Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Thermal Cycling of Buried Damascene Copper Interconnect Lines by Joule Heating

Published

Author(s)

David T. Read, Roy H. Geiss

Abstract

We report tests to failure of 300 nm wide damascene copper interconnect lines in silicon oxide dielectric, under high amplitude, low frequency alternating current. The cyclic minimum and maximum resistances were obtained from the measured voltage and current waveforms, and remained essentially constant over the lifetime tests. In the lines tested to failure under voltage control at the highest current levels, observed features of the remaining copper deposits seemed to indicate repeated melting over multiple cycles of current. The lifetimes, plotted against temperature, formed a nearly straight line on a semi-log plot, even though the failures, particularly those run under voltage control, became considerably less catastrophic for the longer lifetimes. Understanding the individual and combined effects of the temperature, current, and thermomechanical stresses will open up the possibilities for utilizing these electrical tests in systematic assessments of interconnect reliability and quality control.
Proceedings Title
NSTI Nanotech 2008 Proceedings
Conference Dates
June 1-5, 2008
Conference Location
Boston, MA
Conference Title
NSTI Nanotech 2008

Keywords

alternating current, fatigue, stress, temperature, voids

Citation

Read, D. and Geiss, R. (2008), Thermal Cycling of Buried Damascene Copper Interconnect Lines by Joule Heating, NSTI Nanotech 2008 Proceedings, Boston, MA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=853561 (Accessed November 9, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created January 1, 2008, Updated February 19, 2017