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Experimental measurement of the effect of copper through-silicon via diameter on stress buildup using synchrotron-based X-ray source

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Abstract

In this work, the effect of copper through-silicon via (TSV) interconnect diameter on stress buildup in Cu TSVs was experimentally determined using a synchrotron-based X-ray microdiffraction technique. A single chip with different Cu TSV diameters (3, 5, and 8 µm), all having the same depth and processing conditions was studied. Prior to the measurements, the chip was annealed at 420 °C (30 min), leading to microstructurally stable Cu TSVs. The mean measured hydrostatic stresses were (190 ± 25) MPa (3 µm diameter), (138 ± 19) MPa (5 µm diameter), and (209 ± 26) MPa (8 µm diameter), respectively. No clear relationship between the measured stress and Cu TSV diameter was observed. This trend is attributed to the operation of stress relaxation mechanisms in the polycrystalline Cu TSVs, which includes plastic deformation, grain boundary sliding, void formation/growth, and rate-controlled dislocation motion, which are often neglected in reported finite element analysis studies. Additionally, this study highlights that the thermo-mechanical behavior of Cu TSVs is significantly influenced by their thermal history.

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Notes

  1. Certain commercial equipment, instruments, or materials are identified in this paper to specify experimental or theoretical procedures. Such identification does not imply recommendation by NIST nor the authors, nor does it imply that the equipment or materials are necessarily the best available for the intended purpose.

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Acknowledgements

This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under Grant 70NANB15H021. The authors will also like to thank SEMATECH, and Dr. Klaus Hummler for samples used in this work and Mr. Joon-Jung Ahn of NIST, for assistance with the AFM tool.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Semiconductor and Dimensional Metrology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

    Chukwudi Okoro & Yaw Obeng

  2. Material Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD, 20899, USA

    Lyle E. Levine

  3. Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, 60439-4800, USA

    Ruqing Xu

  4. Theiss Research, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA

    Chukwudi Okoro

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  1. Chukwudi Okoro
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Correspondence to Chukwudi Okoro.

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Okoro, C., Levine, L.E., Xu, R. et al. Experimental measurement of the effect of copper through-silicon via diameter on stress buildup using synchrotron-based X-ray source. J Mater Sci 50, 6236–6244 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-9184-9

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