Electromigration resistance in a short three-contact interconnect tree

C. W. Chang*, Z. S. Choi, C. V. Thompson, C. L. Gan, K. L. Pey, W. K. Choi, N. Hwang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Electromigration has been characterized in via-terminated interconnect lines with additional vias in the middle, creating two adjacent segments that can be stressed independently. The mortality of a segment was found to depend on the direction and magnitude of the current in the adjacent segment, confirming that there is not a fixed value of the product of the current density and segment length, jL, that defines immortality in individual segments that are part of a multisegment interconnect tree. Instead, it is found that the probability of failure of a multisegment tree increases with the increasing value of an effective jL product defined in earlier work. However, contrary to expectations, the failures were still observed when (jL)eff was less than the critical jL product for which lines were found to be immortal in single-segment test structures. It is argued that this is due to reservoir effects associated with unstressed segments or due to liner failure at the central via. Multisegment test structures are therefore shown to reveal more types of failure mechanisms and mortality conditions that are not found in tests with single-segment structures.

Original languageEnglish
Article number094505
JournalJournal of Applied Physics
Volume99
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 1 2006
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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