apparatus has a substrate placement stage on which the substrate to be transferred to the additional process apparatus is placed. The additional process apparatus has an additional process unit configured to perform the additional process on the substrate and a substrate transfer device operable to transfer the substrate between the substrate placement stage of the plating apparatus and the additional process unit. The substrate processing apparatus can perform an additional process in addition to a plating process without lowering a throughput of the apparatus and can upgrade the additional process at a low cost.

Abstract: There is provided an electrolytic processing apparatus and method which can produce products having various specifications with enhanced productivity, thus reducing the production cost, and which can respond flexibly to the movement toward finer interconnects in semiconductor devices.

Abstract: An electrolytic solution control method can control the composition of an electrolytic solution efficiently with high precision, and can remove a partially decomposed product of an organic component from an electrolytic solution. The electrolytic solution control method includes storing an electrolytic solution containing an organic component and an inorganic component in an electrolytic solution storage tank while controlling and keeping the electrolytic solution at a predetermined composition, adjusting an inorganic component of the waste electrolytic solution after use in electrolytic processing in an electrolytic processing apparatus, and then returning the waste electrolytic solution to the electrolytic solution storage tank.