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Analysis of Failure in Metallic Thin-Film Interconnects Due to Stress and Electromigration-Induced Void Propagation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

M. Rauf Gungor ,
Leonard J. Gray  and
Dimitrios Maroudas
M. Rauf Gungor
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080
Leonard J. Gray
Affiliation:
Computer Sci. and Mathematics Div., Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37831
Dimitrios Maroudas*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-5080
*
a) To whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: dimitris@calypso.ucsb.edu
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Abstract

A theoretical analysis is presented of the morphological evolution of transgranular voids in metallic thin films driven by capillarity, stress, and electromigration. This highly nonlinear and complex dynamics is analyzed through self-consistent numerical simulations based on a two-dimensional phenomenological model of a passivated interconnect. The analysis follows a systematic exploration of a six-dimensional parameter space determined by the strengths of the electric and stress fields, surface diffusion anisotropy, and the size of the void. Our simulation results reveal a very rich nonlinear dynamical picture of void morphological evolution mechanism, including faceting, wedge void and faceted slit formation through a facet selection process, and soliton-like surface wave propagation. These results are in very good agreement with experimental observations and have important implications for interconnect failure.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 516: Symposium E – Low Dielectric Constant Materials IV , January 1998 , 165
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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