Electromigration and stress-induced voiding in fine Al and Al-alloy thin-film lines

Abstract

Physical phenomena underlying failure due to electromigration and stress-induced voiding in fine AI and AI-alloy thin-film conducting lines are examined in the context of accelerated testing methods and structures. Aspects examined include effects due to line isolation (the absence of reservoirs at conductor ends), solute and precipitate phenomena, conductor critical (Blech) length, microstructure, film deposition conditions, and thermal processing subsequent to film deposition. Emphasis is on the isolated, submicron-wide, AI(Cu)-based thin-film interconnection lines of IBM VLSI logic and memory chips. "Copyright 1995 by International Business Machines Corporation. Copying in printed form for private use is permitted without payment of royalty provided that (1) each reproduction is done without alteration and (2) the Journal reference and IBM copyright notice are included on the first page. The title and abstract, but no other portions, of this paper may be copied or distributed royalty free without further permission by computer-based and other information-service systems. Permission to republish any other portion of this paper must be obtained from the Editor.

Statistical Analysis of Electromigration Lifetimes and Void Evolution for Cu Interconnects

“…Subsequently, in addition to examining the details of the EM mechanism in Al(Cu) lines, significant research activity dealt with the effect of scaling on EM. Several papers can be found summarizing EM research in Al(Cu) technology, such as Ho and Kwok [1989] and Hu et al [1995]. Parallel research focused on identifying a suitable material for future interconnect generations as well as possible processing schemes.…”

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