Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T06:13:40.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electromigration-induced strain relaxation in Cu conductor lines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

H. Zhang  and
G.S. Cargill III
H. Zhang*
Affiliation:
Cascade Engineering Services Inc., Redmond, Washington 98052
G.S. Cargill III
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author: e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Strain evolution in 0.45-μm-thick, 2-μm-wide, and 100-μm-long Cu conductor lines with a passivation layer has been investigated using synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction. A moderate electromigration-current density of 2.2 × 105 A/cm2 was used to minimize Joule heating in the Cu conductor lines. After 120 h of current flowing in the Cu lines at 270 °C, measurements show strain relaxation and homogenization occurring in the Cu lines with current flowing, but not in Cu conductor lines without current. Stronger interaction between electrons with Cu atoms in areas with higher strains was proposed to explain the observation.

Keywords

CuElectromigrationX-ray diffraction (XRD)
Type
Materials Communications
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , 28 February 2011 , pp. 498 - 502
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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.)

Footnotes

The purpose of this Materials Communications section is to provide accelerated publication of important new results in the fields regularly covered by Journal of Materials Research, Materials Communications cannot exceed four printed pages in length, including space allowed for title, figures, tables, references, and an abstract limited to about 100 words

References

REFERENCES

1.Huntington, H.B. and Grone, A.R.: Current-induced marker motion in gold wires. Phys. Chem. Solids 20, 76 (1961).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Hau-Riege, C.S.: An introduction to Cu electromigration. Microelectron. Reliab. 44, 195 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Sukharev, V. and Zschech, E.: A model for electromigration-induced degradation mechanisms in dual-inlaid copper interconnects: Effect of interface bonding strength. J. Appl. Phys. 96, 6337 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Hu, C-K., Gignac, L., Liniger, E., Herbst, B., Rath, D.L., Chen, S.T., Kaldor, S., Simon, A., and Tseng, W-T.: Comparison of Cu electromigration lifetime in Cu interconnects coated with various caps. Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 869 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Cargill, G.S. III: Microdiffraction and microfluorescence studies of electromigration-induced stresses and composition changes. AIP Conf. Proc. 612, 193 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Ice, G.E. and Larson, B.C.: 3D x-ray crystal microscope. Adv. Eng. Mater. 2, 643 (2000).3.0.CO;2-U>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Zhang, H., Cargill, G.S. III, Ge, Y., Maniatty, A.M., and Liu, W.: Strain evolution in Al conductor lines during electromigration. J. Appl. Phys. 104, 123533 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Wang, P.-C., Cargill, G.S. III, Noyan, I.C., and Hu, C-K.: Electromigration-induced stress in aluminum conductor lines measured by x-ray microdiffraction. Appl. Phys. Lett. 72, 1296 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Valek, B.C., Bravman, J.C., Tamura, N., MacDowell, A.A., Celestre, R.S., Padmore, H.A., Spolenak, R., Brown, W.L., Batterman, B.W., and Patel, J.R.: Electromigration-induced plastic deformation in passivated metal lines. Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 4168 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Blech, I.A.: Electromigration in thin aluminum films on titanium nitride. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 1203 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Budiman, A.S., Nix, W.D., Tamura, N., Valek, B.C., Gadre, K., Maiz, J., and Patel, J.R.: Crystal plasticity in Cu damascene interconnect lines undergoing electromigration as revealed by synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction. Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 233515 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Chung, J.-S. and Ice, G.E.: Automated indexing for texture and strain measurement with broad-bandpass x-ray microbeams. J. Appl. Phys. 86, 5249 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Kreyszig, E.: Advanced Engineering Mathematics, 8th ed. (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999), p. 1110.Google Scholar
14.Conrad, H. and Sprecher, A.F.: Dislocations in Solids, edited by Nabarro, F.R.N. (Elsevier Science Publications BV, 1989), p. 497.Google Scholar
15.Vdovin, E.E. and Kasumov, A.Yu.: Direct observation of electrotransport of dislocations in a metal. Sov. Phys. Solid State 30, 180 (1988).Google Scholar
16.Callister, W.D. Jr.: Materials Science and Engineering: An Introduction (John Wiley & Sons, 2003).Google Scholar
17.Moyer, L.E., Cargill, G.S. III, Yang, W., Larson, B.C., and Ice, G.E.: X-ray microbeam diffraction measurements in polycrystalline aluminum and copper thin films, in Thin Films—Stresses and Mechanical Properties X, edited by Corcoran, S.G., Joo, Y.-C., Moody, N.R., and Suo, Z. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 795, Warrendale, PA, 2004), U1.7, p. 15.Google Scholar