Extending copper electrochemical deposition to 3 x nm nodes and beyond requires a new plating approach that is not constrained by typical PVD copper seed step coverage performance. To this purpose, we propose a copper direct plating process on Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (PEALD) Ru-based resistive substrates, where the Cu seed is deposited in-situ during the front propagation from the edge to the center of the wafer. In order to understand the full-wafer copper direct plating process that occurs on these liners, the effect of plating tool segmented anode, applied waveform, plating chemistry and substrate surface activation on the subsequent plated copper nucleation and propagation behavior are studied. (C) 2013 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.032303jes] All rights reserved.