Three terminal ‘dotted-I’ interconnect structures, with vias at both ends and an additional via in the middle, were tested under various test conditions. Mortalities (failures) were found in right segments with jL value as low as 1250 A/cm, and the mortality of a dotted-I segment is dependent on the direction and magnitude of the current in the adjacent segment. Some mortalities were also found in the right segments under a test condition where no failure was expected. Cu extrusion along the delaminated Cu/Si₃N₄ interface near the central via region was believed to cause the unexpected failures. From the time-to-failure (TTF), it is possible to quantify the Cu/Si₃N₄ interfacial strength and bonding energy. Hence, the demonstrated test methodology can be used to investigate the integrity of the Cu dual damascene processes. As conventionally determined critical jL values in two-terminal via-terminated lines cannot be directly applied to interconnects with branched segments, this also serves as a good methodology to identify the critical effective jL values for immortality. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

De vikingatida runinskrifternas kronologi

Electromigration tests on different Cu dual-damascene interconnect tree structures consisting of various numbers of straight via-to-via lines connected at the common middle terminal have been carried out. Like Al-based interconnects, the reliability of a segment in a Cu-based interconnect tree strongly depends on the stress conditions of connected segments. The analytic model based on a nodal analysis developed for Al trees gives a conservative estimate of the lifetime of Cu-based interconnect trees. However, there are important differences in the results obtained under similar test conditions for Al-based and Cu-based interconnect trees. These differences are attributed to the variations in the architectural schemes of the two metallization systems. The absence of a conducting electromigration-resistant overlayer in Cu technology and the low critical stress for void nucleation at the Cu/inter-level diffusion barrier (i.e. Si₃N₄) interface leads to different failure modes between Cu and Al interconnects. As a result, the most highly stressed segment in a Cu-based interconnect tree is not always the least reliable. Moreover, the possibility of liner rupture at stressed dual-damascene vias leads to significant differences in tree reliabilities in Cu compared to Al. While an interconnect tree can be treated as a fundamental unit whose reliability is independent of that of other units in Al-based interconnect architectures, interconnect trees can not be treated as fundamental units for circuit-level reliability analyses for Cu-based interconnects. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)