December 31, 1998
      
                  
        
  Author(s)
  S. A. Smee,   Michael  Gaitan,   Yogendra K. Joshi,   David L. Blackburn
 
       
            
    
    
        As Integrated Circuit (IC) device sizes shrink, intrinsic and thermo-mechanical stress in interconnects is an ever increasing reliability concern. Increasing device density leads to more interconnect layers and hence, greater probability of stress related