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Granted in the Metal Finishing Field Printed copies of patents are furnished by the Patent and Trademark Office for $3.00 each. Address orders to: Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Washington, D.C. 20231.

OXIDE REMOVAL COMPOSITION U.S. Patent 6,176,937. Jan. 23, 2001 S.J. Colgan et al., assignors to Solvay Interox Ltd., Warrington, U.K.

A process for treating a metal sur- face of a workpiece with an acidic solution containing or into which is introduced hydrogen peroxide and a stabilizer for the hydrogen peroxide comprising said stabi- lizer consisting of 100 to 150 parts by weight of a hydroxybenzoic acid; 50 to 120 parts by weight of a hydrotropic aryl sulphonic acid; and 2.5 to 6 parts by weight of a hydrophobic alkaryl sulphonic acid.

SOLVENT MIXTURE FOR A VAPOR DEGREASER U.S. Patent 6,176,942. Jan. 23, 2001 L.A. Clark and J.L. Priest, assignors to Lawrence Industries Inc., Alameda, Calif

A solvent mixture for use in a vapor degreasing system compris- ing 85 to 96.5% by weight n- propyl bromide; 3.5 to 15% of a mixture of low boiling solvents; and an effective amount of up to 5% of at least one additive se- lected from the group consisting of see-butanol, ethanol, and meth- anol, provided that set-butanol comprises 0 to 3% of the solvent mixture.

COBALT SPUlTER TARGETS U.S. Patent 6,176,944. Jan. 23, 2001 A. Snowman et al., assignors to Praxair S.T. Technology Inc., Danbury, Conn.

A method for manufacturing low magnetic permeability cobalt sputter targets.

SPUlTERING METHOD AND APPARATUS U.S. Patent 6,176,980. Jan. 23, 2001 I. Aokura et al., assignors to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka-Fu, Japan

A sputtering method comprising applying electric power to a sput- tering electrode for forming plasma on a target, whereby a thin film is formed on a substrate held opposite the target.

A laminated electroplating rack and connection system for opti- mized plating.

APPARATUS FOR ELECTROCHEMICAL MECHANICAL DEPOSITION U.S. Patent 6,176,992. Jan. 23, 2001 H. Talieh, assignor to Nutool Inc., Milpitas, Calif

SPUTTERING APPARATUS U.S. Patent 6,176,981. Jan. 23, 2001 L. Hong et al., assignors to Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif

A wafer bias ring for controlling the plasma potential in a sus- tained self-sputtering reactor.

SPUrCERlNG PROCESS U.S. Patent 6,176,982. Jan. 23, 2001 D.S. Rickerby, assignor to Rolls- Royce PLC., London

A method of applying a coating to a metallic article comprising pro- viding a sputtering chamber hav- ing a first hollow cathode; the first hollow cathode comprising a ma- terial to form a protective coating; placing the metallic article within the first hollow cathode; evacuat- ing the sputtering chamber; ap- plying a negative voltage to the first hollow cathode to produce a plasma, such that the material of the hollow cathode is sputtered onto the metallic article to pro- duce the protective coating.

A method of depositing a conduc- tive material from an electrolyte solution of a workpiece having a top surface and a cavity portion disposed on the top surface and having a conductive layer dis- posed on the top surface and the cavity portion of the workpiece comprising applying a potential difference between the workpiece and an anode, with the workpiece being positioned in proximity to the anode, thereby causing the application of the conductive ma- terial to at least the conductive layer disposed on the cavity por- tion of the workpiece; and mini- mizing accumulation of the con- ductive material to the conductive layer disposed on the top surface of the workpiece by polishing the conductive layer disposed on the top surface of the workpiece with a pad while the application of the conductive material is occurring.

PLATING RACK

RECYCLING SYSTEM FOR ELECTROPLATING WAFERS U.S. Patent 6,176,993. Jan. 23, 2001 J.C-W. Chiou, assignor to General Semiconductor of Taiwan Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan

U.S. Patent 6,176,985. Jan. 23, 2001 A process for recycling a reaction

F.J. Downes, Jr. et al., assignors to system of electroplating passiva- International Business Machines tion of wafers, in which lantha- Corp., Armonk, N.Y. num hydroxide or magnesium hy-

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