Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T19:56:53.529Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Spreading of a Void on a Facet During Electromigration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

X. Chu ,
T C. L. Bauer ,
T W. W. Mullinst  and
L. M. Klinger
X. Chu
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
T C. L. Bauer
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
T W. W. Mullinst
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
L. M. Klinger
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Engineering, The Technion, Haifa, Israel
Get access

Abstract

A void of cross sectional area A may spread perpendicular to the applied electric field Ea during electromigration because its leading surface develops a facet whose advance is limited by the supply of steps. If the facet is immobile (no step source) and the remaining surface is free to move, and if EaA is less than a threshold value, then the void assumes a stationary elongated shape dictated by a balance between capillarity and electric field. If EaA exceeds the threshold value, however, a balance is no longer possible, and the void spreads along the facet without arrest. If the facet has limited mobility, a balance is possible for all values of EaA, resulting in an elongated moving steady-state shape. The treatment simplifies the void shape as rectangular but preserves the essential features of capillarity and surface electromigration. We argue that the motion of a facet on a void along the outward normal requires defects (e.g. intersecting screw dislocations) that act as step sources since homogeneous nucleation of steps on the facet is expected to be negligible. Since voids in fine-line interconnects are often observed to be partially faceted, restricted void motion and resultant spreading which depend sensitively on crystallographic features, such as defect structure and grain orientation, may indeed limit the lifetime of fine-line interconnects in electronic devices.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 472: Symposium I – Polycrystalline Thin Films - Structure, Texture, Properties..III , 1997 , 3
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

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

REFERENCES

1. Arzt, E., Kraft, O., Nix, W. D. and Sanchez, J. E., J. Appl. Phys. 76, 1563 (1994).Google Scholar
2. Kraft, O. and Arzt, E., Appl. Phys. Lett. 66, 2063 (1995).Google Scholar
3. Kraft, O., Möckl, U. E. and Arzt, E., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 428, 161 (1996).Google Scholar
4. Marieb, T., Flinn, P., Bravman, J. C., Gardner, D. and Madden, M., J. Appl. Phys. 78, 1026 (1995).Google Scholar
5. Riege, S. P., Hunt, A. W. and Prybyla, J. A., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 391, 249 (1995).Google Scholar
6. Chu, X., Bauer, C. L. and Mullins, W. W., Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 194 (1997).Google Scholar
7. Ho, P. S., J. Appl. Phys. 41, 64 (1970).Google Scholar
8. Suo, Z., Wang, W., Yang, M., Appl. Phys. Lett. 64, 1944 (1994).Google Scholar
9. Bower, A. F. and Freund, L. B., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 391, 177 (1995).Google Scholar
10. Wang, W. Q., Suo, Z. and Hao, T. H., J. Appl Phys. 79, 2394 (1996).Google Scholar
11. Burton, W. K., Cabrera, N. and Frank, F., Philos. Trans. Royal Soc. 243, 299 (1951).Google Scholar
12. Lemaire, P. J. and Bowen, H. K., J. Am. Ceramic Soc. 65, 49 (1982).Google Scholar
13. Cahn, J. W. and Taylor, J. E., Acta metall. mater. 42, 1045 (1994).Google Scholar
14. Carter, W. C., Rosen, A. R., Cahn, J. W. and Taylor, J. E., Acta metall mater. 43, 4309 (1995).Google Scholar
15. Lamb, H., Hydrodynamics, Dover (1932), p. 84.Google Scholar