Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-q6k6v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T01:31:35.172Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interfacial Diffusivity of Moisture Along A SiO2/Tin Interface Measured Using Imaging Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

Guanghai Xu ,
T. E. Mates ,
D. R. Clarke ,
Qing Ma  and
Harry Fujimoto
Guanghai Xu
Affiliation:
Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
T. E. Mates
Affiliation:
Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
D. R. Clarke
Affiliation:
Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Qing Ma
Affiliation:
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Harry Fujimoto
Affiliation:
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Get access

Abstract

The SiO2/TiN interface is prone to sub-critical decohesion by crack extension along the interface when exposed to moisture. As with conventional sub-critical crack growth in bulk silica, the rate of decohesion is dependent on both the relative humidity and the strain energy release rate. One of the unusual observations we have noted is that the decohesion velocity of narrow strips is highly sensitive to the exposure time in the humid environment, suggesting that the moisture diffuses into the interface ahead of the propagating decohesion crack, causing a form of hydrolytic weakening of the interface. In seeking to establish the origin of this behavior, we report measurements of moisture diffusion along the SiO2/TiN interface using Imaging Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) after immersion in water containing radioactive tracers, 2D and 18O. Analysis of images formed using 2D and 18O revealed that both diffuse along the interface with a diffusivity of (6 ±2)×10−13 cm2/sec, a value about 104 times faster than the bulk diffusion in the SiO2 dielectric.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 563: Symposium M – Materials Reliability in Microelectronics IX , 1999 , 257
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Ragan, D. D., MS Thesis, University of California Santa Barbara(1994).Google Scholar
2. Xu, G., Ragan, D. D., Clarke, D. R., He, M.Y., Ma, Q. and Fujimoto, H., in Interfacial Engineering for Optimized Properties, edited by Briant, Clyde L., Carter, C.Barry, and Hall, Ernest L. (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc. 458, Pittsburgh, PA 1997), p. 465.Google Scholar
3. Xu, G., He, M- Y., Clarke, D. R., Acta Metall., In press.Google Scholar
4. Bagchi, A., Lucas, G. E., Suo, Z. and Evans, A. G., J. Mater. Res., 9, p.1734(1994).Google Scholar
5. Lane, M., Ware, R., Voss, S., Ma, Q., and others, in Materials Reliability in Microelectronics VI I. Symposium, edited by Clement, J. Joseph et al (Mater. Res Soc. Proc. 473, Pittsburgh, PA, 1997.), p.91.Google Scholar
6. Ma, Q., J. Mater. Res., 12, p.840(1997).Google Scholar
7. Crank, J., in The Mathematics of Diffusion, 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press(1975).Google Scholar
8. Dersch, O., Zouine, A., Rauch, F. and Ericson, J. E., Fresenius, , J. Analy. Chem., 358, p.217(1997).Google Scholar
9. McInerney, E. J. and Flinn, P. A., in International Reliability Physics Symposium, 20th Annual Proceedings (IEEE, New York, NY, 1982), p.264.Google Scholar