Electromigration in Cu Damascene lines with bamboo-like grain structures, either capped with Ta/TaN, SiNx, SiCxNyHz layers, or without any cap, was investigated. A thin Ta/TaN cap on top of the Cu line surface significantly improves electromigration lifetime when compared with lines without a cap and with lines capped with SiNx or SiCxNyHz. The activation energy for electromigration increased from 0.87 eV for lines without a cap to 1.0–1.1 eV for samples with SiNx or SiCxNyHz caps and to 1.4 eV for Ta/TaN capped samples.

Gold electrodes were emersed from the electrolyte during potential control and subsequently transferred into a UHV chamber for their surfaces to be analysed by ESCA as a function of emersion potential and electrolyte composition. The ESCA measurements confirm the view that electrodes can be removed from the electrochemical cell with the electrochemical double layer unchanged and the bulk electrolyte otherwise absent. The potential power of ex‐situ studies, such as ESCA, on emersed electrodes is demonstrated by determining surface excesses and adsorption isotherms for a number of weakly and strongly adsorbing ions, as well as for metal deposits. Observations of chemical shifts for double‐layer constituents are reported and briefly discussed.

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