The electromigration lifetimes of a very large quantity of passivated electroplated Au interconnects were measured utilizing high-resolution in-situ resistance monitoring equipment. Application of moderate accelerated stress conditions with current density limited to 2 MA/cm2 and oven temperatures in the range of 300°C to 375°C prevented large Joule-heated temperature gradients and electrical overstress failures. A Joule-heated Au film temperature increase of 10°C on average was determined from measured temperature coefficients of resistance (TCRs). A failure criterion of 50% resistance degradation was selected to avoid thermal runaway and catastrophic open circuit failures. All Au lifetime distributions followed log-normal statistics. An activation energy of 0.80 ± 0.05 eV was measured from constant-current electromigration tests at multiple temperatures. A current density exponent of 1.91 ± 0.03 was extracted from multiple current densities at a single constant temperature.

The influence of annealing ambient conditions and deposited passivation materials on indium-gallium-zinc-oxide (IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) performance is investigated. Results from annealing experiments confirm that a nominal exposure to oxidizing ambient conditions is required, which is a function of temperature, time and gas environment. Nitrogen anneal with a controlled air ramp-down provided the best performance devices with a mobility (µsat) of 11-13 cm2/V·s and subthreshold slope (SS) of 135-200 mV/dec, with some hysteresis. Plasma-deposited passivation materials including sputtered quartz and PECVD SiO2 demonstrated a significant increase in material conductivity, which was not significantly reversible by an oxidizing ambient anneal. E-beam evaporated Al2O3 passivated devices that were annealed in air at 400 °C demonstrated improved stability over time and suppressed hysteresis in comparison to unpassivated devices. Devices which were passivated with B-staged bisbenzocyclobutene-based (BCB) resins and annealed in air at 250 °C also exhibited suppressed hysteresis.

To improve the integrated circuits’ performance and continue the downscaling of dimensions, it is necessary to use low dielectric constant materials as interconnects insulators. Current porous SiCOH low-k dielectrics are now reaching their limits since their porosity enables the diffusion of species that modify the inner surface of the pores. To further reduce the dielectric constant, it is necessary to change paradigm in interconnects fabrication. In this paper, we discuss the most promising innovations in terms of process, materials and architectures to reduce the interconnects insulators dielectric constant.

Among the new non-volatile memories gaining attention as a potential replacement for flash technology is the programmable metallization cell (PMC) that works by creating and dissolving a conductive bridge across a solid electrolyte film. This enables switching between a high resistance state (HRS) and a low resistance state (LRS). The dominant mechanism for resistance switching is field dependent ion transport in the film. In this work, we examine, through numerical simulation, the effects of process variation on the impedance characteristics of the PMC in both HRS and LRS, by changing key parameters of the device. These parameters include the material bandgap, affinity and permittivity of each device layer. Finally, we show which parameters have the greatest effects on the impedance behavior.

Recently, flexible electronics is attracting growing attention due to its various properties such as lightness and flexibility, which cannot be replaced by rigid electronics. In this study, we investigate flexible ink-jet printed Cu/CuxO/Ag capacitor-like structure that exhibits bipolar resistive switching behavior under direct current voltage sweeps. A vaccum-free and low temperature process is used to fabricate this ReRAM memory device, which allows straightforward fabrication and a structure for characterization of the possible use of CuxO as an insulating layer in these devices. Our device displays a resistive switching ratio greater than 30 between the high resistance and low resistance state at room temperature. The devices exhibit metallic behavior in the low resistance state and a semiconductor behavior is found in the initial and high resistance states as observed in temperature dependent resistance measurements. The resistive switching mechanism of the fabricated structures is explained by the formation and rupture of conductive filament paths.

The lower dielectric constant (k) insulator is required for faster, smaller, and higher performance integrated circuit of the microprocessor and other advanced semiconductor devices that are so important to modern electronics and information technologies. Aromatic polyimides are among the candidate materials of low k due to their high thermal stability, mechanical strength and chemical resistance.

In this work, we show an 2,6-di-tert-butyl-9,10-diphenylanthracene core based novel polyimide which has been designed to have the lower polar imide concentration compared to that of conventional polyimides as well as the synthesis and characterization of its constitutional units, diamine and dianhydride.

The electrical conductivity of insulating polymer matrix composites undergoes radical increase at a certain concentration of conductive filler, which is known as the percolation threshold. Polymer matrix conductive nanocomposites were fabricated by compression molding the mechanically mixed poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and antimony tin oxide (ATO) nanoparticles, as has been done with other polymer composites before. The electrical conductivity of PMMA/ATO nanocomposites increased by several orders of magnitude at a small concentration of ATO (∼ 0.27 vol %). The continuous 3D network like distribution of ATO nanoparticles contributed to this percolation at subcritical filler concentrations. The effects of processing parameters on these unique microstructures and electrical properties were investigated. The tetrakaidecahedron-like microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and was found to be affected by the molding pressure, temperature and amount of nanoparticles. The viscoelastic flow of matrix under the optimum processing conditions allowed the shape transformation of PMMA into space filling polyhedra and an ordered distribution of ATO nanoparticles along the sharp edges of the PMMA. Parametric finite element analysis was performed to model this unique microstructure-driven percolation. The 2D simplified model was generated in AC/DC frequency domain mode in COMSOL Multiphysics® to solve the effects of ordered distribution of conductive nanoparticles on the electrical properties of the composite. There was excellent agreement between experimental and simulated values of electrical conductivity and percolation concentration. This model can be used to predict percolation threshold and electrical properties for any types of composite systems containing insulating matrix and conductive fillers that can form this unique microstructure.