conductive material from an electrolyte onto a surface of a semiconductor substrate is provided the apparatus has an anode which can be contacted by the electrolyte during deposition of the conductive material a cathode assembly including a carrier adapted to carry the substrate for movement during deposition and a conductive element permitting electrolyte flow therethrough a mask lies over the conductive element and has openings permitting electrolyte flow the openings define active regions of the conductive element by which a rate of conductive material deposition onto the surface can be varied a power source can provide a potential between the anode and the cathode assembly so as to produce the deposition a deposition process is also disclosed and uniform electroetching of conductive material on the semiconductor substrate surface can additionally be performed application_number US 86985004 A description the present invention provides a method and a system to control the uniformity of a conductive material layer deposited on a surface of a semiconductor the invention can be used with ecmd mask pulse plating and full face plating as well as plating systems that deposit conformal films the deposition process of the present invention advantageously achieves deposition of a conductive material in a plurality of cavities such as trenches vias contact holes and the like on a surface of a semiconductor wafer as is known during an electrodeposition process of a surface of a wafer the current density applied to the surface is substantially greater at the periphery of the surface than the center of the surface in the prior art this higher current density results in an increased deposition rate of the deposited film at.