Abstract
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/cm2and 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.
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Acknowledgments
This work is dedicated to Dieter K. Schroder (Arizona State University Regents’ Professor) and Charles J. Varker (Motorola Dan Noble Fellow) for inspiring an inquisitive and disciplined erudition in semiconductor reliability.
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Kilgore, S.H., Schroder, D.K. Electromigration Reliability of Electroplated Gold Interconnects. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1692, 27–32 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.547
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.547